How Do You Change An Active Partition In XP?
In Windows XP (and all recent Windows operating systems) users have the option of setting one partition (per hard drive) as “Active.” For an operating system to boot, it must reside in an “Active” partition. Since one operating system can be installed per partition, this tool comes in very handy for users who installed multiple operating systems. The Microsoft built-in “Computer Management” console is the place to go to change between “Active” and “Inactive” partitions (and thus be able to boot different operating systems if desired). Open the “Computer Management” utility. To do this, click on Start > Control Panel > Performance (System in Vista) and Maintenance > Administrative Tools, then double-click on “Computer Management.” Select the “Disk Management” list item from the left pane, underneath “Storage.” Right-click on the partition (must be a “Primary” partition) desired and select “Mark Partition as Active” from the context menu.