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I have no C drive but some programs insist on it. What can I do?

harddrive36602119.jpg
You may or may not have a C: drive on your computer.You don't have to have one.However, some programs want to be installed on the C: drive only.In these cases we can create a virtual C: drive on the hard drive that you do have.

The C: hard drive is assumed to be the boot drive.However, any drive could be assigned to be the boot drive.The boot drive is where all of the start up programs are held. Most computers have the C: drive as the boot drive so some programs insist on being loaded in that directory.If this is the case, you can make a virtual drive to act as the C: drive.

You do not want to reassign the drive of your existing boot drive to C: if it is currently F: or G: or any other letter.This would create more problems than you already have.You may not even be able to get your machine to boot.If you reassign letters, the software settings will still be pointing to the original drive and will not look for the newly assigned C: drive.

Hence, you will want to create a virtual C: drive.This means that the C: drive only exists in name.You will not have to install a new drive, but you will create a C: drive on your already existing drive.Much like you create a folder in another folder.You are creating a drive as part of another drive.

C: drive creation.
First, go to the Command Prompt.Click on `Start', `All Programs', `Accessories', and then click on `Command Prompt'.You should get a DOS prompt window.This window is not a normal window and you can't use your mouse to navigate in this window.A little trial and error with the arrow keys will help you navigate in this window.

If your hard drive is G: then you should see:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

G:\Documents and Settings\Your_Name>

Except you should see your name instead of Your_Name.

In the Window, type the following commands:

mkdir \Virtual_C
subst C: \Virtual_C

You will now have a C: drive, but it will be completely empty.The actual C: drive will be G:\Virtual_C.

Now you may be able to load some of those applications that demanded that you have a C: drive.However, some may still not work because they expect to find other items in the C: drive that is in your G: drive.However, if you reboot your machine, your virtual drive will no longer exist.The contents of the drive will remain, but the pathway will no longer be there.You will need to change your start up menu to create a virtual C: drive every time you boot up your computer.

Right click on the `Start' menu and click on `Explore All Users'.You should get an Explorer window.Open the `Programs' folder.Open the `Startup' folder.Right click in the right-hand pane and select `New' from the drop down menu.Click on `Shortcut'.

You will now get a dialog box.Enter the command "SUBST C: F:\Virtual_C".Click `Next'.Click `Finish'.Each time you login, the pathway to the virtual C: drive will be mapped to F:\Virtual_C.

You have now created the C: you need to run your programs.The drive labeled C: is only special in that some programs expect to see certain other programs there.They are programmed to access these programs in the C: directory.To avoid confusion, it is best if you always label the boot drive C:.If you are installing a new drive and will boot from that drive, label it C: and rename the old drive to another letter.

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