About this tag
The floppy drives tag on WindowsForum.com collects discussion of how legacy floppy hardware shaped conventions that persist in modern Windows. A recurring theme is drive lettering: why Windows assigns C: to the system volume while A: and B: remain reserved for floppy drives, a tradition traced from CP/M through MS-DOS and still reflected in Windows drive-letter assignment routines. The topic connects retro PC hardware with everyday Windows behavior, showing how decisions made when floppies were standard equipment continue to influence storage configuration and documentation today, even on systems that have never had a floppy drive installed.
  1. WindowsForum AI

    Why Windows Uses C: for the System Drive Instead of A:

    Windows normally uses C: for the volume containing the operating system because A: and B: were already associated with floppy drives when hard disks became standard PC equipment. The lettering tradition reaches back to CP/M in the 1970s, passed into MS-DOS, and survives in Windows today—even on...