If you want to use Windows Deployment Services in Windows Server 2008 to intend to deploy an image of an earlier operating system, the deployment gets fail there. The deployment process got failed when it tries to load Winload.exe. Additionally, you receive the following error message:

File: \Windows\system32\winload.exe

Status: 0xc000000f - Error invalid drive
Info: The selected application can’t be loaded since the application is not there or damage.

This problem can be there if the partition to which you want to deploy the image is not marked as active.

If you want to solve this problem, you can use the Diskpart.exe tool to mark the partition as active before you start the deployment. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Create a boot device. This can be an MS-DOS-based boot disk, a Windows 98-based boot disk, or a bootable flash drive.

2. At a command prompt, use the expand command to extract the Diskpart.ex_ file from the Windows XP CD-ROM to a suitable location.

3. Copy the Diskpart.exe tool to the boot device that you created in step 1.

4. Start the computer that is experiencing the problem by using the boot device that you created in step 1.

5. Use Diskpart.exe to make the partition active.

Example

The following example shows a sample of how you can utilities the Diskpart.exe tool to make a partition active. In this example, the following information is used to determine the affected partition:
Disk = 0
Partition = 1

6. At the command prompt, type the following commands. Press ENTER after each command:

7. diskpart.exe
select disk 0
select partition 1
active
exit