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Drive Name Change

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Drive Name Change
Published by Brink
01-10-2008

How to Rename a Drive in Vista

Information
  This will show you how to rename a drive to whatever you want it to be displayed as in Vista.
Tip
  If your default drive name is missing or was changed and you did not do it with the methods below, then look for a hidden autorun.inf when you open the drive letter in Computer and right click on the autorun.inf file and click on Delete. Next, approve the deletion.
RELATED LINKS:
EXAMPLE: Before and After Hard Disk Drive Rename
NOTE: This is in the Computer (Start menu) window. (METHOD ONE)
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EXAMPLE: Before and After DVD Drive Rename
NOTE: You will notice that for Devices with Removable Storage there is no Rename option when you right click on the device. (METHOD TWO)
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METHOD ONE:
For Hard Disk Drives
1. Open the Start menu.
2. Click on the Computer button. (See screenshot below)

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3. In the Computer window, right click on the drive and click Rename. (See screenshot below)

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4. Type in a name you want to be displayed for the drive and press Enter. (See screenshot below)

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5. Click on Continue for Access Denied prompt. (See screenshot below)

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6. Click on Continue for UAC prompt.
7. When done, close the Computer window.



METHOD TWO:
For Devices with Removable Storage
NOTE
  For example, a DVD drive. This will also work for all the other drives with drive letters too.
CREDIT TO: Member: AvatarOfTheShip
1. Open the Start Menu.
2. In the white line (Start Search) area, type regedit and press Enter.
3. Click the Continue button for the UAC prompt.
4. In regedit, go to: (See screenshot below step 5)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer

5. In the left pane, right click on explorer.exe and click on New and Key.

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6. Type DriveIcons and press Enter. (See screenshot below)
7. In the left pane, right click on DriveIcons and click on New and Key.

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8. Type the drive letter (EX: E) you want to change the drive name for and press Enter.
(See screenshot below)
9. In the left pane, right click on the drive letter (EX: E) and click on New and Key.

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10. Type DefaultLabel and press Enter. (See screenshot below)
11. In the right pane, right click on (Default) and click Modify.

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12. To Change the Drive Name -
A) Type in a name (Ex: My DVD) and click OK. (See screenshot below step 13)
B) Go to step 14.
13. To Restore the Default Drive Name -
A) Leave this empty and click OK. (See screenshot below)
B) Go to step 15.
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14. The registry should look similar to this now. (See screenshot below)

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15. Repeat steps 9 to 14 if you want to add another drive letter icon to change.
16. Close regedit.
That's it,
Shawn

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Applies to
All Vista Versions
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Old 02-08-2008  
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Re: Drive Name Change

Updated 2-8-2008 to include METHOD TWO for devices with removable storage, like a DVD drive.

Shawn

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Old 02-10-2008  
RexNoctis
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Re: Drive Name Change

Very nice!

Ideal for seperating physical and virtual DVD drives!

Thanks!
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Re: Drive Name Change

Your welcome RexNoctis, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Thanks to Member:AvatarOfTheShip for providing the tip in Method Two.

Shawn
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Old 05-21-2008  
dennisthemenace
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Re: Drive Name Change

I have 2 virtual CD/DVD drives that I use for mounting ISO images. They show up in
windows explorer as
(S: DVD Drive
(T: DVD Drive

I applied the method 2 registry changes to rename to Virtual Drive. The results were
(S: DVD Drive - Virtual Drive
(T: DVD Drive - Virtual Drive

It appended the registry key name to the existing name. Is there any way to completely rename the drives so that it will appear as
(S: Virtual Drive
(T: Virtual Drive
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Old 05-21-2008  
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Re: Drive Name Change

Hi Dennis,

Welcome to Vista Forums.

Not that I'm aware of. I could only get to add the name to the end too.

Sorry,
Shawn
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