I have a blank disk on my Vista Ultimate system (32bit software on 64bit
platform) that I want to create 3 partitions on. I originally had a single
large partition that I deleted leaving a large block of free space. I
created three partitions easily using the "create partition primary size=n"
command. When I went to the assignment of partition letters I was able to
assign "D" to the first partition okay but when I went to the next two
partitions I got an error "Diskpart has encountered and error: the directory
is not empty. See system event log for details." I went to the system event
log and found nothing and I have no idea what is going on with this
confounding tool that Microsoft's geniuses came up with.

I can find no reference on the web to such an error message so if anyone
here has some help to offer it will be much appreciated.

Try assigning drive letter(s) in management consol, right click on
"Computer" in start menu or desktop where ever you have it, click "Manage",
on the left side click "Disk Management" right click your Volume(s) click
"Change Drive Letter and Paths" if that doen"t work you can "Delete Volume"
and re-create "New Simple Volume" and assing drive letter


"C. Britton" <CBritton@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:0A6B87FE-E4A2-4C78-90FF-E04CB6A04A01@microsoft.com...[color=blue]
>I have a blank disk on my Vista Ultimate system (32bit software on 64bit
> platform) that I want to create 3 partitions on. I originally had a
> single
> large partition that I deleted leaving a large block of free space. I
> created three partitions easily using the "create partition primary
> size=n"
> command. When I went to the assignment of partition letters I was able to
> assign "D" to the first partition okay but when I went to the next two
> partitions I got an error "Diskpart has encountered and error: the
> directory
> is not empty. See system event log for details." I went to the system
> event
> log and found nothing and I have no idea what is going on with this
> confounding tool that Microsoft's geniuses came up with.
>
> I can find no reference on the web to such an error message so if anyone
> here has some help to offer it will be much appreciated.[/color]

Hello
What is the exact syntax of the diskpart command that you are using?
Are you sure that the drive letter that you are trying to assign has not
already been assigned?
Can you try assigning a different drive letter to the volume displaying the
error message?
Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
--------------------
|>Thread-Topic: Can't assign partition letter, get error "directory not
empty"
|>thread-index: AcdSFLutVefyP1RSRuSUk0mvg1gPww==
|>X-WBNR-Posting-Host: 68.231.169.218
|>From: =?Utf-8?B?Qy4gQnJpdHRvbg==?= <CBritton@discussions.microsoft.com>
|>Subject: Can't assign partition letter, get error "directory not empty"
|>Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2007 13:52:20 -0800
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|>
|>I have a blank disk on my Vista Ultimate system (32bit software on 64bit
|>platform) that I want to create 3 partitions on. I originally had a
single
|>large partition that I deleted leaving a large block of free space. I
|>created three partitions easily using the "create partition primary
size=n"
|>command. When I went to the assignment of partition letters I was able
to
|>assign "D" to the first partition okay but when I went to the next two
|>partitions I got an error "Diskpart has encountered and error: the
directory
|>is not empty. See system event log for details." I went to the system
event
|>log and found nothing and I have no idea what is going on with this
|>confounding tool that Microsoft's geniuses came up with.
|>
|>I can find no reference on the web to such an error message so if anyone
|>here has some help to offer it will be much appreciated.
|>

Thanks for the reply. The syntax I was using with Diskpart was (with focus
on the appropriate volume) "assign letter=G."

After hearing from another responder who suggested using Disk Management I
did that (with no confidence that it would work). When I used the disk
management snap in to assign the letter I saw the problem. The disk letter
was not available for some reason.

In fact two letters were unavailable and they happened to be letters that
had been used on the drive that contains the C: (boot) partition. I had
earlier deleted those partitions to create free space so I could extend the
boot partition. I was never able extend the C: partition despite having read
on one of the forums that it can be done. It appears that the system has
"eaten" those two drive letters and I don't know how to get them back. My
guess is that it would require some registry tweak to do so.

In any case I chose the next available drive letter and it was assigned
right away.

I know this probably wont happen but I would suggest that if anyone at
Microsoft ever revisits the code for the Diskpart command, he or she should
have it give a simple "Drive letter not available" message when the error I
encountered occurs. The message it does give is totally worthless to a user
out here in the customer world.

Thanks again for your interest and your response.

""Darrell Gorter[MSFT]"" wrote:
[color=blue]
> Hello
> What is the exact syntax of the diskpart command that you are using?
> Are you sure that the drive letter that you are trying to assign has not
> already been assigned?
> Can you try assigning a different drive letter to the volume displaying the
> error message?
> Thanks,
> Darrell Gorter[MSFT]
>
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
> --------------------
> |>Thread-Topic: Can't assign partition letter, get error "directory not
> empty"
> |>thread-index: AcdSFLutVefyP1RSRuSUk0mvg1gPww==
> |>X-WBNR-Posting-Host: 68.231.169.218
> |>From: =?Utf-8?B?Qy4gQnJpdHRvbg==?= <CBritton@discussions.microsoft.com>
> |>Subject: Can't assign partition letter, get error "directory not empty"
> |>Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2007 13:52:20 -0800
> |>Lines: 13
> |>Message-ID: <0A6B87FE-E4A2-4C78-90FF-E04CB6A04A01@microsoft.com>
> |>MIME-Version: 1.0
> |>Content-Type: text/plain;
> |> charset="Utf-8"
> |>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
> |>X-Newsreader: Microsoft CDO for Windows 2000
> |>Content-Class: urn:content-classes:message
> |>Importance: normal
> |>Priority: normal
> |>X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.3790.2757
> |>Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windows.vista.general
> |>Path: TK2MSFTNGHUB02.phx.gbl
> |>Xref: TK2MSFTNGHUB02.phx.gbl microsoft.public.windows.vista.general:40509
> |>NNTP-Posting-Host: tk2msftsbfm01.phx.gbl 10.40.244.148
> |>X-Tomcat-NG: microsoft.public.windows.vista.general
> |>
> |>I have a blank disk on my Vista Ultimate system (32bit software on 64bit
> |>platform) that I want to create 3 partitions on. I originally had a
> single
> |>large partition that I deleted leaving a large block of free space. I
> |>created three partitions easily using the "create partition primary
> size=n"
> |>command. When I went to the assignment of partition letters I was able
> to
> |>assign "D" to the first partition okay but when I went to the next two
> |>partitions I got an error "Diskpart has encountered and error: the
> directory
> |>is not empty. See system event log for details." I went to the system
> event
> |>log and found nothing and I have no idea what is going on with this
> |>confounding tool that Microsoft's geniuses came up with.
> |>
> |>I can find no reference on the web to such an error message so if anyone
> |>here has some help to offer it will be much appreciated.
> |>
>
>[/color]