Introduction - Why the letter F is not good drive for Deployment Solution eXpress share and how to change it
If you try to image a computer that has the drive letter F in use, the computer will not connect to the Altiris Deployment solution for imaging. I couldn't figure out why the boot disk wouldn't work properly. Finally, I realized that it might be a conflict with the drive letters. Many of the newest computers have multiple partitions (Windows, Restore, Diagnostics, etc.) on the main hard drive, a DVD drive, and an SD card reader. These drives and partitions use up many drive letters including the letter F, which is the default eXpress share for Altiris Deployment Solution. If you want to image these computers, you can either delete all of these partitions or you can change the default drive letter for the eXpress share on the Deployment Solution.
Changing the default eXpress share drive letter from F to another letter on the Deployment Solution
You must change the default eXpress share drive in at least two and depending on your setup you may need to change the drive letter in three different locations.
First, the main change is in the Altiris Deployment Solution's configuration. Click "Start" > "All Programs" > "Altiris" > "Deployment Solution" > "Configuration"
A new window will open and click the "Options" button. Then, click on the "Drive Mappings" tab.
Find the F: or eXpress drive and change it to another letter that you don't usually use in your offices (try K) > click "OK" , "OK", and "OK".
Second, if you use Boot disks, at the end of the configuration, make sure you change the eXpress share to be the same letter that you picked above (not F). As seen in the picture below, select the drive F and copy the path and delete the path. Then, select the new drive letter, and paste the old F drive path into the new drive letter's path. You will need to modify this and create new boot disks. If you have the boot disk download the newest boot disk from the server, you will only need to configure this on the server. If you created USBor CD boot disks that don't download the newest boot disk, you will need to recreate those.
Third, another one of the places you may need to change this is in the automation agent settings (Tools > Options > Agent Settings). Each Automation agent's settings can be set by right-clicking on the computer and selecting "Change Agent Settings" > Automation Agent. You can change them all at once by right-clicking on them.
Conclusion
Changing the drive letter, will allow you image computers that have the letter F already take as a drive. Hopefully, Altiris and Symantec will pick a drive that is further down the alphabet next time so that these kind of problems do not occur. Hopefully, this article will help someone as it would have helped me. Figuring it out on your own is always fun though. Good luck.