[SOLVED] Possible to assign/remove 'System' flag on drive?

[alipmcg]

Hello, I am having boot trouble with my desktop, which contains 2 drives - a 250gb SSD with Windows on it, and a 320gb HDD for storage. The HDD came from an old laptop, and it had Windows installed on it in the past. My problem is that if I disconnect the HDD, the desktop won't boot.

When I first tried disconnecting the HDD, I discovered that its partition 0 had the 'Boot' flag, so with Diskpart I removed that flag from the partition, and assigned it to the Windows partition on the SSD, but this didn't solve the problem. Partition 0 on the HDD somehow has the 'System' flag, even though it doesn't have Windows on it. This might be a hangover from when the drive did have Windows on it, although I don't think that this partition ever had Windows on it.

Is it possible to reassign the System flag to the Windows partition on the SSD, and remove it from the partition on the HDD? I tried using Diskpart and also GParted off a Linux live USB, but it seems that this is not an option in either. I considered installing Linux in another partition on the SSD, but the Linux installer also erroneously recognised the HDD as the drive/partition with Windows installed on it, so I didn't do it. At the moment I'm wondering if I need to format both drives and do a completely fresh reinstall on the SSD. Any help is much appreciated!

 

[USAFRet]

Please show us a screencap of your current Disk Management window.

Was the OS installed on the SSD while both drives were connected?


ANd yes, the easiest and best way forward is to start over.
A clean install on the SSD, with only the SSD connected.
Later, reconnect the HDD and wipe it clean.

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[alipmcg]

Thanks for the quick reply! Here's a link to a screenshot of my DiskMgmt window:

https://imgur.com/a/ioXk6G0

View: https://imgur.com/a/ioXk6G0


I recently upgraded from Win 8.1 to Win 10, and the HDD was definitely connected at that time. But as for when I installed Win 8.1, I'm not sure, it was a few years ago.

I think I will just do a complete fresh reinstall on the SSD, with the HDD disconnected, as you suggested.

 

[USAFRet]

I think I will just do a complete fresh reinstall on the SSD, with the HDD disconnected, as you suggested.

That is a surefire path to success.