How to Fix “The selected disk is not a fixed MBR disk” Error in Windows 10
Both the DISKPART utility and the Disk Management are useful tools in Windows 10 that manage the disk space allocation, and so on. But these tools are not without errors as you could also encounter some when you run them. Recently, some users reported getting an error that says, “The selected disk is not a fixed MBR disk when trying to use the DISKPART utility”. Here’s the exact message of the error:
“The selected disk is not a fixed MBR disk. The ACTIVE command can only be used on fixed MBR disks.”
This kind of error only occurs when you try to activate a disk partition on a UEFI system partition. However, the command works only if your computer is based on BIOS/MBR. The UEFI method has no concept of the active partition and since you have a UEFI system, the disk type is GPT instead of MBR. To simply put it, your BIOS needs the MBR disk type while the UEFI needs the GPT disk type.
To fix the “The selected disk is not a fixed MBR disk when trying to use the DISKPART utility” error, there are various potential fixes you can try. You might have to disable Secure Boot, convert the disk to MBR or fix the Boot Manager. For more instructions, follow the options provided below.
Option 1 – Disable the Secure Boot in the BIOS
Disabling the Secure Boot in the BIOS settings is definitely recommended to resolve the issue. To disable Secure Boot, here’s what you have to do:
- First, boot your computer into Windows 10.
- Next, go to Settings > Windows Update. From there, check if there is anything that you have to download and install if you see any available updates. Usually, OEMs send and update the list of trusted hardware, drivers, and operating systems for your computer.
- After that, go to the BIOS of your computer.
- Then go to Settings > Update & Security > Advanced Startup options. If you click on Restart Now, it will restart your computer and give you all the advanced options.
- Next, select Troubleshoot > Advanced Options. As you can see, this screen offers you further options including System restore, Startup repair, Go back to the previous version, Command Prompt, System Image Recovery, and UEFI Firmware Settings.
- Select the UEFI Firmware Settings which will take you to the BIOS.
- From there, go to the Security > Boot > Authentication tab where you should see Secure Boot. Note that every OEM has its own way of implementing the options so it varies.
- Next, set Secure Boot to Disabled and set Legacy Support to On or Enabled.
- Save the changes made and exit. Afterward, your computer will reboot.
Option 2 – Try converting the disk to MBR
You can try to change the File System of the drive from GPT to MBR but before you do so, make sure that you create a backup copy of your data to an external drive. Once you have that covered, follow the steps below.
- Create a bootable Windows 10 media and boot your computer from it.
- Next, click on the “Repair your computer” option on the first Windows 10 installation setup window.
- Afterward, select the operating system partition from the given options and click on Next.
- Now select Command Prompt within the System Recovery options box and execute this command to initiate the Diskpart utility: diskpart
- Then type either one of these commands to view the list of all the Disk connects or the partitions on those disks formed: list disk or list volume
- After that, execute another one of these commands depending on the command you previously entered to select the disk or partition you want to select: select disk # or select volume #
- Now execute this command to clean your drive: clean
- Finally, execute this last command to convert the selected disk or partition as MBR: Convert MBR
- Restart your computer and check if the error is fixed.
Option 3 – Try to fix the Boot Manager
- You can start by booting into the installation environment for Windows 10 from an installation media.
- After that, click on Repair your computer and on the blue screen, select Troubleshoot and then select the Advanced options menu.
- From there, select Command Prompt and once you open it, enter each one of the commands given below by sequence.
- bootrec /FixMbr
- bootrec /FixBoot
- bootrec /RebuildBcd
- Once you’re done executing the commands given above, type “exit” to close the Command Prompt window and then restart your computer and see if it fixed error code 0xc000014c.
Congratulations, you have just fixed The selected disk is not a fixed MBR disk error in Windows 10 all by yourself. If you would like to read more helpful articles and tips about various software and hardware visit errortools.com daily.
Now that’s how you fix The selected disk is not a fixed MBR disk error in Windows 10 on a computer. On the other hand, if your computer is going through some system-related issues that have to get fixed, there is a one-click solution known as Restoro you could check out to resolve them.
This program is a useful tool that could repair corrupted registries and optimize your PC’s overall performance. Aside from that, it also cleans out your computer for any junk or corrupted files that help you eliminate any unwanted files from your system. This is basically a solution that’s within your grasp with just a click. It’s easy to use as it is user-friendly. For a complete set of instructions in downloading and using it, refer to the steps below
Perform a full system scan using Restoro. To do so, follow the instructions below.
