August 21, 2003
Frustrated by Palm Desktop
So, I want to upgrade my PC's hard drive at home -- simple thing, right? Well, it would have been had it not been for a peculiarity in Palm Desktop (Palm Desktop is the PC program that allows me to synchronize and view my PDA's data on my desktop).
I install my new drive while keeping my old drive installed (so I can move stuff over). The new drive is given the letter F: -- no problem, right? Well, for Palm Desktop, it's a real problem. The geniuses who developed this program hard-coded into it the requirement that it run from C: and only C:. So, when I thought I was installing it onto F: (the new drive I booted into), it was really just re-installing it on C: (my old hard drive).
So, I had to unhook the old drive, re-install Windows onto the new drive so it would take on the drive letter C: (for whatever reason, Windows XP won't let you change the drive letter of your boot partition), and then start all over installing various programs and stuff. That's what I was doing from 9PM to 5AM last night. Fun stuff, eh?
Note to developers: Don't follow Palm's example in this regard. Please. For your own good.
Hmmm, being a Palm developer, I've installed the Palm Desktop many many times. There is no known requirement that it exist on the C drive. I happen to be running it right now off my D drive on a Win XP Pro machine.
Posted by Bryan Nystrom at August 21, 2003 04:35 PMInteresting, Bryan. After installing it to F:, I then moved the /palm directory from C: to F:. When I executed palm.exe, it ran the installer and re-created the /palm directory back on C: again. That was when I called Palm SG and their tech support told me that you couldn't install PD on a drive other than C:.
Maybe it's limited to being installed on the lowest-lettered bootable drive. Is your C: drive (if you have one) also a Windows boot drive?
- Craig
Holy cow, you worked from 9pm to 5am fixing your Palm Desktop and still had time to do 5 new posts on Gearbits??! Amazing.
Posted by Sam at August 21, 2003 05:21 PMHeh...well, I didn't exactly get much done today. ;-)
Posted by Craig at August 21, 2003 05:29 PMYes, my C drive is bootable.
Posted by Bryan Nystrom at August 22, 2003 06:23 PMI had the same problem.
I only have a h: drive
You just have to do a :
subst c: your_drive:\
for me : subst c: h:\
and ask the installer to install everything on the h drive
It's magic !
Thanks, gravite, for putting up the information. I was ready to pop when I realized it wouldn't install to my f:/ drive. Your solution worked like a charm. Thanks,
Marisa
Ok, I cannot install to F drive either. Exactly what do I need to do to make this work. It gives me an error message "1327 invalid drive C:\.
Please help.
Jennifer
Posted by Jennifer at November 8, 2003 11:07 AMhello all- I also have a issue with the 1327 error message on my desktop running xp pro. I tried also to load it on my sons laptop and send it to mine via our network . it did load on my sons machine but when we tried to open it on this machine it would not work. It wants to go to c and will not be deterred this pesky software. i was thinking of calling palm for fix but if anyone can give me a hand that would be great. Gravite , I do not understand "where" one would type that command.
Posted by mike at December 14, 2003 06:42 AMI also had the error message "1327 invalid drive C:\"
and I can voutch for the solution presented above
for me it was
h:\ subst c: h:\
and just ran the setup again it worked like a charm!
Thanks to gravite
Ah gravite -- nice fix. For the people who need detailed instructions:
1.) Start -> Run...
2.) Type 'cmd'
3.) press Enter
4.) Type 'subst c: x:\'
Replace the x with the actual drive letter
of the Windows boot partition (hint look at
the beginning of the line you are typing
on):
J:\Documents and Settings\Nodody> subst c: j:\
5.) Install the palm desktop now
I tried the subst command and it did create a virual drive (c:\). However I still got the same error. I am attempting this on a Terminal Server since the C:\ drive was remapped to N:\ to allow users access to their local hard drive through the familiar C:\. I disconnected the C:\ prior to running the subst command.
Posted by Miguel at February 28, 2004 03:57 PMThe net is a wonderful place, only cos of people like your good selves!!!
You've just ended 4 hours of misery and a few screaming rows with my cell phone provider! Thanks guys!
Danny
Posted by Danny at March 31, 2004 03:42 PMHELP!I have a new treo 600 my husband bought me for my birthday. I am trying to install it on my computer. I keep getting an error that says 1327 invalid drive J:\ I have Windows 98 and no drive J.
I know little to nothing about computers. Can you please help me? I need detailed instructions on how to do this. I called Palm. He knew less than I did. I told them I was taking it back.
Posted by Liz at April 7, 2004 07:15 PMLiz,
Did you try the suggestions described in the comments above yours?
If so and it didn't help, I'd suggest going to the Treo 600 group over at Yahoo! and seeing if they can offer some good advice. I bet they will be able to help you out, as they're very knowledgeable there.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/treo600
G'luck!
Posted by Craig at April 7, 2004 10:12 PMMy husband bought me a Treo 600 phone for my birthday. When I try to install the software on my computer (Windows 98) I get an error 1327 invlid drive J:\. I know when I tried to install my Cardscan I ran into the same problem. What they said is
1327 is a Windows Installer error message. It refers to your OS having a drive removed from your system. Microsoft has a work around for this issue. It basically tells you to map a folder on your desktop to the driver letter it asks for and run the install from that location.
I don't know how to do this. I know little to nothing about computers. Can you give me detailed directions? Start/run etc. I would be so grateful! Liz
Posted by Liz at April 8, 2004 10:23 AMAnybody still running Windows 98 that can give poor Liz here some directions on mapping a new drive letter?
Posted by Craig at April 8, 2004 11:23 AMGreat fix gravity, and thx nobody for the detailed follow-up. worked great.
Posted by joker at April 9, 2004 01:01 AMYou guys are awesome! thanks.
Posted by Hyland at April 24, 2004 07:59 PMTo leave a comment or read updated entries, please visit GearBits' current site. Thanks.