1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,200 You're probably reminded of how Windows usually lives on your C drive every time you open up File 2 00:00:05,200 --> 00:00:11,120 Explorer to search for that super important word document. But why does the most important drive 3 00:00:11,120 --> 00:00:16,480 on your computer get assigned to the third letter of the alphabet? Is Microsoft tacitly admitting 4 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:22,400 that Windows is an average operating system? Come on, Microsoft would never do that. The answer 5 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:27,520 goes all the way back to the early days of personal computing when DOS was the big time 6 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:33,440 operating system of the day. You see, early PCs often did not come with hard drives in them. 7 00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:38,240 Those were expensive back then, so instead, users would often run their operating systems and other 8 00:00:38,240 --> 00:00:44,880 programs directly off of floppy disks. This included DOS, which by default assigned the letters A and 9 00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:51,280 B to the floppy drives. Many early computers like the original IBM PC from 1981 were often configured 10 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:56,160 with two floppy drives, so this letter assignment scheme made sense. So once hard drives started 11 00:00:56,160 --> 00:01:00,560 becoming more commonplace later in the same decade, operating systems started to assign 12 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:06,560 the next letter that wasn't reserved for floppy drives, C. And while early versions of DOS actually 13 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:12,960 would still assign C to a third floppy drive if the system had that many, later versions always 14 00:01:12,960 --> 00:01:18,480 reserved C for an actual hard drive. But because Windows was originally based on DOS, 15 00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:23,680 Windows continued the tradition of assigning the letter C to the main hard drive. By the time we 16 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:28,880 got Windows XP in 2001, which was the first non-DOS Windows for home users, the convention of 17 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:34,800 using A for floppy drive and C for the main hard drive was firmly cemented, even though PCs don't 18 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:39,680 come with floppy drives anymore and it's getting harder and harder to find computer cases that even 19 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:45,280 have floppy drive bays. Windows has stuck with assigning C to the system drive since there 20 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:50,240 hasn't been much reason to break from the convention. And many third-party programs are written 21 00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:56,480 assuming that C is the location of the Windows install, making changing the paradigm even more 22 00:01:56,480 --> 00:02:03,200 icky. Okay, so what about the other letters? After C, Windows assigns remaining letters in order 23 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:09,200 to any other attached stored devices. Unless we're talking network drives, in which case Windows will 24 00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:15,760 actually start with Z, or Z for you Americans, and work its way backwards. But let's say this 25 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:20,480 doesn't sit particularly well with you. And being the logical computer enthusiast you are, 26 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:25,120 you want to use the letter A for your main system drive. Makes sense, I won't hold that against 27 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:29,360 you. There's actually nothing stopping you from doing this on your own. If you open up Windows 28 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:33,440 Disk Management, you can change the letter of your system drive by right clicking on it, 29 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:37,920 picking the change drive letter and paths option, and just selecting an available drive 30 00:02:37,920 --> 00:02:42,960 letter from the drop-down menu. Be aware, though, that doing this could break programs that are 31 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:47,120 already installed on your computer that are looking for C, as we previously mentioned. 32 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:52,960 If you really don't want to use C for your system a better, but still not perfect way to do this, 33 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:58,400 is to assign your desired letter to an empty partition first, then install Windows to that 34 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:04,080 partition. Of course, it would be nice if Windows setup would just straight up ask you what letter 35 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:09,040 you'd like for your drive to have when you first start using your PC. But quite honestly, 36 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:13,360 not that many people have been clamoring for Microsoft to stop using the letter C, 37 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:17,520 so that particular Windows Quirk is probably here to stay. But you could also just rename 38 00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:22,000 your second drive, the A drive, for those ultra important A tier files that you want to keep in 39 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:27,360 one place. Makes it a lot easier to find them. So guys, if you liked this video, hit like, hit 40 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:31,040 subscribe, and be sure to hit us up in the comments section with your suggestions for 41 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:33,040 topics that we should cover in the future.