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changing drive letter of a mapped network drive

Can you change the drive letter of a mapped network drive without disconnecting and re-mapping it with desired drive letter?

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hriket wrote:

Hello, Can you change the drive letter of a mapped network drive ....

By disconnecting from it and remapping to the desired drive letter.  > .....without disconnecting and re-mapping it with desired drive letter?

Bruce Chambers

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How to Change a Drive Letter in Windows

Sometimes when you plug in a USB device, it doesn't show up

A task you will most likely have to perform a few times in Windows is changing the drive letter for an external hard drive, mapped network drive, or DVD drive. Sometimes when you plug in a USB flash drive, it doesn’t automatically get a drive letter assigned to it and it may not show up on your computer.

In those types of cases, you have to change the drive letter for the device and it will normally pop right up. In this article, I’ll show you how to change the drive letter for these devices using the GUI and also via the command prompt.

Change Drive Letter via Disk Management

You can open disk management on a Windows PC by either right-clicking on the Computer or This PC icon on the desktop and choosing Manage or by clicking on Start and typing in diskmgmt.msc .

You’ll see a list of volumes at the top and the disks and partitions at the bottom. Any partition that has a drive letter will be shown in the white area. If you connected a USB drive and you see it listed, but it doesn’t have a drive letter, you can now assign one.

To assign or change the drive letter for a disk or partition, simply right-click on it and choose Change Drive Letter and Paths .

A window will pop up with the current drive letter, if there is one, and a couple of options. Here you want to click on Change .

Next, you will choose the new drive letter from the dropdown list. You can pick from the letters A to Z.

That’s about it. Click OK to close out all the dialogs and the drive should now show up in Windows with the new drive letter. If you’re having issues using the GUI interface or you simply feel more comfortable using the command prompt, read the instructions below on how to use diskpart.

Use DiskPart to Assign Drive Letter

If you need to change or assign a drive letter via the command prompt, you have to use the diskpart command. I’ve written a bit on how to use diskpart , which is really useful for many disk management tasks.

To get started, open an administrator command prompt in Windows by clicking on Start, typing in CMD and then right-clicking and choosing Run as Administrator .

Now type in the following commands, each followed by the Enter key.

Above, you’ll replace x with the volume number in the list that corresponds to the drive you want to change and with the letter you want to assign to the drive. Here are the commands I ran for an external USB drive:

You’ll also notice that under the Type column, external drives will show up as Removable . That’s a good way to check before you select a volume. You can also figure out which drive is correct by looking at the size and also looking at the Info column. Volume 0 in my case is the system partition, so I wouldn’t want to mess with that by accident.

Overall, it’s a fairly simple process and hopefully you won’t run into any problems. There are times, however, when things don’t work properly. Below are some possible reasons.

Troubleshoot Can’t Change Drive Letter in Windows

One problem that I have seen is that the Change Drive Letter option is simply greyed out. This can occur for a few reasons. One of the main reasons is the volume is not formatted in FAT or NTFS format. For example, if you are attaching a disk from a Mac computer, you will not be able to change the drive letter unless you format the drive into a compatible format.

Another reason is if the drive is set to read-only. If so, you’ll have to Google the steps to change the drive to allow read/write access.

Also, if you don’t need any of the data on the volume in question, a simple solution is to delete the volume, which is normally never greyed out. Once you delete the volume, you can right-click again and create a new simple volume. Now you will be able to change the drive letter.

Founder of Help Desk Geek and managing editor. He began blogging in 2007 and quit his job in 2010 to blog full-time. He has over 15 years of industry experience in IT and holds several technical certifications. Read Aseem's Full Bio

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Map a network drive in Windows

Map a network drive to get to it from File Explorer in Windows without having to look for it or type its network address each time.

Open File Explorer from the taskbar or the Start  menu, or press the Windows logo key  + E .

Note:  If you don't see Map network drive on the More menu, you can right-click the This PC node in the folder pane and you'll see the command there.

In the Drive list, select a drive letter. (Any available letter will do.)

In the Folder box, type the path of the folder or computer, or select Browse to find the folder or computer. To connect every time you sign in to your PC, select Reconnect at sign-in .

Select Finish .

Note: If you can't connect to a network drive or folder, the computer you're trying to connect to might be turned off, or you might not have the correct permissions. Try contacting your network administrator.

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How to Change a Drive Letter

Don't like the letters assigned to your drives in Windows? Change them!

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What to Know

• Open Disk Management. Locate the drive you want to change. Right-click and choose Change Drive Letter and Paths > Change .
• Select the drive letter you want to assign from Assign the following drive letter . Then select OK and choose Yes .

