Re: Changing Windows XP Boot Partition

From: Adam Membrey (membreya_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 11/10/04 

Date: Thu, 11 Nov 2004 02:53:45 +1100

Straight from the MS Helpfile :)

1 Open Command Prompt.
2 Type:
diskpart
3 At the DISKPART prompt, type:
list partition
4 Make note of the number of the partition that you want to mark as active.
At the DISKPART prompt, type:
select partition n
5 Select the partition, n, you want to mark as active.
At the DISKPART prompt, type:
"active"

Important
DiskPart verifies only that the partition is capable of containing an
operating system's startup files. DiskPart does not check the contents of
the partition. If you mistakenly mark a partition as "active" and it does
not contain the operating system's startup files, your computer might not
start.
ValueDescription
list partitionDisplays the partitions listed in the partition table of the
current disk.
select partitionSelects the specified partition and gives it focus. If no
partition is specified, the select command lists the current partition with
focus.
activeOn basic disks, marks the partition with focus as active. This informs
the basic input/output system (BIOS) or Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI)
that the partition or volume is a valid system partition or system volume.
Only partitions can be marked as active.

 Notes
To open a command prompt, click Start, point to All Programs, point to
Accessories, and then click Command Prompt.
You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administrators
group in order to complete this procedure. If your computer is connected to
a network, network policy settings might also prevent you from completing
this procedure.
You cannot mark a logical drive as active.
You can only mark a partition as active on a master boot record (MBR) disk.
A computer can only have one active partition per disk.
Changing or deleting an active partition might cause your computer not to
start.
The names commonly used for partitions containing the startup and operating
system files are system and boot partitions, respectively.
The system partition must be a primary partition that has been marked as
active for startup purposes and must be located on the disk that the
computer accesses when starting up the system. There can be only one active
system partition on a disk at a time. You can have multiple basic disks and
each can have one active partition. However the computer will only start
from one specific disk. If you want to use another operating system, you
must first mark its system partition as active before restarting the
computer.
The system partition can never be part of a striped volume, spanned volume,
or RAID-5 volume.
You cannot mark an existing dynamic volume as active. However, you can
convert a basic disk containing the active partition to a dynamic disk. Once
the disk is converted, the partition becomes a simple volume that is active.
If the active partition is not the current system or boot partition it
becomes a simple volume and loses its entry in the partition table, so it
can no longer be active.

"Steve Hartley" <steveh@NOSPAMhunkys.fslife.co.uk> wrote in message
news:cmtd56$cvf$1@news6.svr.pol.co.uk...
>> Does the slave drive have a bootable flag on its partition?
>
> Dont know
>
>>
>> To enable it go to:
>>
>> Start > Control Panel > Administrative tools > Computer Management
>>
>> Select Drive Management and right click on the partition that you want to
>> make bootable, ensure that you select "Make Partition Active". Then you
> can
>> swap the slave for the master drive.
>>
>
> Dont suppose there is anyway I can do this from dos to save me swapping
> the
> drives back over?
>
> Once I make it bootable will I be able to format the old master/unused
> drive
> which will now be the slave?
>
>> HTH
>>
>> "Steve Hartley" <steveh@NOSPAMhunkys.fslife.co.uk> wrote in message
>> news:cmtc1p$mv7$1@newsg3.svr.pol.co.uk...
>> > After having problems with an old XP installation I installed it on my
>> > slave
>> > hard disk but now I want to use this one as my master and the old one
>> > as
>> > an
>> > empty hard drive. After initially having this problem someone on here
> said
>> > I
>> > would need to swap the discs around (which Ive done) and use the XP
>> > bootdisc
>> > to go through a repair installation.
>> >
>> > This is where the problem lies. If I select this option it simply takes
> me
>> > to the DOS prompt on the appropriate drive and I dont know what to do
> from
>> > here.
>> >
>> > The only other choice seems to be to reinstall windows but this seems
>> > pointless as its already on my new master drive and doing so might
> delete
>> > My
>> > Documents as the warning screen indicates.
>> >
>> > I thought simply making the drive the Master would make it the boot
>> > disc
>> > but
>> > obviously this seems not to be the case. Any help with this matter
>> > would
>> > be
>> > gratefully appreciated. Ta in advance.
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>
>

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