Thread: widndows install path

Cliff would be the guru here. Wasn't D drive reserved for the CD/DVD? I am surprised it let you do it if C was still in use.

Unless you changed the path Windows should install on drive:\windows

D drive does not have to be a CD/DVD

Check the file/dir creation time stamps for both those directories and any *.ini/*.log files in their roots. If one's significantly earleir to when you did the install, then BINGO!

If they're both around the same time then go into each and see which has the most recent files... the one in which Win is storing it's temp files should be the working dir. Play it safe and only rename the other one first... don't del it until you know it's redundant.

(I assume you know how to check these things with whatever version of Win you're using?)

Originally Posted by Pusser

Unless you changed the path Windows should install on drive:windows

D drive does not have to be a CD/DVD

Agreed. But Mick had not removed the old corrupted/broken install so D would have been assigned from that. I really don't knw enough and have never tried to install to D drive in that situation, I was just surprised in this particular scenario that Windows could be installed to D drive due to the existance of a OS on C drive even if it wasn't working correctly.

Originally Posted by Mini

Cliff would be the guru here. Wasn't D drive reserved for the CD/DVD? I am surprised it let you do it if C was still in use.

If the hard drive is partitioned into two partitions then the second partition is probably assigned to the letter D: and the CD ROM or DVD drives will be assigned the next letter. So its not unusual to have your CD or DVD as E or F drive. It can also happen when trying to install Windows on the same partition as the existing OS. Windows XP may create a new partition for the new installation as it cause problems installing 2 OS's on the same drive.
To make sure you get a complete new, clean instal,l it is necessary to format the hard drive and partition it before installing the OS or format it during the installation of Windows. This gets rid of all the files that exist on the hard drive. (Well not really but for practical purposes it does) and you will have a nice fresh install of the OS

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

(I assume you know how to check these things with whatever version of Win you're using?)

Yes thanks, did a search and found files in the temp and prefetch directories in D:d\windows. the folder is also 2 gig whereas d:windows in 418 meg so it's gone the way of the dodo.
thanks all

I think the partition that used to be called e: was renamed to d: during the windows installation, as myoptic drive used to be d:

Another problem with having Windows on D drive is some software assumes an installation path of C/ and won't accept anything else. As a rule I install all software on second harddrive but no matter what I specify some of it ends up on C/.

Originally Posted by Gingermick

Yes thanks, did a search and found files in the temp and prefetch directories in D:dwindows. the folder is also 2 gig whereas d:windows in 418 meg so it's gone the way of the dodo.

I think the partition that used to be called e: was renamed to d: during the windows installation, as myoptic drive used to be d:

Any version of Windows since... W98SE (I think?)... has the ability to remap the drives as part of it's init process. For example, my HDDs/partitions are C: to G:, my opticals are mapped to Y: & Z: (a habit from DOS days, to stop them "moving" when I add/swap HDDs) and I've virtual drives from T: to X:

And these maps can be changed for each OS installed! I usually boot W2K from C; drive which puts my XP install on G:, but when I boot into XP it sees G: as C:, C: as D:, etc. etc.

The best way to find out what Windows thinks it the Windows directory is to ask Windows .

The easiest way to do this is use the set command in a DOS prompt (start, run, cmd). Just type set and it will show all the system variables. In this case the one you are after is SystemRoot. You can also type set SystemRoot to see just this value.

Cheers,

Mike.