The letters assigned to your hard drives, optical drives, and USB drives in Windows are not fixed. Use the Disk Management tool in Windows to change drive letters. These steps apply to Windows XP and newer versions of Windows .

How to Change Drive Letters in Windows

Follow these steps to change the driver letters in any version of Windows.

You can't change the drive letter of the partition that Windows is installed onto. On most computers, this is usually the C drive.

Open Disk Management , the tool in Windows that lets you manage drive letters, among [many] other things.

In Windows 11/10/8, Disk Management is also available from the Power User Menu ( WIN + X  keyboard shortcut) and is probably the quickest way to open it. You can also start Disk Management from the Command Prompt in any version of Windows, but starting it via Computer Management is probably best for most of you.

Locate from the list at the top, or from the map at the bottom, the drive you want to change the drive letter of.

If you're not sure that the drive you're looking at is really the one you want to change the drive letter for, you can right-click or tap-and-hold the drive and then choose Explore . If you need to, look through the folders to see if that's the right drive.

Right-click or tap-and-hold the drive and choose Change Drive Letter and Paths .

Select Change .

If you've selected the primary drive by accident, some versions of Windows will display a message that reads Windows cannot modify the drive letter of your system volume or boot volume.

Choose the drive letter you want Windows to assign to this storage device by selecting it from the Assign the following drive letter drop-down box.

You don't need to worry if the drive letter is already being used by another drive because Windows hides any letters you can't use.

Select OK .

Choose Yes to the Some programs that rely on drive letters might not run correctly. Do you want to continue? question.

If you have software installed to this drive, it might stop working properly after changing the drive letter. See details on this in the section below.

Once the drive letter change is complete, which usually only takes a second or two, you're welcome to close any open Disk Management or other windows.

The drive letter is different from the volume label. You can change the volume label using similar steps .

If You Have Programs Not on the Main Drive

Changing drive letter assignments for drives that have software installed to them may cause the software to stop working. This isn't quite as common with newer programs and apps but if you have an old program, especially if you're still using Windows XP or Windows Vista, this is likely to be a problem.

Fortunately, most of us don't have software installed to drives other than the primary drive (typically the C drive), but if you do, consider this your warning that you might need to reinstall the software after changing the drive letter.

No Changes for the Operating System Drive

You cannot change the drive letter of the drive that the Windows operating system is installed on. If you'd like Windows to exist on a drive other than C , or whatever it happens to be now, you can make that happen but you'll have to complete a clean install of Windows to do it. Unless you have a pressing need to have Windows exist on a different drive letter, we don't recommend going through all that trouble.

Change, Don't Switch

There's no built-in way to switch drive letters between two drives in Windows. Instead, use a drive letter that you don't plan on using as a temporary "holding" letter during the drive letter change process.

For example, let's say you'd like to swap Drive A for Drive B . Start by changing Drive A's letter to one that you don't plan on using (like X ), then Drive B's letter to Drive A's original one, and finally Drive A's letter to Drive B's original one.

Using the Command Prompt

You can also change the drive letter from Command Prompt . It's not as easy as using Disk Management and you can't see right away which letters are available to choose, but it is completely doable with the diskpart command.

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6 Ways to Change the Drive Letter in Windows

If your PC suddenly stops showing one of your internal drives in the file explorer or not list your external drive, it could be due to the OS getting confused with the drive letters. Simply changing your assigned drive letters can help you bypass this conflict. Here are six ways to change the drive letter.

1. Change the Drive Letter Using Settings

2. using command prompt, 3. disk management, 4. registry editor, 5. windows powershell, 6. drive letter changer software, frequently asked questions.

Also read: How to Clean Up and Make Space on Your Windows “C” Drive

Is It Safe to Change a Drive Letter in Windows?

Changing the drive letter is not entirely harmless and can cause significant problems based on the contents of your drive. If you have applications and software installed on your drive, those applications may cease to work.

For example, if you change the name of your D: drive to an F: drive, then the software installed in the D drive will still search for code in the D: file. While you can still access the data inside, there may be errors that will cause a nuisance in your day-to-day usage.

However, you may safely change the letter of some drives. If a partition simply includes data files that you rarely use, changing the drive letter may cause minor inconvenience, but nothing serious. The letters of external drives can almost always be changed without any problems.

• Press Win + I to open the Settings app, then select the “System” tab. Scroll down and click on “Storage.”

• Scroll down on the right side and click on “Advanced storage settings.”

• Under Advanced storage settings, click on “Disks & Volumes.”

• Select the drive whose letter you want to change, then click on the “Properties” button for that drive.

