Article ID: 929848
Article Last Modified on 1/4/2007
APPLIES TO
- Windows Vista Ultimate
- Windows Vista Business
- Windows Vista Enterprise
- Windows Vista Home Basic
- Windows Vista Home Premium
- Windows Vista Starter
SYMPTOMS
In unattended installations of Windows Vista that have multiple partitions on the hard disk drive, the first partition is not assigned driver letter C as expected. Also, Windows Vista is installed on a different partition.
CAUSE
This behavior occurs when the Unattend.xml file does not assign a drive letter to the installation partition. Then, the installation partition uses drive letter C. If another partition has been assigned drive letter C in the DiskConfiguration setting, that partition is assigned another drive letter.
For example, the following "DiskConfiguration" section of the Unattend.xml file creates partitions on a disk, and then assigns drive letter C to the first partition:
<DiskConfiguration>
<Disk>
<DiskID>0</DiskID>
<CreatePartitions>
<!—Create Partition 1-->
<CreatePartition>
<Order>1</Order>
<Type>Primary</Type>
<Size>100</Size>
</CreatePartition>
<!—Create Partition 2-->
<CreatePartition>
<Order>2</Order>
<Type>Primary</Type>
<Extend>true</Extend>
</CreatePartition>
</CreatePartitions>
<ModifyPartitions>
<!—Assign Drive Letter C to Partition 1-->
<ModifyPartition>
<Order>1</Order>
<PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
<Letter>C</Letter>
</ModifyPartition>
<ModifyPartitions>
</Disk>
</DiskConfiguration>
Then, in the following "ImageInstall" section of the Unattended.xml file, you specify that Windows Vista is installed on Partition 2:
<ImageInstall>
<OSImage>
<InstallTo>
<DiskID>0</DiskID>
<PartitionID>2</PartitionID>
</InstallTo>
</OSImage>
</ImageInstall>
You expect the following results:
- Partition 1 is assigned drive letter C.
- Partition 2 is either assigned drive letter D or the next available drive letter.
The actual results are as follows:
- Partition 1 is either assigned drive letter D or the next available drive letter.
- Partition 2 is assigned drive letter C.
RESOLUTION
To avoid this behavior, add the following fragment to the DiskConfiguration setting in the Unattend.xml file. This fragment assigns a drive letter to the installation partition.
<ModifyPartition>
<Order>2</Order>
<PartitionID>2</PartitionID>
<Letter>D</Letter>
</ModifyPartition>
Keywords: kbprb KB929848
