Will using a non-C:/ drive be a problem for installing Win7?

I am currently installing Win7 while leaving the original XP on the laptop so I can dual-boot. The XP is on C:/ and Win7 is on X:/ Will the X:/ be a problem when I install new programs? Like if I install Adobe Acrobat on Win7, will it try looking for the C: drive or will it automatically just use the X: drive? I hope that makes sense.

 

I think that the Win 7 drive will be called C: when running Win 7. In other words, the drive letters will be different when you boot to Win 7. So... "C:" will always refer to the drive containing the OS you're currently running. I think. Make sense?

I suggest you give your drives labels (if you haven't already) to avoid confusion. You can't use the label in a pathname, but Explorer will display the label next to the drive letter which can help you keep things straight.

 

the system variables like %systemdrive% and %systemroot% are what matters.

Of course, some stupid programs are still hardcoded to look for c: instead of the system variables. No way of telling if you have one or more of those programs.

Why not convert your existing XP installation to a VHD, back it up somewhere, then completely reformat your machine with a single partition and Windows7. Once Win7 is running you can install something like VirtualBox and import the XP VHD and run it as a client virtual machine.

 

yep i can confirm (doing it with vista and 7 for 3 months now) that it changes when u boot in to the specific OS

so when i go into vista (very rarely) it has the vista HDD as C and the 7 HDD as D then when i boot into win7 it has the vista HDD as D and the 7 HDD as C

 

Ya, the letters assigned to each drive is assigned by the OS, not BIOS.