How to Convert Logical Partition to Primary Using Diskpart in Windows?

What is the difference between primary and logical partitions?

Before learning how to convert logical drive to primary drive using Diskpart, you might want to know what a primary partition, logical partition is and what their difference is.

• Primary partition is the hard disk partition which can contain both Windows OS and other data. It is the only partition that can be set active for BIOS to locate. Besides, at a time only one primary partition on one hard disk can be set active. An MBR disk must have one primary partition at least and 4 primary partitions at most.

• Logical partition is the hard disk partition that resides inside extended partition. The extended partition is introduced to create more than 4 partitions on MBR disks. In the extended partition area, we can create lots of logical drives. A logical partition cannot be bootable so it is not proper for OS storage and installation. And we cannot set it active, either.

Why convert logical partition to primary using diskpart in Windows 7/8/10/11?

As mentioned above, a basic MBR disk can be divided into at most four primary partitions or three primary partitions and one extend partition. Logical partition makes it easy to classify files and data so that users can easily find information and save time through logic. But there are still some problems with logical partition.

For example, Windows system programs can only be installed in the primary partition, and some applications cannot be installed on logical partition too. But Disk Management or File Explorer don't offer such an option to convert logical partition to primary partition in Windows 11/10/8/7. Therefore, we need to perform this conversion using Diskpart.

Convert logical partition to primary using Diskpart (DATA LOSS)

To convert logical partition to primary partition, Windows built-in tool diskpart can be very helpful. Let’s see the guides below:

Note: changing logical partition to primary partition will delete all files on the target partition, so backup important data beforehand.

1. Click “start” to type “diskpart”, then right click on “diskpart” and select “Run as administrator”.

2. In the pop-up window, input the following commands and hit “Enter” after each command.

• list disk

• select disk n (here “n” is the disk number of the disk which contains the logical partition you need to convert to primary partition)

• list partition

• select partition m (here “m” is the partition number of the logical partition you want to convert)

• delete partition: this command will remove everything on the selected partition.

• create partition primary

Tip: If there is no unallocated space on the disk, you should create unallocated space before creating an extended partition by shrinking or deleting the existing partitions.

DiskPart alternative to convert logical partition to primary partition without data loss

Since using DiskPart (CMD) to convert logical partition to primary partition will cause data loss, you might be searching for another method to convert logical drive to primary drive without losing everything. Here we recommend using AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. This powerful partition manager allows you to perform logical drive to primary drive conversion easily while keeping inside data safe. The specific steps are as follow:

✍ Notes:
● This conversion won’t damage your data, but it is also suggested to backup important datain case that sudden power failure or other human operation error leads to data loss.
● If there are other applications running on the partition which you are going to perform, AOMEI Partition Assistant will notice you to close the applications or to execute this operation on PreOS Mode.
● To avoid the computer stop working, AOMEI Partition Assistant will not allow you to convert a system partition to logical.

Step 1. Install and run AOMEI Partition Assistant. Right click the logical partition you want to convert and select “Advanced” > “Convert to Primary”.

Step 2. In the pop-up window, click “OK” to continue.

Step 3.After that, it will back up to the main interface, preview the changes and click “Apply” > “Proceed” to complete this operation.

Wait for a while, and you will see the logical partition has been converted to primary partition successfully. If you don’t want that much primary partition, it is available to convert primary partition to logical partition too.

Apart from converting partition types between primary and logical drives without losing data, AOMEI Partition Assistant also supports:
1. Converting file systems between NTFS and FAT32 without formatting/losing data via the “NTFS to FAT32 Converter”.
2. Converting data and system disk between MBR and GPT partition style without deleting existing partitions or data loss.
3. Convert dynamic disk to basic without removing volumes, namely the stored data will not get lost.

Conclusion

In this post, we have not only demonstrated how to convert logical partition to primary partition using Diskpart, but also shared a great alternative to change logical drive to primary drive more easily and safely. AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional is a versatile partition manager.

In addition to the mentioned functions, and it also provides you many other powerful functions like resize partition, delete partition, format partition, move partition, wipe partition, disk copy, partition copy, migrate OS to SSD, securely erase SSD and so on. To manage disk partitions through such an amazing tool, you can try AOMEI Partition Assistant Server.