Dwight Watt - Watt Thoughts #137 5/25/2007


#137 - CD Drive Name Windows 98 to XP

This is written in reference to an error that sometimes occurs when upgrading Windows 98 to Windows XP. I realize many of you are already using XP and some on Vista but I am still getting requests to upgrade 98 to XP and actually still work on a few machines running Windows 95.

If in the process of the copying files phase of upgrading to Windows XP you get an error tat it does not recognize CD drive but yet still shows it, it may be name give the CD drive. I have seen this error several times, but usually does not occur.

The problem is that the CD drive has a name that Windows XP says is not permissible. Oddly enough naming the drive cdrom is not a permissible name for a CD drive. The cases I have run into were that the drive was named cdrom.

The solution is to change the name of the CD drive. Since this is an upgrade issue, it means change it in Windows 98 which is what you are running upgrade from. To change the name edit the AUTOEXEC.BAT file (case may be different in name) and CONFIG.SYS file. Look for the MSCDEX line and for the /d switch. It should not be /d:cdrom. If it is change cdrom to a new name in both files, save and restart the computer and then upgrade should go through this step.

Dwight

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