MacCrabbe
New Member
Why I want to do this isn't terribly important, but I'd like to install Windows 8.1 Pro and have the system drive be D:
With every previous version of Windows, you could do this, although it took a bit of trouble as time went by. Windows NT 4.0 was a snap -- since it allowed the installer to choose the drive letter the OS would install to -- and by Windows 7 it was trouble to do this. I had to install the OS, boot up for the first time, and then change the drive letter from C: to D: in the registry under "Mounted Devices". Once done, Windows 7 wouldn't boot to the desktop, but you could press ctrl-alt-del and bring up Task Manager when the OS hanged on bootup. Then, I'd run a new task, and point Task Manager to "setup.exe" on the Windows install disc. Windows would start to install again, naming the previous install directory "Windows.old", and the boot/system drive would now be Drive D: after the second installation. Then, I'd simply delete the "Windows.old" directory afterwards, and it was done. A lot of trouble, yes, but I've run Windows on Drive D: for over 20 years. Something else has always been on Drive C:, and I'd like to keep it that way.
The problem is, after this long explanation, is that with Windows 8.1, I can no longer do this. On the second attempted installation, after altering the Mounted Devices in the registry, I notice that Windows 8.1 setup does not preserve drive letters. It simply lists partitions without letters. So, no matter what, Windows 8.1 is always going to be on the C: drive. My question is, can EasyBCD be used to edit the boot files in such a fashion that I can install Windows 8.1 and have it be on the D: drive? Is there any way to do this?
With every previous version of Windows, you could do this, although it took a bit of trouble as time went by. Windows NT 4.0 was a snap -- since it allowed the installer to choose the drive letter the OS would install to -- and by Windows 7 it was trouble to do this. I had to install the OS, boot up for the first time, and then change the drive letter from C: to D: in the registry under "Mounted Devices". Once done, Windows 7 wouldn't boot to the desktop, but you could press ctrl-alt-del and bring up Task Manager when the OS hanged on bootup. Then, I'd run a new task, and point Task Manager to "setup.exe" on the Windows install disc. Windows would start to install again, naming the previous install directory "Windows.old", and the boot/system drive would now be Drive D: after the second installation. Then, I'd simply delete the "Windows.old" directory afterwards, and it was done. A lot of trouble, yes, but I've run Windows on Drive D: for over 20 years. Something else has always been on Drive C:, and I'd like to keep it that way.
The problem is, after this long explanation, is that with Windows 8.1, I can no longer do this. On the second attempted installation, after altering the Mounted Devices in the registry, I notice that Windows 8.1 setup does not preserve drive letters. It simply lists partitions without letters. So, no matter what, Windows 8.1 is always going to be on the C: drive. My question is, can EasyBCD be used to edit the boot files in such a fashion that I can install Windows 8.1 and have it be on the D: drive? Is there any way to do this?
