Convert disk 0 from simple volume to primary partition

Scenario: I'm running Windows Server 2003 on disk 0 (a dynamic disk), and there is a 40GB simple volume where I had planned to install a copy of Windows 7 Starter so that I can change over from 2003 to 7. Nevertheless, it seems that I can't install Windows 7 on a simple volume. According to Microsoft my only choice is to convert disk 0 to basic in Disk Management, but it means everything on it including Server 2003 installation will be lost. Now, I want to know whether there is a way to just convert one simple volume to primary partition rather than convert the whole disk to basic.

Solution: unquestionably, there is no way available to restore one simple volume to basic, and reverting dynamic disk to basic is the only choice to convert a simple volume to primary partition. Fortunately, there is a third party partitioning tool which can convert dynamic disk to basic without deleting any volume (Windows Disk Management forces users to delete all existing volumes), and users only need to restart operating system after conversion is completed. MiniTool Partition Wizard is the very partition manager we introduced. Next, we will show users how to convert disk 0 to basic.

Convert Simple Volume to Primary Partition with MiniTool Partition Wizard

Step 1: launch the partitioning tool to get the following image:



Step 2: select the dynamic disk namely disk 0 from disk map and choose "Convert Dynamic Disk to Basic".

Step 3: click "Apply" button on the top to apply changes. During this process, users will be required to restart operating system since the operated disk is being used. Please do as told. After restarting system, let's open Windows Disk Management:



Now, we can see disk 0 has been converted to basic successfully, and users can install Windows 7 on a primary partition. If there is no other primary partition except the existing system partition, users can set a logical partition as primary, and MiniTool Partition Wizard can help complete this operation without data loss.

If users are also not allowed to install Windows on a simple volume, now convert simple volumes to primary partitions with MiniTool Partition Wizard. It is an amazing partitioning tool doing much better than Windows Disk Management.