Does anyone know whay "Set partition to active" is about under Disk Management?
I accidently select this option for [D: drive], hopefully, it does not cause
any damage so far. I would like to know what this option is about and how to
disable this option.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions
Eric

"Eric" <Eric@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A17C20C0-1274-44E3-99EE-6E06D7C2F7AE@microsoft.com...
> Does anyone know whay "Set partition to active" is about under Disk
> Management?
> I accidently select this option for [D: drive], hopefully, it does not
> cause
> any damage so far. I would like to know what this option is about and how
> to
> disable this option.
> Does anyone have any suggestions?
> Thanks in advance for any suggestions
> Eric

When you turn on your PC, the BIOS looks for the
partition marked "active". It will then execute the code
stored in the Master Boot Record (MBR) of this active
partition. If you mark the partition containing drive D:
as active then the machine will probably not boot up.

"Eric" <Eric@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A17C20C0-1274-44E3-99EE-6E06D7C2F7AE@microsoft.com...
> Does anyone know whay "Set partition to active" is about under Disk
> Management?
> I accidently select this option for [D: drive], hopefully, it does not
> cause
> any damage so far. I would like to know what this option is about and how
> to
> disable this option.
> Does anyone have any suggestions?
> Thanks in advance for any suggestions
> Eric

I would deny any use by any user to computer management, thus, disk
management, period.

The active bit, when set for a partition (only one can be set per physical
hard drive at any given time and must be a primary partition), directs the
system to look at that hard drive for boot files in a specific location
specified by that partition. If those files do not exist or the pointer for
boot files does not exist, the PC cannot continue.

As with all versions of windows, the actual boot files are located on the C:
partition. Not to be confused with the XP definition of windows boot
partition. XP calls the boot partition where the boot files and boot
partition are located, the system partition. If you're confused, so was I
when I first saw this. I'm still confused about the descriptor "boot" and
"system". Seems intentional to me.
Dave

Thank everyone for suggestions
Does anyone know how to disable the active partition for [D: drive] without
formating it? At this moment, I still can turn on / off my computer with no
problem. It seems Disk Management doesn't offer any option to disable this
active one.

Thank you very much for any suggestions
Eric

"Lil' Dave" wrote:

> "Eric" <Eric@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:A17C20C0-1274-44E3-99EE-6E06D7C2F7AE@microsoft.com...
> > Does anyone know whay "Set partition to active" is about under Disk
> > Management?
> > I accidently select this option for [D: drive], hopefully, it does not
> > cause
> > any damage so far. I would like to know what this option is about and how
> > to
> > disable this option.
> > Does anyone have any suggestions?
> > Thanks in advance for any suggestions
> > Eric
>
> I would deny any use by any user to computer management, thus, disk
> management, period.
>
> The active bit, when set for a partition (only one can be set per physical
> hard drive at any given time and must be a primary partition), directs the
> system to look at that hard drive for boot files in a specific location
> specified by that partition. If those files do not exist or the pointer for
> boot files does not exist, the PC cannot continue.
>
> As with all versions of windows, the actual boot files are located on the C:
> partition. Not to be confused with the XP definition of windows boot
> partition. XP calls the boot partition where the boot files and boot
> partition are located, the system partition. If you're confused, so was I
> when I first saw this. I'm still confused about the descriptor "boot" and
> "system". Seems intentional to me.
> Dave
>
>
>

Mark your first partition (drive C:) active.


"Eric" <Eric@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:5BCC00AF-F0A9-4E30-ACD8-AA447942B4C9@microsoft.com...
> Thank everyone for suggestions
> Does anyone know how to disable the active partition for [D: drive]
> without
> formating it? At this moment, I still can turn on / off my computer with
> no
> problem. It seems Disk Management doesn't offer any option to disable this
> active one.
>
> Thank you very much for any suggestions
> Eric
>
> "Lil' Dave" wrote:
>
>> "Eric" <Eric@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:A17C20C0-1274-44E3-99EE-6E06D7C2F7AE@microsoft.com...
>> > Does anyone know whay "Set partition to active" is about under Disk
>> > Management?
>> > I accidently select this option for [D: drive], hopefully, it does not
>> > cause
>> > any damage so far. I would like to know what this option is about and
>> > how
>> > to
>> > disable this option.
>> > Does anyone have any suggestions?
>> > Thanks in advance for any suggestions
>> > Eric
>>
>> I would deny any use by any user to computer management, thus, disk
>> management, period.
>>
>> The active bit, when set for a partition (only one can be set per
>> physical
>> hard drive at any given time and must be a primary partition), directs
>> the
>> system to look at that hard drive for boot files in a specific location
>> specified by that partition. If those files do not exist or the pointer
>> for
>> boot files does not exist, the PC cannot continue.
>>
>> As with all versions of windows, the actual boot files are located on the
>> C:
>> partition. Not to be confused with the XP definition of windows boot
>> partition. XP calls the boot partition where the boot files and boot
>> partition are located, the system partition. If you're confused, so was
>> I
>> when I first saw this. I'm still confused about the descriptor "boot"
>> and
>> "system". Seems intentional to me.
>> Dave
>>
>>
>>

An active primary partition only matters if you're trying to boot from
the disk that contains that partition. In other words, if you set the
BIOS to boot from the second disk drive, then the boot files for the
operating system has to be in that active primary partition. Since the
BIOS is set to boot from the first disk drive, the active primary
partition on the second disk drive is of no consequence.

On Tue, 21 Aug 2007 00:10:00 -0700, Eric
<Eric@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>Does anyone know whay "Set partition to active" is about under Disk Management?
>I accidently select this option for [D: drive], hopefully, it does not cause
>any damage so far. I would like to know what this option is about and how to
>disable this option.
>Does anyone have any suggestions?
>Thanks in advance for any suggestions
>Eric