Using DiskPart to force a 1 MB-aligned partition

If desired, DiskPart can be used as follows to force a 1 MB-aligned partition:

Important

The clean command removes all partition information from the selected disk.

DiskPart select disk 0 clean

create partition primary align=1024 exit

where command line switch align=1024 specifies a 1 MB partition alignment.

Extending the partition during a Windows XP image deployment

Take care when extending the partition during a Windows XP image deployment – if you modify the partition incorrectly, you will receive a BSOD.

The best option for extending the partition is as follows:

1.Remove the ExtendOemPartition line from SYSPREP.INF and UNATTENDED.TXT, and ensure the partition size is not manipulated by template SIF files.

You must use Filesystem=LeaveAlone and you must NOT use ExtendOemPartition.

2.Allow disk cloning tools such as Ghost or DiskPart to align and extend the partition.

If the image already contains an ExtendOemPartition (EOP) line that is not set to 0, then use the following Ghost command line switches:

–align=1MB –szeE

where –szeE forces Ghost to maintain the size of the original partition, while allowing the EOP line to adjust the size of the partition.

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