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I am trying to resize my partitions on the C drive. Parition runs after restart. I get an error message -- Error 27 Cannot lock drive. I reboot and it comes up again. I reboot and hit any key to abort. It comes up again. This just goes on and on. How can I get out of this??
Thanks, Debbie

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As pointed out, PartitionMagic schedules work to run before Windows starts and normally expects rescue media to finish or cancel those operations. Since you do not have rescue disks, here are practical, reliably tested alternatives to break the reboot loop and recover your system.

First, try a very simple hardware/BIOS fix: if the "press any key to abort" prompt does not stop the pre-boot environment, the keyboard may not be seen early in boot. USB keyboards sometimes are not active until later; try a PS/2 keyboard or enable "USB legacy support" (or USB keyboard support) in the BIOS/UEFI, then press a key immediately when the prompt appears. If you can abort and boot into Windows, open PartitionMagic, cancel any pending operations, create rescue media, and back up critical data before trying again.

If aborting is impossible, use external boot media to regain control. Boot from a Windows setup/repair disc or a live rescue CD/USB (GParted Live, a Linux live image, or a Windows PE disk). From the Windows Recovery/Repair environment you can restore the standard Windows boot code (for XP-era systems this is commonly done with fixmbr and fixboot). Warning: restoring the normal bootloader will stop PartitionMagic from running its pre-boot operation; if that operation had not completed, the disk may be left in an inconsistent state. Whenever possible make an image or copy of important files first.

If you are uncomfortable with these steps, boot a live environment to copy off important files and then seek help. After recovery, either finish or cancel the partition changes using PartitionMagic (or switch to a modern tool such as GParted), and always create rescue media and a full backup before doing offline partition work.

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Member Avatar for Laser

Clipped from Symantec's support faq:

#27 Cannot lock drive

Under multitasking operating systems such as Windows 95, PartitionMagic must lock a partition before it can safely modify it. If the hard disk contains files that are in use by another process, PartitionMagic cannot lock the partition.

You may be able to resolve this problem by rebooting to an A: prompt, typing LOCK_C:, and running PartitionMagic from the rescue disks.

Member Avatar for debbiesg

Yeah well I don't have rescue disks. How do I get out of the loop? How do I get to an A prompt?
Debbie

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