Wow! A really difficult question .
Modern Windows systems, (version 5 and 6) assign volume letters. Before the Windows system does this, data is found by looking at the disk's partition information.
In Windows XP, take a peek at your Boot.INI file. Mine looks like this. . .
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\windows
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\windows="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN /FASTDETECT
Notice that it contains numbers for disks and partitions, but no drive letters. Also, be aware that disks are numbered beginning at zero and partition numbers begin at one.
Here's a gotcha. . .
Windows assigns the partition it's using currently as C: If you have two copies of Windows on two partitions, the one running will appear as C: and the other will receive a different letter. Hint: Give each a different label and you can identify them no matter what drive letter they're assigned.
Run DiskPart.EXE
At the DISKPART> prompt, enter the command LIST VOLUME
It will give you a overview of your system's storage. Mine looks like this. . .
DISKPART> list volume
Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 0 G DVD-ROM 0 B No Media
Volume 1 W PAMELA NTFS Partition 8 GB Healthy System
Volume 2 Win7PE NTFS Partition 807 MB Healthy
Volume 3 V Virtual NTFS Partition 20 GB Healthy
Volume 4 D DATA NTFS Partition 8 GB Healthy
Volume 5 E EXTRA NTFS Partition 8 GB Healthy
Volume 6 F FAT32 FAT32 Partition 541 MB Healthy
Volume 7 I IMAGES NTFS Partition 400 GB Healthy
Volume 8 Chirpy NTFS Partition 15 GB Healthy
Volume 9 T TINY FAT Partition 8001 KB Healthy
Volume 10 S SECURITY NTFS Partition 465 GB Healthy
Volume 11 N Removable 0 B No Media
Volume 12 O Removable 0 B No Media
Volume 13 P Removable 0 B No Media
Volume 14 Q Removable 0 B No Media
Volume 15 C Chippy NTFS Partition 8189 MB Healthy Boot
DISKPART>
As you can see, some of my partitions have no letter and some have letters but no label, but the interesting bit is the volumes marked as Boot and System. Here, we hit another odd naming convention. Volume W, marked System, contains the data used for booting. Volume C, marked Boot, contains the Windows 8 system running currently.
DiskPart should help clear up any confusion about which disk or partition is running your system.
Note: I have a multi-boot system. PAMELA is WinXP, Win7PE is Win7 Preinstalled, Chirpy is Vista, Tiny is DOS, and Chippy is Win8. Win7 and Win8 run from Virtual Hard Disks and only appear while running; hence, only Chirpy is shown. If I were to execute this command from one of my Win7 systems, either 32 or 64 bit, they would take the place of Chippy. (They're named Taffy and Buddy.)
I named my systems after childhood pets. Unusual, but it works for me. (My husband's computer uses cat colouring: Calico, Tabby, Tortie. . .)
SuperUser link. . .
The link in your message led to a question from someone using Windows 7.
Vista and later Windows systems replaced the Boot.INI file with a Boot Configuration Database. Although it does similar work, the nuts-and-bolts differ considerably.
Systems using BCD check Disk Signatures. Windows XP doesn't. What does this mean?
If you make a clone of your disk, unless the Disk Signature is copied too, (and older cloning software overlooked doing this) the cloned disk won't boot. The easiest way to fix this is to repair the Boot Configuration Data. The linked message mentioned this. Now the tricky bit. . .
One can use volume letters with BCDEdit. This is profoundly convenient, but it can be awfully confusing too. Depending on which system you're using to run BCDEdit, you'll need to use different letters.
To confuse us further, the linked message throws in a question about the Windows 7 Boot partition and (wrongly) calls it a Restore partition. How does one remove it? Quick answer: Don't. It's only 100 MB. Nobody's that desperate for disk space. And unless you're absolutely, positively, beyond a doubt sure your system isn't using it to boot, the reward isn't worth the risk. In short, anyone knowledgeable enough to safely remove it wouldn't be asking.
Cheers, PW.
P.S. For this work, one must have Administrator privileges. As well, Boot.INI files are normally hidden.
Hint: Copy Boot.INI to another volume before examining it. Use XCOPY Boot.INI ?:\Boot.INI /H (Where ? is another volume.) To UnHide the copy, use ATTRIB -r -a -s -h Boot.INI (Techinically, you only need the -h to UnHide it, but I find RASH easier to remember and it takes care of ReadOnly, Archive, System, and Hidden attributes too.)
P.P.S. Observant readers may wonder why I have a Boot.INI file on my system. It's a left-over from the time I used Windows XP exclusively. Vista and later systems' BCD entries for WindowsXP look like this. . .
Windows Legacy OS Loader
------------------------
identifier {ntldr}
device partition=W:
path \ntldr
description Windows XP Professional
P.P.P.S. I try to be careful when I use Volume and Partition.
A partition is an area on a disk. A volume is a partition that has been assigned a letter. I've caught myself using these terms interchangably through carelessness. I try to catch this error, but sometimes one or two slip through. |
