Configure drive letter for the CD-ROM Drive

It is quite important that the drive letter for the CD Drives remains static, as many applications and games installed from a CD Drive expects to find its files on the same drive letter as when they were installed.
In Win9x/Me the drive letter for the CD Drives are by default assigned dynamically, so if a HDD partition is added or removed, then the drive letter for the CD Drives will change.
In WinNT+ the drive letter for the CD Drives are static, but if updating drivers for the disk controller or similar, so the CD Drives are redetected then the “new” CD Drives might get new drive letters.

To change the drive letter for CD Drives in Win9x/Me:

  1. Right click My Computer and select Properties
  2. Select the tab Device Manager
  3. Right click your CD-ROM drive and select Properties
  4. Select the tab Settings
  5. In the Reserved Drive Letters set Start Drive Letter and End Drive Letter to the letter you want.

More Info MS KB121244

To change the drive letter for CD Drives in WinNT4:

  1. Go to the Start -> Programs -> Administrative Tools (Common) -> Disk Administrator
  2. Right click your CD-ROM drive and select the option Assign Drive Letter…
  3. Change Assign a drive letter to the wanted drive letter and press Ok
  4. A popup will tell you that the drive letter will change just press Ok. (If an application is currently using the drive letter the change will take effect the next boot).

More Info MS KB142635

To change the drive letter for CD Drives in Win2k/XP:

  1. Right click My Computer and select Manage
  2. Select Disk Management (Below the Storage-node)
  3. Right Click your CDROM drive and select Change Drive Letter and Path…
  4. Select the drive letter it has now and press Edit (If it doesn’t have a drive letter press Add)
  5. Change Assign a drive letter to the wanted drive letter and press Ok
  6. A popup will tell you that the drive letter will change just press Ok. (If an application is currently using the drive letter the change will take effect the next boot).

More Info MS KB223188
More Info MS KB307844

Note the WinNT+ Disk Administration is also capable of changing the drive letter for HDD partitions. Just right click the HDD partition instead of the CDROM drive. It is also possible to remove the assignment of drive letter thus hiding the HDD partition, which can be useful in a dual boot environment.

Note in Win9x/Me there is a tool Letter Assigner, which allow one to also change the drive letters for HDD partitions.

Note if wanting to configure USB devices so they maintain their drive letters, then USB Drive Letter Manager might do want you want. It works for Windows 2000/XP/Vista.