How to Make Active Partition Inactive in Windows | Disk Management Guide

Sometimes, users mistakenly mark the wrong partition as Active in Windows. This can create boot issues, as the system tries to boot from an incorrect partition. The good news is that you can fix this easily by making the active partition inactive.

In this guide, you’ll learn step-by-step methods to make a partition inactive using Disk Management and Command Prompt (Diskpart) in Windows.

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🔹 What is an Active Partition?

An Active Partition is the one your computer uses to boot the operating system. If the wrong partition is marked active, Windows may not boot properly, showing errors like:

• “Operating System not found”

• “Bootmgr is missing”

That’s why it’s important to make the correct partition active and set others as inactive.

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🔹 Method 1: Using Disk Management

Disk Management is a built-in tool in Windows for managing drives and partitions.

Steps:

1. Press Win + R → type diskmgmt.msc → press Enter.

2. Disk Management window will open.

3. Right-click on the partition that is currently Active (but shouldn’t be).

4. Unfortunately, Windows Disk Management doesn’t directly provide the Mark Partition as Inactive option.
   👉 For this reason, we need to use Diskpart (explained below).

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🔹 Method 2: Using Diskpart (Recommended)

Diskpart is a powerful command-line utility in Windows.

Steps:

1. Press Win + R → type cmd → right-click and choose Run as Administrator.

2. In the Command Prompt, type the following commands:

   diskpart
   list disk
   select disk X      (replace X with your disk number)
   list partition
   select partition Y (replace Y with the active partition number)
   inactive
   exit
   

3. Close Command Prompt.

4. Restart your PC.

👉 Now the wrong partition is no longer active.

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🔹 Important Notes

• Be very careful when modifying partitions. Selecting the wrong disk/partition can lead to boot errors.

• Always ensure the correct system/boot partition is set active.

• If Windows fails to boot after changes, use a Windows installation media to repair startup.

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✅ Conclusion

Marking the wrong partition as Active can prevent your system from booting. Using the Diskpart utility in Windows, you can safely mark it as Inactive and restore your system’s proper boot order.

By following this Disk Management Guide, you can fix active partition issues without third-party software.

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