Microsoft KB Archive/101703

= Windows NT Tries to Duplicate MS-DOS Drive Letter Scheme =

Article ID: 101703

Article Last Modified on 11/1/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows NT Advanced Server 3.1
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.1
 * Microsoft Windows NT Advanced Server 3.1

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This article was previously published under Q101703





SUMMARY
Windows NT attempts to assign drive letters to partitions in the same manner that MS-DOS does. However, there are cases in which drive letter assignments are not the same.



MORE INFORMATION
Consider the following example in which a system has two hard disks, each of which has two partitions:

Windows NT assigns drive letters as follows:

 | C: FAT | E: NTFS |

| D: FAT | F: FAT |

However, MS-DOS assigns drive letters as follows:

 | C: FAT | Unknown |

| D: FAT | E: FAT | Because MS-DOS does not recognize the NTFS partition, it marks the partition as "unknown" and does not assign it a drive letter.

NOTE: In Disk Administrator, you can customize the drive letter assignments by choosing Drive Letter from the Partition menu.

Additional query words: prodnt

Keywords: kbother KB101703

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