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How to rename hard drive device name

Anonymous
2023-12-01T18:58:34+00:00

I have two hard drives with the exact same device name, both with bootable Windows versions on them, and I wish to rename them to make them distinguishable from each other when I view them from the BIOS or boot menu. Could someone please advise if this is possible, and if so, how to do so? Please note that I am not referring to the volume name, but the actual device name as seen when viewing the drive from the Device Manager or Disk Management applications.

Konan T-A Lim.

Sydney, Australia.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Devices and drivers

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  1. EmilyS726 227K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2023-12-01T20:37:11+00:00

    Ah, thanks for the screenshot. That's much better.

    So yes, you wanted the change the FriendlyName in this case, in registry.

    In Device Manager, right click on one of the disks, go to Properties > Details tab, In the property dropdown box, select "driver key". Then in the value box, you should receive a string of numbers letters.. right click and copy it.

    Then launch Registry, go to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum

    Right click on Enum folder on the left, go to Find, the paste that value you copied above to search. Once found, on the right, you should find the FriendlyName, double click on it and change it to whatever you want.

    The repeat the steps for the other disk. And then restart your Device Manager and you should see the change.

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-12-01T21:17:59+00:00

    Thank you very much, Emily, your guide has helped me accomplish what I wanted to do. I had forgotten that the device hardware name is referred to as the "FriendlyName", so thank you as well for reminding me of it. I have marked your response as the answer to this question. Have a good day.

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  2. EmilyS726 227K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2023-12-01T19:47:35+00:00

    Hello, this is Emily.

    Just want to make sure, this is regarding dual boots, when you start the computer, you have Windows 11 on a volume x and another Windows 11 on a different volume x, right?

    If so, yes, it can be changed.

    Type cmd in the search on the taskbar and make sure you use "run as administrator" to launch command prompt,

    then run this command:

    bcdedit /set {current} description "new name"

    Replace "new name" with whatever you want to call it, for example:

    bcdedit /set {current} description "Windows 11 on SSD".

    This will change it for the Windows you are currently using. You can then restart the computer, and go into the other Windows, and do the same.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-12-01T20:21:33+00:00

    Just want to make sure, this is regarding dual boots, when you start the computer, you have Windows 11 on a volume x and another Windows 11 on a different volume x, right?

    No, unfortunately you appear to have misunderstood my question. I am not asking about dual-booting from a single physical hard drive, but rather two separate physical hard drives. I believe that you are giving me instructions on how to rename the volumes where the operating systems are stored on, but I actually want to change the device hardware names as they appear in the Device Manager and Disk Management applications. I have attached screenshots highlighting exactly what I refer to below.

    Image

    Image

    As you can see from the first screenshot, I have two hard drives installed that have the exact same generic name, and they look exactly the same in the BIOS, making it an exercise of pure luck to choose the correct hard drive with the version of Windows I actually want to boot. I wish to rename one or both of those drives so that I can tell them apart when launching Windows through the boot menu, or selecting boot priority in the BIOS.

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