Windows 7: Partition - Mark as Active

We use this tutorial many times every day to rescue Windows 7.

Thanks, unfortunately it did not work in my case and in fact MiniTools Partition Wizard is what caused the boot problem in the first place, an installed copy never succeeded in a reboot to copy the partition. FWIW a Paragon rescue disk saw the partition as invalid, although GParted identified it as NTFS.

Doesn't really explain enough of the background to your problem.
I've found the miniTools (installed) version fine for smaller jobs eg. setting partitions active etc. But for anything substantial, particularly partition moves, you should use the Bootable version, with the Windows OS out of the way. Apart from much greater flexibility, the bootable PW has proven more accurate at times in reporting accurate partition information compared with Windows Disk Management.

Well my particular problem is OT to this thread anyway, and there is always more info whether relevant or not.

What you said applies to everything anyway, and yet I've used an installed copy of similar programs if not PW itself to copy partition fine for XP. What I don't understand is why a simple reboot for partition copy has created a situation where the straight forward boot fixes of different utilities will not work.

My friend has Ubuntu on a seperate Harddrive and wants to uninstall but doesn't have the Internet or a Startup repair Disk so He was wondering that if he marks his Windows Drive as Active will it get rid of the GRUB Bootloader?

Josh

My comments apply to everything
If you don't want to take the advice re bootable PW don't take it.

If other installed programs work then use them.

This is a Windows 7 forum not an XP forum.

Hi Josh,

I'm not sure where the GRUB is installed to. If it's on the same hard drive Ubuntu is installed on, you should be able to just disconnect the drive, mark the Windows partition as active (if it's not already so), and run a startup repair. It's possible a startup repair will be unnecessary, give it a try!

If simply marking the partition as active doesn't do the trick, a repair disc can easily be created. See both methods in this guide: System Repair Disc - Create

Having severe difficulties getting any of the above (and other related) methods to work. A quick run-down of my partitions:

Hitachi is partitioned in two; C: houses Windows 7 and D: houses my old installation of WinXP.
WinXP is listed as System,Active (and Primary Partition); while Windows 7 is listed as Boot (and Logical).



When I come to try step one I immediately hit a hurdle; I have absolutely no option to set the partition as active. It's not greyed out, it simply doesn't even exist in the right-click context menu.


When I run diskpart and navigate down to the Hitachi, I am met with this.



Partition 1 is Windows XP
Partition 0 is Windows 7
Partition 2 is .... Wait- What? Three partitions?

Trying to set 0 as active nets me the message "Virtual Disk Service error: The specified partition is not a primary or logical volume." Ok. Balls.

Trying to set 2 as active brings further calamity: "The specified partition type is not valid for this operation." Well screw you then, computer.



The startup repair method was similarly unsuccessful, presumably because I had yet to flick the active status over to the Windows 7 partition.


I would love to say that I realise I'm doing something wrong, but being as I can't even perform step one I would hesitate to assume such. Perhaps someone on here can highlight what is causing my computer to be a complete hassle.

Thanks,
- Oxy

Hello Oxy,

Using Partition Wizard, right-click on your C partition, and select Modify > Set Partition as Primary. You should then be able to mark it as Active. While you have Partition Wizard up and running, you might find it fastest just to use that.

Good luck, post back any questions you may have!