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copied!<p>If you're running Windows CE then \ is the root directory. This resembles Unix's / root directory. This is the only kind of Windows where you can get a simple answer to your question.</p> <p>If you're running Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 then the closest equivalent is the partition containing files NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM, BOOT.INI, and BOOTFONT.BIN. The BIOS and MBR find this partition by finding which drive to start booting, scanning the MBR, and looking for the active partition. Microsoft calls this the system partition. I'm not completely sure how a program can find which partition this was. Anyway, when you find which drive letter this is, say letter L, then you could say that L:\ is the root directory. 99% of the time this will be drive letter C:.</p> <p>Also if you're running Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 then you also have a partition which contains the Windows system files, such as directory \Windows or others. Microsoft calls this the boot partition. You can get the drive letter from the symbol %SystemDrive% as someone else said. If this is drive letter Q then you can say that Q:\ is the root of the system drive.</p> <p>If you're running Vista then things are more complicated. If you installed by booting the DVD, then the boot partition (containing the system files) is C: and your system partition (containing the boot files) is D:, unless they're the same partition and then the partition is C:. But if you installed by having Windows running already, inserting the DVD and starting the installer under that Windows installation, then the drive letters could be almost anything.</p> <p>In Windows 95/98/ME the BIOS and MBR would look for files IO.SYS, COMMAND.COM, and some others, in the active partition. This would usually get drive letter C: so the root partition would be C:. As always, the Windows system files could be installed in directory \Windows or others on any partition.</p> <p>Some people talk about a desktop. Well sure, each logged in user has a desktop. This is somewhat like each Unix user's home directory. It sure isn't a root directory.</p> <p>Addendum: In the second-to-last paragraph, about Windows 95/98/ME, I typed "so the root partition would be C:." That is, letter C, a colon, a backslash, and then a period for the end of the sentence (not part of the directory name). When viewing the page, the backslash isn't showing. But when editing this answer to add this addendum, the backslash is there exactly as it should be, exactly as I typed it.</p>

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