Can't boot from recovery CD after i made the boot partion active

Hi Ztruker ! Thanks for the answer !

I wasn't able to boot from the DVD as i said it would just show the 0xc000000f error screen and would not let me boot from it.

I Installed Ubuntu in dual boot from a USB live and was the able to load Windows 7 from the boot menu and everything works just fine. I created a system repair disk (on a DVD) and a system image (on an external drive). I'm considering wiping all partitions into a big one for Windows and a 20 gigs partition in case i need to install Ubuntu again in the future, when i'm done with that i'd like to restore my windows image to the newly created partition with the DVD and the system image from the external drive. That would be better because it all got messed up because i wanted to rearrange my partitions in the first place. I don't know how possible/risky that is (mainly the wiping partitions part).

I haven't tried restarting the laptop yet for fear it would be do the same shit again. I'm gonna go ahead with it and run Start up repair as many times as i need but i i'm scared to uninstall Ubuntu in case it messes everything back again !

Why would you move the Active flag and expect it to continue booting?

Quite obviously you needed to move it back to where it was: Partition - Mark as Active (Method Two)

If some other random recklessness was done it may still not start and requires running Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times.

But the last thing you'd need to do is reinstall since we deal with these issues here every day and always get them fixed - even when someone is just randomly changing things to try to destroy their Win7.

No other recklessness was done and system repair worked just fine from the repair disk.

The reason I talked about reinstalling is I'm not happy with the present partitions (due to a previous install of Ubuntu for which I had created a 70 gigs partition since I had a similar issue in the past and no time to troubleshoot) and want to "reset" my partitions.

The reason I'm puzzled is I set active the system/boot partition, the one that's supposed to be active in the first place, no ? I swear I won't be playing with these things anymore, lesson learned.

Hi there
have you tried this

After booting from Windows recovery disk / installation disk

do :

1) select REPAIR system

2) choose tools & utilities==>command prompt

now type the following two commands

bootrec/fixmbr
bootrec/fixboot

(bootrec is the directory to execute the commands from).

Now HDD should work properly.

merci beaucoup. !!!

(For re-partitioning just download bootable copy of GPARTED - also boots from USB and is free --can move / resize partitions WITHOUT losing data. IMO always keep OS and DATA separate).

Cheers
jimbo

The System boot files and label is applied to the 100mb System Reserved partition if it is created during install on an unpartitioned drive. Otherwise it is placed on C or the first Primary partition in order, which is another reason it is best to unplug all other HD's.

If you then move the Active flag to another Primary partition (Logical cannot accept Active flag or boot files) WIn7 will not start without running Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times to write the System boot files to the partition, update the MBR and make it bootable. If you did not do this or something like Bootmgr - Move to C:\ with EasyBCD - Windows 7 Forums then it will not boot until you do so, or move the Active flag back to where it was using Partition - Mark as Active (Method Two)

@gregrocker : I do have a 100mo OEM partition (placed in the first spot), followed by a 20go Recovery partition (idk where this one comes from, maybe that's a system image) and then my C: set as active and boot partition.

I did run startup repair three times, the 1st after I booted from the repair dvd it suggested i should repair startup and the 2nd and 3rd times it didn't but i repaired anyway and was able to boot from the hard drive

Hi Jimbo ! I'm wondering whether I should do what you said if startup repair succeeded ? I'm not taking any chances if I try to do it, right ?

The 100mb System Rserved partition is intended to boot Win7. It should be the one marked Active. Did you move the Active flag from that to C? Why?

Don't move it back now if it's booting. It's not worth the risk.

The 10gb is your Recovery partition. It can be booted to restore your PC to factory condition, but with all the bloatware that interferes with Win7 performance. That's why most tech enthusiasts don't use the factory install but instead Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 deleting all partitions to create new ones during the reinstall.