How to Change Drive Letter on Windows 11 – Step By Step Guide

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Do you want to modify your Windows 11 drive letter? Do you want your own personalized drive letters? You’ve come to the correct location. This post will show you how to change the drive letters in Windows 11.

When you attach a hard drive to your Windows 11 PC, it will be allocated the next possible letter after C, which is normally reserved for computer storage. As a result, the storage device or USB flash drive may show as D, E, F, or any other letter in the future.

That’s excellent, but what if you would like to give each of your drives a different letter? For example, M is a good choice for music files, and X is a good choice for top-secret files. Anything you want to learn about changing a drive letter to a disc in Windows 11 is right here.

What are the different types of drive letters in Windows 11?

In Windows, a drive is recognized by its drive letter (for example, “C:”). The most crucial factor to bear in mind is that Windows is solely concerned with drive letters. That has to be one-of-a-kind; you can’t possess two E: discs on the same machine.

The drive letter is significant since it tells Windows where to look for it. It’s possible that the files in C: Users aren’t in D: Users. Prior to DOS, the conventional disc name with a colon (:) was used.

The boot drive in Windows (and before DOS) is set to C by design. Other drives, whether inner, outer, optic, or additional segments, will receive different letters, which will be assigned in the following order: D:, E:, and so on.

Why may changing the drive letter make things difficult?

The program might halt operating if the drive letter designation of the drive in which the software is installed is changed. This isn’t a concern with newer programs and apps, but it can be an issue with older ones, particularly if you’re still running Windows XP or Windows Vista.

Luckily, many of us have not put the program on a drive excluding the primary (typically the C drive), but if you have, consider this a warning: you might also have to reload the application after modifying the drive letter.

The drive letter on which Windows is installed cannot be altered. You can install Windows on any disc other than the C drive, but you’ll have to start again with a clean installation of Windows.

Windows 11 allows you to change the drive letter

Let’s explore a couple of alternative methods for changing a drive letter in Windows 11.

With the Help of Setting

Replacing a drive letter using the local Settings app is one of the simplest methods to do it.

  • To access it, use the combination of the Win + I key. Then you need to slide down the right panel and tap on Storage after selecting ‘System’ in the left section.
  • Afterward, to broaden it, scroll to the bottom and choose Advanced storage options.
  • Next, it’s time to choose your discs and volumes.
  • Click on the option whose letter you’d like to modify now.
  • Selecting Properties is the next step.
  • Alter the drive letter by clicking on it.
  • Now select an option from the drop-down menu.
  • For this drive, you have to choose a letter of your choice.
  • Hit the OK button in order to alter it.
  • You have successfully changed the drive letter.

Making Use of Disk Management

  • The Disk Management panel is among the most popular attempts to modify a drive letter. Right-click on the Start button and select Disk Management to launch this panel.
  • Modify Drive Letter and Paths… by right-clicking on the drive whose letter you wish to set personally.
  • After that, you must select Change.
  • Now select “Assign the following drive letter” from the drop-down option.
  • Now is the moment to choose a letter.
  • The next step is to press the OK button.
  • If asked, choose Yes.
  • The letter of the drive has now been altered.

Change the Drive Letter with the help of Command Prompt

  • With the help of the Command Prompt is yet another approach to modify a drive letter. Here’s how you can do it:
  • To launch an advanced version of the Command Prompt hit Start, enter cmd, and then choose Run as administrator.
  • Then you need to enter the command: diskpart
  • Next, to view all the volumes, run the following command and click Enter:

list volume

  • You’ll now see a menu of your device’s storage.
  • Keep a record of the volume number of the drive you wish to replace the letter on.
  • Afterward, enter the following command on the command prompt:

select volume ‘volume number’   

  • Make doubly sure you use the correct volume number instead of the ‘volume number.’
  • Then you need to hit the Enter key.
  • Now put the following command into the command prompt:

assign letter=’new drive letter’                    

  • Ensure the ‘new drive letter’ field is filled in with the letter you wish to allocate.
  • Finally, you can hit the Enter key.

Making Use of Registry Editor

You may also change the letter assigned to a drive using the Registry Editor.

If the other ways haven’t worked for you, you might like to try this one.

  • To begin, use Win + R to bring up the Run dialogue box, then input Regedit and press Enter.
  • Now you have to go to the following address:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices

  • When you pick ‘MountedDevices’ on the left, a collection of registry textual values appears on the right.
  • Locate the binary number for the storage you wish to replace.
  • Rename the one you wish to modify by right-clicking on it.
  • Simply modify it to the letter you choose.
  • To make the modifications take effect, reboot the system.

When is it not a good idea to alter the drive letter in Windows?

If you change the drive letter when you have programs and apps enabled, they may cease operating. This is due to the fact that the software’s files must belong to the original installation directory.

Is it possible to switch between drive letters in Windows 11?

On Windows, there seems to be no option for individuals to change drive letters. You can only alter the drive letter to anything that isn’t already in use.