Bootable partition confusion

Saltgrass said:

You do not have to install the system, the files are already there. What you have to do is make the C: partition active, so it is bootable, then run a startup repair from the Install DVD to fix the boot.

If you don't know how to do a startup repair, boot to the Win 7 Install DVD and select language, then on the next page, select repair from the lower left of the window.

Perhaps I'm not being clear. According to Disk Manager, C:\ is already active. But it still won't allow me to delete D:/ or change it to inactive.

Well. maybe I am confused because I believe you can only have one active partition per hard disk.

Have you applied all your pending operations?

But still, the System partition is where the boot files are. If you want to check, look for the hidden, system file bootmgr and the folder Boot.

If you feel both partitions are active, then delete D: and run startup repair. If you do not get some type of message within 30 seconds, then it may take as much as 7 hours to fix.

Saltgrass said:

Well. maybe I am confused because I believe you can only have one active partition per hard disk.

Have you applied all your pending operations?

You and me both!

Its very circular - when I applied the pending operations in PW the repair installation only referenced the old 7 installation, not the new one on C:\, so I ended up fixing what I was trying to get rid of!

Night Hawk said:

I wouldn't be planning to delete any partition. Reinstalling the program may clear up the misreading by that.

C not D contains the boot files. Those are always placed on the root of the first primary even when Windows is installed to any other partition or drive.

The Disk Management shows the actual partition theme and is what to go by there.

So I should disregard this?

You can make the D: partition inactive and it will not be bootable.

Saltgrass said:

You can make the D: partition inactive and it will not be bootable.

How? Neither Disk manager nor PW will permit this option.

Night Hawk said:

C not D contains the boot files. Those are always placed on the root of the first primary even when Windows is installed to any other partition or drive..

Not exactly correct. If the partition is not active, it will have no boot files on it.

Also, the System partition is where the boot files are. Check your own system.

It seems the third party partitioning software has caused some confusion.

surfasb said:

forget using Disk Management when trying to figure out which partition is active. Fire up DISKPART

That might be true, but third party software may be able to do things not normally done by other software. In some cases those actions may be detrimental.

In this case, it might be interesting to see what diskpart said.