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Home»Windows»[Fix] The Selected Disk Is Not A Fixed MBR Disk

[Fix] The Selected Disk Is Not A Fixed MBR Disk

Anup ThapaBy Anup ThapaDecember 18, 2022
the selected disk is not a fixed mbr disk

On legacy BIOS systems that use the MBR partitioning scheme, the BIOS checks partitions marked as active for startup files necessary to boot the system.

Most modern systems use UEFI with GPT partitioning style in which the UEFI keeps a list of boot entries corresponding to files in the EFI system partition. As such, the concept of active partitions is deprecated in UEFI systems.

This is why, if you attempt to mark a GPT disk as active, you’ll encounter the self-explanatory error message:
“The selected disk is not a fixed MBR disk. The ACTIVE command can only be used on fixed MBR disks.”

One thing that’s worth mentioning is that UEFI systems do contain a protective MBR, but the active partition in this MBR is ignored. The UEFI instead uses the EFI Boot Loader to boot from the EFI system partition.

It should be evident now that this isn’t an error as much as it is intentional design. However, this can still be a roadblock in certain cases. For instance, you may need to mark a partition as active to create a bootable USB or something similar.

In such cases, you can work around this error by converting the GPT disk to MBR. The disk will be cleaned during the conversion, so you’ll want to back up the contents elsewhere first.

You must also make sure you select the correct disk to clean and make active. Cleaning the wrong disk will wipe everything from it. Additionally, on MBR systems, marking a partition without boot files as active can cause booting issues. With that said, here are the necessary steps:

  1. Press Win + R, type diskpart, and press Enter.
  2. Enter list disk and note the disk # of the disk you’re trying to convert.
    diskpart-list-disk-sel-disk
  3. Type sel disk 0, replace 0 with the disk # if different, and press Enter.
  4. Execute the following commands:
    clean
    convert mbr

    DiskPart Convert MBR
  5. As the clean command clears all partitions, use the create partition primary command to create a primary partition, then use the active command to mark it as an active partition.
fix
Anup Thapa

Anup Thapa is a tech writer at TechNewsToday. He mostly writes informative articles, tutorials, and troubleshooting guides related to Windows systems, networking, and computer hardware. Anup has been writing professionally for almost 5 years, and tinkering with PCs for much longer. His love for all things tech started when he got his first PC over 15 years ago. It was a Pentium IV system running Windows XP on a single 256 MB stick. He spent his formative years glued to this PC, troubleshooting any hardware or software problems he encountered by himself. Professionally, Anup has had brief forays into a variety of fields like coding, hardware installation, writing, etc. In doing so, he's worked with people of different backgrounds and skill levels, from average joes to industry leaders and experts. This has given him not just a versatile skillset, but also a unique perspective for writing that enables him to concisely communicate complex information and solve his reader's problems efficiently.

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