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Recovery Guides: step-by-step DiskPatch operations:
Changing partition attributes.
A list of terms used in this page and
their explanation can be found here.
| Problem
: |
PC
does not boot but partitions are okay |
| Symptoms
: |
blank screen at boot time |
| Solution
: |
change
partition attributes (set a partition as 'active') |
Why do we need to do this?
If you have just rebuilt the partition tables there's a good chance that
DiskPatch had to create a new MBR from scratch. DiskPatch does not
set any bootable partition to 'active'. This is done so that you
can not accidentally restart the pc and start from a partition that may
still be damaged: Windows might be inclined to run 'chkdsk' and that
could very much ruin your day.
So if you checked the results of the partition table
repair and everything is okay, you may need to set a partition active
and allow the pc to boot the operating system that it contains.
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Things you need to know before we
start:
- In the world of disks and data
recovery we start counting disks at 0 (zero). So the first disk is 'disk
0', the second disk is 'disk 1', etc.
- Use the cursor keys to navigate
the menus, use the <Enter> key to select an option, use the
<Escape>
key to abort or leave a menu.
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Here we go:
| Start DiskPatch and select the disk. |
(example: your screen will differ)
After selecting the disk, the menu
will expand, showing actions that can be performed for the selected
disk.
The selected disk will be marked in high intensity blue in the disk list (disk
0 in our
example). |
| Now select 'MBR related tasks', then
'Change partition attributes'. |
The partitions that are present in
the MBR are displayed, along with their status (active, hidden).
The partition in our example (a 1Gb FAT32 partition) does not have a
status set. |
| Select the partition and press
<Enter> to display the attribute menu. |
Select the appropriate option and
press <Enter>. In our example we'll set the partition active so the PC
can boot from it.
Changes are saved immediately, there's no need to confirm anything when
setting partition attributes. |
| The attribute is now set. Press
<Escape> to exit the 'Change partition attribute' menu. |
Please note:
- Only 1 partition should be set
active; setting 2 or more active partitions will render the PC
unbootable.
- Only primary partitions should
be set active. Hiding can be done for both primary partitions and
the extended partition.
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