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Thread: active partition doesn't contain system files

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    Smile active partition doesn't contain system files

    I have a problem after trying to install Ubuntu and giving up:

    my D: partition is active primary and has no files on it;
    my C: partition has pagefile/crash dump and has all windows files.

    Does anyone know how to get all my windows files onto my D: drive....i assume it's not as easy as just copying them across :S I want to do this so I can remove on eof the partitions and give myself some more space!

    Cheers!

    Tom

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    Re: active partition doesn't contain system files

    Format start again.

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    Re: active partition doesn't contain system files

    Is there an NTFS file system on the D drive? If not you need to format just that partition - but it will destroy any existing filesystem on that partition.

    (If you tried installing Ubuntu on the partition Windows calls the D drive, you probably have an ext2 or ext3 file system, which is incomprehensible to Windows.)
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    Re: active partition doesn't contain system files

    D: is NTFS, but is the active disk, so has the boot sector on it.......

    My little sojourn into Ubuntu made me start again anyway (formatted everything and re-installed windows), somehow the windows files installed on one drive and the boot sector ended up on the other.....?

    I suppose i need to either change the boot disk to C: (make it the active disk) or move all my files to D:

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    Re: active partition doesn't contain system files

    The MBR is always at the first sector. Code in the MBR examines the partition table to determine which is the active partition, which will contain some hidden files required for the boot process. This is not something I am particularly familiar with (there is an excellent article by Paul Adams here...

    http://forums.hexus.net/operating-sy...de-inside.html

    that describes it. Read section 2 that describes the role of the NTLDR file

    This link also gives a step by step guide that you may also find useful...

    The computer does not start after you change the active partition by using the Disk Management tool

    useful. I would re-iterate the advice given - back up any critical data file before you try changing anything.
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    Re: active partition doesn't contain system files

    cheers, will have a read when i get home from work

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