• In the Drive Properties, you will find the option to change the drive letter of the selected drive.

• Once you click on the option to change the drive letter, you will find a drop-down menu that will allow you to change the drive letter.

• Click on the letter you want to assign.

• Once you have selected your preferred letter, click on “OK” to confirm your choice.

Also read: How to Format a Drive in FAT32 in Windows

• Search for the command prompt on the start menu by typing cmd , right-click on it, and select “Run as administrator”.

• On the command prompt home screen, type:

• Press Enter , then type:

• Press Enter. You’ll see a list of your system’s drives. Make a note of the volume number of the drive. In the example pictured, it’s “Volume 3”.

• Type the following code:
• Type the following code to assign the new letter:

Instead of “new drive letter,” type the letter you want. For example: assign letter=S

The drive letter will be changed to your preferred letter.

Also read: 8 Ways to Customize Windows Terminal

• Right-click on the Windows button and open “Disk Management.”

• Under the “Volume” column, you will find the various partitions of your storage. You need to find the drive whose letter you’ll change and right-click on it.

• In the dialog box that appears, click on “Change.”

• Click the drop-down menu next to “Assign the following drive letter,” then select your letter and press “OK.”

• A warning message will pop up. Click “Yes” if you are sure about your decision to change the drive letter.

Also read: Which Allocation Unit Size Is Best for Your Drive?

• To change the drive letter through registry editor, first press Win + R to open the Run dialog and type regedit .

• Type in the following address at the top of the application:

and press Enter .

• Navigate to the list of binary keys. Select the key that corresponds to the drive letter that you want to change. For example, if we want to change the letter of the D: drive, we would look for “\DosDevices\D:”
• Right-click on the selected registry and rename the drive letter to what you want, just as you would rename any other file.You will have to restart your computer for the effects to take place.

Also read: 16 Useful Windows Registry Hacks to Optimize Your Experience

• Using the search button on the taskbar, search for “Powershell” and run it as administrator.

• Type the following command:

• A screen will show you your disk partitions. Make a note of what drive letter you want to change.

• To change the drive letter, type the following command:

Make sure to substitute “current drive letter’ and “new drive letter” with the actual drive letters, then press Enter .

Also read: How to Map a WebDAV Drive in Windows

If you are looking for a tool that can help you manage your partition and drives, these software will help you change your drive letter.

• MiniTool Partition Wizard
• AOMEI Partition Assistant
• EaseUS Partition Master

These tools are easy to use and have GUI interfaces that make them simple to use and also a one-stop destination for you to manage your storage devices. For the purposes of the demonstration, we are using MiniTool Partition Wizard to change the drive letter.

• Download MiniTool Partition Wizard. (It is a direct download link.)

• Run the installer and launch the app. You will get a listing of all your drive partitions mentioned below.

• Right-click on the target drive partition and select “Change Letter.”

• Open the drop-down list and select a new drive letter for your target drive.

• Click on “Apply” to save the changes.

• You will receive a warning pop-up asking you to close all background applications. Click “Yes.”

• You will now receive a confirmation message telling you that the new changes have been applied.Click “OK.”

Also read: How to Format Your USB Drives in Windows

1. How are drive letters assigned in Windows?

Drive letters are assigned to every new drive in alphabetical order. Traditionally, the A: and B: drives were used for floppy disks, and the system drive on which Windows is installed is named C: by default.

2. Can I change the drive letter for the System Drive?

No, changing the drive letter on the system drive is not possible, as Windows is installed on the system drive. If that was changed, the system drive would not be found and the computer would cease working.

3. Can I switch drive letters among two drives?

No, there is no functionality in Windows to switch drive letters directly between two drives. If you want to switch the drive letters between the D: drive and the E: drive, you will have first change the D: drive to another letter (so as to free up the D:), change the E: to D:, then change the first one to E:.

Image credit: Plastic magnetic letters by 123RF

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Ojash has been writing about tech back since Symbian-based Nokia was the closest thing to a smartphone. He spends most of his time writing, researching, or ranting about Bitcoin. Ojash also contributes to other popular sites like MakeUseOf, SlashGear, and MacBookJournal.

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How to map a local folder to a drive letter in Windows

Mock network environments and map hidden paths for easy access.

Have you ever wanted to create a drive letter mapping within your local system under Windows? Usually the mappings are reserved for network paths, but it can be useful for development (or even just as a shortcut) to map a local path to a drive letter.

Mapping network paths to drive letters has been a familiar task in corporate life. You’ve got your report server to access, accounting has their own NAS, there is a backup server, and so on. These handy shortcuts keep you from having to navigate down a long tree of folders to reach commonly used resources, wherever they are on your network. On windows, you can get the same functionality for local resources as well.

