160GB HDD partitioned as 3 drives, C, F, G.
C is the boot partition.

Accidentally changed the drive letter of the C: drive to D:. Now upon boot up it goes thru the whole boot process, and stops at the Windows XP splash screen where my and my wife's user account used to be. They are not there anymore, and I can't log onto my system at all. Is there any way to boot off a CD and change the Drive letter back to C: and will this correct the problem? I really need to get access to my data again. Worst case, can I remove the drive and install it to another machine as a slave and access the data from there?

Thanx
-Rob

Hi
Have you tried Safe Mode.

I don't get an option for safe-mode. Is that something I have to access from the Win XP Boot CD?

Thanx
-Rob

To boot in Safe Mode keep F8 pressed at power on then follow the text menu displayed.

I hope you can boot in Safe Mode and solve your trouble, but I think the solution is to boot from your recovery CD (enabling CD-booting in BIOS) and then restore a previous good configuration (if there is any).

I shut down the comp and turned it back on quickly, and got a message to either boot normally, or boot a last known good, and the last known good didn't have the logon icons either.

Thanx
-Rob

I'm not a guru in System Restore, but follow my post #4 and after booting from CD restore NOT the last goo configuration, but a previous one as the last may be affected by the trouble about drive letters you are facing. (to enter the BIOS keep DEL pressed at power on, but it depends on your PC model).

I actually think I disabled System Restore, but I'm not 100% sure about that. But when restoring to a previous restore point, will I lose any data created or changed since that point?

Thanx
-Rob

Absolutely NO, you lose only the modifications applied to your Software assets as upgrades, updates and new applications installed: nothing to do with your own processed data.

OK, so if I disabled system restore at some point, then would there be a first restore point somewhere, from before the point in time that I chose to disable system restore? As I said, I am unsure whether or not I disabled it, just trying to cover myself in case.

Thanx
-Rob

I doubt it. When you disable system restore, it normally deletes all previous restore points aswell.

P4 2.6gig,
Gigabyte GA-8S648Fxm m/b,
1gb PC3200 RAM
80gig hdd,
Ati radeon 9600 256mb graphics

OK, so just in case...any other suggestions?? I'm thinking is there any software that will let me boot up into DOS and let me run a partitioning utility that will allow me to change the drive letter?

Thanx
-Rob

I dont know mate. What I would do is, hook it up to another pc as a second hdd, save all the info and docs you need, then format it from there. You may be able to change the drive letter from another pc, im not to sure.

P4 2.6gig,
Gigabyte GA-8S648Fxm m/b,
1gb PC3200 RAM
80gig hdd,
Ati radeon 9600 256mb graphics

[Accidentally changed the drive letter of the C: drive to D:] just how did you do it ?

TopFarmer's question is valid. How did you change C to D? It is normally impossible as xp will not let you change the drive where xp resides.

http://computervitals.com/

accidently as in partition magic or other partition manager? OS won't let you do it. change back with same or reformat and reinstall.

Give a person a fish, they eat for a day. Suggest they internet search and they learn a skill for a lifetime.

can't you change the drive letter in computer management, in control panel?

P4 2.6gig,
Gigabyte GA-8S648Fxm m/b,
1gb PC3200 RAM
80gig hdd,
Ati radeon 9600 256mb graphics

From what I have read about this D: Drive mystery.

The best thing you could do is get a new hard drive.Leave the important one out of the machine.

Prep the new master hard drive you get with the software provided with it. Re-install your operating system then put your other hard drive back in jumpered as slave ect...

I never run a computer without a secondary slave hard drive .That's where I keep things backed up and on CD's.

Sorry but,20/20 hindsight is only good for the next bad experience.

Pariah, I can not log onto the machine. AT ALL. I get to the splash screen where the logon icons normally would be and they are NOT THERE. I am relegated to trying to do something after booting from a disk or something like that, I cannot do anything in Windows XP itself because I cannot logon. and to TopFarmer, I was deleting a drive that was showing up as H: but there was no drive installed. I wasn't paying attention because my wife had just asked me something and I had my 2 year old tugging on my shoelaces. I was in Disk Management (My Computer->Manage->Storage->Disk Management) It showed the three partitions, I selected the 2nd Partition and right-clicked, seleted change drive letter and selected D: from the drop-down box. I really have to pay more attention when I'm doing this stuff, I was just actually trying to change the drive letters of the other partitions, but I highlighted the wrong one. Immediately upon doing the change, when I exited out of Disk Management, I tried to open an IE window, and the computer asked me which program to use to open the selected item, but there were no programs in the list. I knew something was wrong immediately.

Thanx
-Rob

you mis-understood me roberob23.My last post(response number 16), was to the people who said you can't change the drive letter in windows xp:-)

P4 2.6gig,
Gigabyte GA-8S648Fxm m/b,
1gb PC3200 RAM
80gig hdd,
Ati radeon 9600 256mb graphics

To Pariah-Yes, you can change drive letters except for the drive XP resides. Even XP is not dumb enough to commit suicide.

http://computervitals.com/

You can try this. I don't know what was on D:, but you may need to do the system repair and then see if you can rectify the mistake.
How to do a system repair.--Boot from the xp cd and go past the recovery console to the install menu. Select repair the existing installation. You won't lose any data except the xp updates. Unless you have a slipstream sp1 Or SP2 cd you will have to d/l sp1 or sp2 and all subsequent updates. You MUST have at least SP1 installed and the updates for security reasons. Be sure the firewall and A/V is active before going online as you will be susceptible to sasser and msblaster.

http://computervitals.com/

{ I wasn't paying attention because my wife had just asked me something and I had my 2 year old tugging on my shoelaces} I can totol understand that statement.

As has been stated one can not change the drive letter where XP is operateing from. So must assume that C: did not have XP on it but might have had the installed programs there and had the boot files.
Just what drive partitions had what on it ?
Might have to boot to the recovery console and do a DIR on each drive to find out.

[ I selected the 2nd Partition and right-clicked, seleted change drive letter and selected D: ] just why would the 2nd parition be original drive C: ? any one ? IF i'm reading post #18 and original correct.

Can you boot into safe mode ?

I dont think you can do anything to the partition that the o/s is on.I bought my self a hdd from my friend, when i plugged it in, it had 2 partions, i deleted one but still couldn't add the extra space to the first partition, so i had to format.

P4 2.6gig,
Gigabyte GA-8S648Fxm m/b,
1gb PC3200 RAM
80gig hdd,
Ati radeon 9600 256mb graphics