Active partition is a disk partition in activated state

Active partition is a disk partition in activated state. In computer booting process, Master Boot Record verifies the partition where boot file is and transfers boot permission to partition boot record of active partition, and then the partition boot record uses boot files to start operating system. In order to avoid errors during guiding operating system, there must be only one active partition in a disk and the active partition must be primary partition.
Many users may have the same conception: active partition is boot partition and system partition. In fact, this view is terribly wrong. Since only one active partition exists in a disk, if we want the operating system to boot normally, the active partition in system disk must be boot partition used to store boot files of operating systems, but active partition can also become other primary partition in the disk, and it can not lead operating system to booting. And, the active partition is not always system partition. For example, in the installing process of Windows 7, there is a hidden partition of 100MB in front of system partition, namely boot partition storing boot files of operating system, and it is set to be active partition by default. Seen from this, active partition may not be system partition. Seeing here, many users may raise this question: now that only active partition is boot partition can operating system is used, then if active partition is modified by computer viruses, how to restore it?

How to set active partition?
In computer use process, many users may have encountered the situation: computer viruses modify partition state, so active partition in hard disk is not boot partition and the operating system fails to boot. What should we do at this time? If we have the partition magic MiniTool Partition Wizard, we can use the distributed MiniTool Partition Wizard Bootable CD to boot computer and then employ Set Active function of MiniTool Partition Wizard to set boot partition as active partition. After that, we can reboot the operating system. Next, we'll demonstrate the operation, guiding users through the partition magic.
If users have downloaded the partition magic from the website of Resize Server Partition http://www.partitionwizard.com, please use MiniTool Partition Wizard Bootable CD to boot computer. The following interface will be shown.



In the interface, select the boot partition and click "Set Active" button in the left "Operations" area.



In the main interface, we can see the boot partition has become active partition, but this only a preview effect. Please click "Apply" button. After the partition magic finishes setting active partition, we can restart the operating system normally.

If your partition state has been modified by viruses and the system fails to boot normally, just use MiniTool Partition Wizard to set boot partition as active partition. The partition magic will not disappoint you.