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How to Change a Drive Letter in Windows 11 & 10 (The Ultimate 2026 Guide)

06/02/2026

Last updated on February 6, 2026

Managing storage in Windows is a core skill, but sometimes the default drive letter assigned to your hard drive, SSD, or external drive just doesn’t work for you. Whether it’s for better organization, avoiding conflicts with software that demands specific paths, or just plain personal preference, learning how to change a drive letter is a simple process—but one that requires a bit of caution. In this definitive 2026 guide, I’ll walk you through how to do it safely in both Windows 11 and Windows 10, using the graphical interface and the command line.

Key Precautions Before You Change a Drive Letter

Before we dive in, let’s go over some golden rules to avoid headaches down the road. In my 15+ years of experience, skipping these steps is the #1 cause of post-change errors.

  1. Rule #1: Don’t Touch Your System Drive (C:): The letter for the partition where Windows is installed (almost always C:) is locked by the system for a very good reason. Trying to change the C: drive letter will make your operating system unbootable. It’s not possible, nor is it advisable to even try.
  2. Warning: Installed Programs & Game Libraries: If you change the letter of a drive containing applications (like your Steam library or Adobe software), they will almost certainly break. Their shortcuts and registry entries point to the old path (e.g., D:\Games). If you change D: to E:, that path shatters. My professional advice: uninstall the programs, change the letter, and then reinstall them.
  3. The Ghosts of Floppy Past (A: and B:): While floppy disks are ancient history, Windows still reserves the letters A: and B: for them out of habit. It’s best practice to avoid using them to prevent strange conflicts with legacy or emulated hardware.
  4. Check for Network Drive Conflicts: If you have mapped network drives, double-check that you aren’t trying to assign a letter that’s already in use by one of them.

Method 1: Using Windows Disk Management (The Easy Way)

This is the most common and user-friendly method, perfect for most users. The process is virtually identical in Windows 11 and Windows 10.

  1. Open Disk Management: The fastest way is to right-click the Start button and select “Disk Management” from the power user menu. You can also press Win + X to bring up the same menu.
  2. Select the Drive: In the window that opens, you’ll see a list of all your drives. Find the one you want to modify, right-click on it, and choose “Change Drive Letter and Paths…”.

  3. Change the Letter: In the new dialog box, click the “Change…” button.
  4. Assign the New Letter: A final window will appear with a dropdown menu. Here, you can choose any of the available letters (those already in use won’t be shown). Select your new letter and click “OK”.

  5. Confirm the Warning: Windows will pop up a warning about programs that might stop working. If you’ve followed the precautions above, you’re good to go. Click “Yes” to confirm.

While the change is often instant, my pro tip is to reboot your computer afterward to ensure all system services and the OS have properly registered the change.

Method 2: Assign a Drive Letter with Diskpart (The Advanced Way)

For those who prefer the command line or need to automate tasks, Diskpart is a powerful utility built right into Windows. It’s critical to use it with care, as a wrong command can lead to data loss.

  1. Open Command Prompt as an Administrator: Search for “cmd” in the Start Menu, right-click on “Command Prompt,” and select “Run as administrator.”
  2. Launch Diskpart: Type diskpart and press Enter. The prompt will change to DISKPART>.
  3. List Your Volumes: Type the command list volume and hit Enter. You’ll see a list of all partitions with their current letter, label, and volume number. Identify the volume number of the drive you want to change.
  4. Select the Volume: Use the command select volume X, replacing ‘X’ with the volume number you identified in the previous step. For example: select volume 4.
  5. Assign the New Letter: Finally, use the command assign letter=L, replacing ‘L’ with the letter you want to assign. For example: assign letter=E.
  6. Exit Diskpart: Type exit to close the utility, and then you can close the Command Prompt window.

Here is a complete example of the commands as you would see them in the console:

C:\WINDOWS\system32>diskpart

Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.22621.1

Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: TECH-BLOG-PC

DISKPART> list volume

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 0     D                       DVD-ROM         0 B  No Media
  Volume 1         System Rese  NTFS   Partition    500 MB  Healthy    System
  Volume 2     C   Windows      NTFS   Partition    237 GB  Healthy    Boot
  Volume 3     E   Data         NTFS   Partition    931 GB  Healthy
  Volume 4     F   Backup       NTFS   Partition   1863 GB  Healthy

DISKPART> select volume 4

Volume 4 is the selected volume.

DISKPART> assign letter=G

DiskPart successfully assigned the drive letter or mount point.

DISKPART> exit

Troubleshooting Common Drive Letter Errors

Sometimes, things don’t go as planned. Here are the solutions to the most common issues I’ve encountered over the years.

Error: “The drive letter is already in use”

This is the classic error. Even if you don’t see the letter in File Explorer, it might be temporarily assigned to a device (like a recently disconnected SD card reader) or a hidden network drive. The solution is simple: just pick another available letter.

The “Change Drive Letter…” Option is Grayed Out

This almost always happens for one of two reasons: you’re trying to modify the system drive (C:), or the partition is protected or active. As I mentioned, you cannot change the C: drive letter. If it’s another drive, it could be a hidden recovery partition, which you should not modify.

The Drive Doesn’t Appear in Disk Management

If you’ve connected a brand-new drive and don’t see it, it likely hasn’t been initialized or formatted yet. That’s a different issue entirely. In that case, you’ll need a guide on what to do when Windows doesn’t recognize a hard drive to solve it.

How to Swap a Drive and Keep the Same Letter?

A very common scenario: you want to replace an old hard drive (e.g., your D: drive) with a new SSD, and you want the new SSD to become the new D: drive. Here’s the procedure I recommend:

  1. Temporarily change the old drive’s letter to something out of the way (e.g., change D: to Z:).
  2. Assign the desired letter (D:) to the new SSD.
  3. Transfer your data. For an exact copy, your best bet is cloning the drive *before* you begin this process.
  4. Once you’ve verified everything is working correctly, you can disconnect and remove the old drive.