To map a path to a drive letter, you can use either the subst or net use commands from a Windows command line. The main difference between the two is that subst expects the location to always be available. If for some reason that location can’t be found, it will try desperately to reconnect at the expense of your computers performance. net use on the other hand is more fault tolerant. When a mapped path appears to be disconnected, it will gracefully disable that mapping until you try to access it again, at which point it will attempt to connect again. More detail can be found on stackexchange .

Map a drive with subst

To create a new mapping:

subst x: C:FolderExample

To remove a mapping:

subst x: /D

Map a drive with net use

net use x: localhostc$FolderExample

Why is this useful you might ask? For me it’s useful when I need to mimic a client’s environment that I don’t have access to during development. If I know a resource is going to be on the W: drive, I can create a W: drive and map it to a local folder. It’s also useful for hard to access file system locations, such as the hidden AppData directory.

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Change drive letter for CD drive on Windows 7

How to change the drive letter for CD drive on Windows 7? I want to map network location to the letter that is currently used by my CD drive.

• optical-drive

Right click on the Computer icon on the Desktop and select Manage option.

Select Storage > Disk Management or just run diskmgmt.msc (administrative rights needed).

Right click on the CD/DVD icon in the Disk (bottom) panel and select Change Drive Letter and Paths... . If there is a readable disc inserted, you can also select its mounted volume in the top panel.

Change the letter and select OK.

• 2 Would just like to add (only because mine wasn't showing up) that there must be a disk in the CD/DVD drive for it to show up in the Disk Management area. –  user55925 Nov 17, 2010 at 15:42
• For future readers, I had what appeared to be a CD drive showing up in Windows Explorer taking up a drive letter, but it didn't show up in Disk Management. It turned out to be Power ISO software I had installed. I just right clicked the drive and changed the Power ISO option to free up that drive letter. –  Ben Jun 5, 2013 at 20:12
• 2 "there must be a disk in the CD/DVD drive" this is a VERY useful hint. thank you @user55925 –  anion Nov 18, 2017 at 22:21
• 1 Nowadays (or on my Windows 10 21H1 installation with an USB CD/DVD drive) it is not required to be a disk inside, it is shown anyway. –  lucasvc Feb 17, 2022 at 7:51
• There was never a need for a disc to be in the drive, but in that case you can also change the letter from the Volumes panel. I've updated the answer. –  efotinis May 14, 2023 at 11:02

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How-To Geek

How to assign a persistent drive letter to a usb drive in windows.

If you use multiple USB drives, you've probably noticed that the drive letter can be different each time you plug one in.

If you use multiple USB drives, you've probably noticed that the drive letter can be different each time you plug one in. If you'd like to assign a static letter to a drive that's the same every time you plug it in, read on.

Windows assigns drive letters to whatever type of drive is available---floppies, internal hard disks, optical drives, SD cards, and external USB drives. This can be annoying---especially if you use backup tools  or portable apps that prefer to have the same drive letter every time.

Related: What Is a "Portable" App, and Why Does It Matter?

To work with drive letters, you'll use the Disk Management tool built into Windows. In Windows 7, 8, or 10, click Start, type "create and format," and then click "Create and format hard disk partitions." Don't worry. You're not going to be formatting or creating anything. That's just the Start menu entry for the Disk Management tool. This procedure works the same in pretty much any version of Windows (though in Windows XP and Vista, you'd need to launch Disk Management through the Administrative Tools item in the Control Panel).

Windows will scan and then display all the drives connected to your PC in the Disk Management window. Right-click the USB drive to which you want to assign a persistent drive letter and then click "Change Drive Letter and Paths."

The "Change Drive Letter and Paths" window the selected drive's current drive letter. To change the drive letter, click "Change."

In the "Change Drive Letter or Path" window that opens, make sure the "Assign the following drive letter" option is selected and then use the drop-down menu to select a new drive letter. When you're done, click "OK."

NOTE: We suggest picking a drive letter between M and Z, because earlier drive letters may still get assigned to drives that don't always show up in File Explorer---like optical and removable card drives. M through Z are almost never used on most Windows systems.

Windows will display a warning letting you know that some apps might rely on drive letters to run properly. For the most part, you won't have to worry about this. But if you do have any apps in which you've specified another drive letter for this drive, you may need to change them. Click "Yes" to continue.

Back in the main Disk Management window, you should see the new drive letter assigned to the drive. You can now close the Disk Management window.

From now on, when you disconnect and reconnect the drive, that new drive letter should persist. You can also now use fixed paths for that drive in apps---such as back up apps---that may require them.