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Drive letters not available

Ludwig Esser 20 Reputation points
2023-12-04T19:31:41.43+00:00

I have begun to transfer existing data to my new Windows 11 Pro PC. My backup data is on an external hard drive that had previously the drive letter F. All links with in the backup program and the backup tasks refer to this drive letter.

When I plug in the hard drive, I am not offered the drive letter F, even though no other drive uses it. Instead Windows has assigned the letter J. I tried to assign the letter F to that hard drive, but I can not find it in the disk management.

I have a screenshot, but can't see any way to add it to this post. at least not at this stage.

How can I assign the letter F to my backup drive?

Windows for business | Windows Client for IT Pros | User experience | Other
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  1. Anonymous
    2023-12-05T07:22:41.5233333+00:00

    Hi,

    Please open PowerShell as administrator, run Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_Volume -Filter "DriveLetter = 'F:'" and check the volume returned.

    To change the drive letter you can run

    Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_Volume -Filter "DriveLetter = 'F:'" | Set-CimInstance -Property @{DriveLetter="G:"}

    Best Regards,

    Ian Xue

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-12-06T01:43:55.9533333+00:00

    Hello

    Firstly, I suggest that we could check if "Plug and Play" service has been started. 

    Type "services.msc" in Search box, then try to check "Plug and Play" service state. 

    Then you could try to update your hard drivers first and then see if the error persists. Follow the steps below to upgrade the hard disk drivers: 

    1.Find the “Device Manager” on the Start Menu and launch it. 

    2.To expand the “Disk Drives” section, double-click on it. 

    3.Right-click on the drive that has the mistake in this area. 

    4.Then choose “Update Driver.” and restart the machine. 

    Meanwhile, we could use command or modify registry to assign a drive letter. 

    To assign a drive letter using CMD, you can use the diskpart command-line tool. Here are the steps: 

    1. Open Command Prompt as an administrator. 
    2. Type diskpart and press Enter to open the DiskPart utility. 
    3. Type list volume and press Enter to display a list of all volumes on your computer. 
    4. Identify the volume to which you want to assign a drive letter based on its size and file system. 
    5. Type select volume <volume number> and press Enter, replacing <volume number> with the number of the volume you want to assign a drive letter to. 
    6. Type assign letter=<drive letter> and press Enter, replacing <drive letter> with the desired drive letter (e.g., F, G, etc.). 
    7. Type exit and press Enter to exit the DiskPart utility. 

    To assign a drive letter using the registry, you can modify the registry key for the desired drive. Here are the steps: 

    1. Open Registry Editor by pressing Windows + R, typing regedit, and pressing Enter. 
    2. Navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices. 
    3. Locate the entry that corresponds to the drive you want to assign a letter to. The entries are named with hexadecimal values. 
    4. Right-click on the entry and select "Rename". 
    5. Change the name of the entry to the desired drive letter followed by a colon (e.g., Z:). 
    6. Close Registry Editor. 

    Please note that modifying the registry can have serious consequences if done incorrectly. It is recommended to create a backup of your registry before making any changes. 

    Best Regards,

    Hania Lian

     

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