Re: Changing Windows XP Boot Partition

From: Steve Hartley (steveh_at_NOSPAMhunkys.fslife.co.uk)
Date: 11/10/04 

Date: Wed, 10 Nov 2004 16:22:03 -0000

Well I thought Id make it easier so I swapped the drives back around and
went to the drive management option but the 'Mark as Active' option was
ghosted.

When I booted my computer because I have the remains of the old operating
system on my other drive it asks me which operating system I'd like to use
so it boots to it but its the D drive. I want it to be the C: and to boot
straight up so I can format the old disc as at the moment the boot files are
taking up valuable space.

Just in case Im babbling heres the score just to clarify:

C: XP Home (corrupt version, most files missing) I want to make this the
slave and format completely.

D: XP Pro (new install but will not boot when made as the master) I want
this as boot disc.

They are both on the same Dual IDE cable with the Master the primary.

"Adam Membrey" <membreya@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:OXLo41zxEHA.2996@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> 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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