Can not Change drive letter Windows 7

Anonymous
2009-09-29T22:10:31+00:00

The error message "disk Management console view not up to date" comes up everytime I try to change the drive letter for an external USB hard drive.   I tried diskpart but it only lists drives with letters.

OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate

Version 6.1.7600 Build 7600

Other OS Description  Not Available

OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation

System Name DAD-PC

System Manufacturer System manufacturer

System Model System Product Name

System Type X86-based PC

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU         975  @ 3.33GHz, 3334 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)

BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. 0707, 8/18/2009

SMBIOS Version 2.5

Windows Directory C:\Windows

System Directory C:\Windows\system32

Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1

Locale United States

Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.1.7600.16385"

User Name Dad-PC\Dad

Time Zone Mountain Daylight Time

Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 12.0 GB

Total Physical Memory 1.49 GB

Available Physical Memory 655 MB

Total Virtual Memory 2.98 GB

Available Virtual Memory 1.40 GB

Page File Space 1.49 GB

Page File C:\pagefile.sys

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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Anonymous
2009-09-30T13:31:30+00:00

Hello,

Hello TestPantaloon,

You must be logged on as an administrator to perform these steps.

If you don't like the letter Windows has assigned to a new drive or you want to organize your drive letters in a certain way, you can change the drive letter.You can assign the letters C through Z to each drive on your computer. A and B are usually reserved for floppy disk drives, but if your computer does not have floppy disk drives, you can assign A and B to volumes. You can see which drive letters are used on your computer by opening Computer.

<br> • Open Computer by clicking the<br>Start button, and then clicking Computer. <br> --- ---

You can change, add, or remove a drive letter by using Computer Management.

<br>1.      <br>Open Computer Management by clicking the<br>Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, clicking Administrative Tools, and then double-clicking<br>Computer Management. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation. <br> --- --- <br> <br>2.      <br>In the Navigation pane, click<br>Disk Management. <br> <br>3.      <br>Right-click the partition or drive that you want to change, and then click<br>Change Drive Letter and Paths. <br> <br>4.      <br>Do one of the following:<br><br><br><br> • To assign a drive letter if one has not already been assigned, click<br>Add, click the letter that you want to use, and then click OK. <br> --- --- <br> • To change a drive letter, click<br>Change, click Assign the following drive letter, click the letter that you want to use, and then click<br>OK. <br> • To remove a drive letter, click<br>Remove, and then click Yes to confirm that you want to remove it.

Once you have done this, look in Computer, now simply right click to create a shortcut from there and it will put it on the desktop!

Hope this helps you. Let us know either way. Make it a great day!

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  1. Anonymous
    2010-04-12T17:14:22+00:00

    Problem: USB device is not assigned a drive letter. Attempts to assign one in Disk management console fail.

    This is the result of  the driver installation not being completed correctly. In my case, a BSOD took place the first time the USB device was inserted.

    To fix: Go to device manager

    1. Look for an entry that says "Unknown disk" or something similar. This entry may not be marked with error icon.
    2. After locating the entry, right click and select "Uninstall"
    3. After uninstalling, press F5 or select "scan for hardware changes" in the action menu.
    4. The driver is then reinstalled correctly.
    5. If step 4 does not work correctly or you get another BSOD, I cannot help you, it is a hardware or driver problem that Microsoft will have to resolve.

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-05-13T03:42:50+00:00

    Problem: USB device is not assigned a drive letter. Attempts to assign one in Disk management console fail.

    This is the result of  the driver installation not being completed correctly. In my case, a BSOD took place the first time the USB device was inserted.

     

    To fix: Go to device manager

    1. Look for an entry that says "Unknown disk" or something similar. This entry may not be marked with error icon.
    2. After locating the entry, right click and select "Uninstall"
    3. After uninstalling, press F5 or select "scan for hardware changes" in the action menu.
    4. The driver is then reinstalled correctly.
    5. If step 4 does not work correctly or you get another BSOD, I cannot help you, it is a hardware or driver problem that Microsoft will have to resolve.

     

    This worked for me. I had an NTFS 1TB USB drive that my Win7 x64 system refused to see after a faulty driver install (usb detached when the drive was being recognized iirc). Every other system could see the drive without problems. It took longer than expected for the driver to replace itself, but now the drive loads quickly when inserted and all is well.

    Seems to be a Win7/Vista issue based on my searching.

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-05-18T18:14:30+00:00

    Problem: USB device is not assigned a drive letter. Attempts to assign one in Disk management console fail.

    This is the result of  the driver installation not being completed correctly. In my case, a BSOD took place the first time the USB device was inserted.

     

     

     

    This is rediculous...since so many of us are having the same problem  shouldn't  Microsoft  resolve this problem????

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  4. Anonymous
    2010-05-19T02:07:50+00:00

    didn't work for meas my backup drive has no drivers...is like a huge flash drive 500 gigs

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