How to change the drive letter in Windows

Partitions on a hard disk get a letter as an identifier, and if you’re making a new one, you can choose which letter you want to assign to it. But what if you want to change the drive letter later? It’s not as easy as renaming a drive partition, but it’s possible, with an exception. Here’s how to change the drive letter in Windows 10 or 11.

What you should know before changing the drive letter

A drive letter acts as a core identifier for a partition or a drive, letting the system map its location and, in turn, letting other programs and users access it. Changing a drive letter isn’t too complicated, but there are some things you need to keep in mind first.

First, Windows reserves this functionality only for administrator accounts, so you need to be signed in to one. Secondly, there are some restrictions on changing drive letters. Letters A and B cannot be used for usual drive partitions, as Windows keeps these only for floppy drives. You also cannot change the drive letters for system drives, like C.

We would also recommend that you do not change the drive letters for a partition if you have any apps installed in it. This can cause path conflicts and potentially render your programs unable to open. You can reinstall the apps to resolve this issue, but it’s better to refrain from changing the drive letter for such partitions.

How to change the drive letter in Windows 10 or 11

You will need to use the Disk Management tool built into Windows to change the drive letter. Open it by searching for Disk management. The search result will be labeled Create and format hard disk partitions. Click it. You can also right-click on the start menu and select Disk Management.

Right-click the partition for which you want to change the drive letter. You can right-click on the partition from the list view at the top or the grid view in the middle.

Click Change Drive Letter and Paths… A new dialog box will open up.

Select the partition for which you want to change the letter. Click the Change button.

Click the drop-down with the current drive letter next to Assign the following drive letter:. Select the letter you want to assign from the drop-down by clicking it.

Click the OK button. A dialog box will pop up.

Click the Yes button to confirm the change. The drive letter will change and reflect in the disk manager view.

And that’s how you change the drive letter in Windows 10 or 11. If you’re working with an external hard drive,  you can find out how to format and partition it here.

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