[SOLVED] 2x Windows Recovery Partitions after Windows 10 Update

[avg9956]

I have 2 Windows Recovery Partitions in my Windows 10 install. I think this issue occurs when you do a Windows update and you update to some major build.
https://superuser.com/questions/1210470/multiple-recovery-partitions-in-windows-10

Applying the command in powershell
reagentc /info

Reveals that partition 5 is the recovery partition in use

 \\?\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk1\partition5\Recovery\WindowsRE

Here is a picture of my current partition arrangement

https://imgur.com/Xs3SU7Y

View: https://i.imgur.com/Xs3SU7Y.jpg


I want to delete the unused Recovery partition to the left and make the EFI System Partition the first partition.
I have read that it is unsafe to move the EFI System partition around while Windows is installed - is that true?. If that is the case, I am not sure if this is a safe procedure
I do have Minitools Partition Wizard software installed. Of course, I'll be doing a backup first before attempting any of this just in case.


Can I do it while running Windows or do I need to boot from an external removable usb media and then manage it from there?

 

[Colif]

Why do you want EFI to be first partition? it doesn't matter to the way UEFI boot works, efi partition can be last partition and it still works.

you can delete both recovery partitions if you want, see here - https://superuser.com/questions/102... you want to remove,done, tap or click Finish.

 

[avg9956]

I just don't want the EFI Partition to be after the C Drive (NTFS) Partition, because if I won't be able to expand the C Drive partition if its not adjacent to the unused space.
I really hate how Windows 10 updates screws partitions up by not deleting the old Recovery partition. I'm pretty much in the use case of a large majority of people who - if they went thru Windows 10 updates, have this double recovery partition setup.

Hmm true, you can delete both recovery partitions, however I prefer to keep the existing one in use, just in case. Recovery tools can be accessed via creating a Windows bootable USB flash drive.

As I don't mess with partition management often, I don't have too much experience on this. I ran a virtual machine however with using the Minitool Partition Wizard, it allows you to reallocate unused space even if the partitions are non adjacent which is a limitation of Windows' disk management. I don't know how it exactly does this but it works.

So if I delete my Leftmost unused Recovery partition and donate the space to my C drive, it should work out...(using Minitool Partition Wizard). There are other partition managers like EASEUS and AOMEI but I haven't tried it myself yet.

By the way, where is the MSR (Microsoft Reserved Partition) and why don't I have one?

 

[Colif]

I just don't want the EFI Partition to be after the C Drive (NTFS) Partition, because if I won't be able to expand the C Drive partition if its not adjacent to the unused space.

Partition marked EFI System Partition is the boot partition. it is currently in front of c, you can only expand c in the direction of the currently in use recovery partition.

You need to remove the current one to use any of the 488gb unallocated space.

EFI is the 100mb partition between the old recovery part & C drive.

I don't have an MSR either (below link explains it is there, its hidden from disk management)

Why you have 2 -

The flaw is, Windows Setup positions the small but important 500 MB recovery partition first on the system disk. If and when future feature upgrades need more space to store the recovery environment, the recovery partition cannot expand, and a new recovery partition is created.

- https://www.tenforums.com/windows-i...h1-brings-important-change-windows-setup.html

its not old, its using both. it needs more space than stupid installer makes.

 

[Colif]

really, you need to delete the recovery partition now,
and then expand C to the size you want it to be,
as the next version update of win 10 will create it again anyway.
Better to just have free empty space in C than to have to do this again.

 

[avg9956]

Partition marked EFI System Partition is the boot partition. it is currently in front of c, you can only expand c in the direction of the currently in use recovery partition.

Oops my bad. Yes, I got mixed up in directions a bit. Well that's the idea that I'm trying to get to haha.

Well a caveat as to why I have that unused space is for my planned dual boot for Linux. I just left it there. The drive is a actually a NVME Samsung 970 EVO SSD.

I will be doing the procedure of modifying my partitions some time after and of course backing everything up first. If anyone knows why we don't have the MSR partition, let us know.
My guess is that future Windows Updates removed the need for it and it is used for bitlocker

What Is the System Reserved Partition and Can You Delete It?

The System Reserved Partition is a partition dedicated to storing the Boot Manager, Boot Configuration Data, and critical BitLocker files.

www.howtogeek.com

Also am open to any approach that you guys may have when using other partition management software as I really don't fiddle often with partitions, I'm willing to learn.

 

[Colif]

MSR is hidden from disk management. I wonder if diskpart can see it

In a clean install, when user lets Windows Setup to partition a GPT hard disk, the important Windows Recovery partition is created first on system disk (yellow highlight in screenshot), followed by EFI, MSR (Microsoft Reserved, not shown in Disk Management), and Windows partitions:

same link as why you have 2 reserved partitions now.

you might want to remove the recovery partitions
format the blank space, even if its empty, and then wait as 21H1 is due out next month and it probably recreate recovery partitions when it installs.

 

[USAFRet]

Also am open to any approach that you guys may have when using other partition management software as I really don't fiddle often with partitions, I'm willing to learn.

450MB + 535MB = 0.1% of a 1TB drive.
Personally, I would leave them.

At most, just delete the leftmost partition. And then leave it.

 

[Colif]

there is that point. the space gained is not worth the effort.

 

[avg9956]

- https://www.tenforums.com/windows-i...h1-brings-important-change-windows-setup.html

its not old, its using both. it needs more space than stupid installer makes.

This enlightened me. Powershell reagentc /info only tells one recovery partition is in use, but the fact that both are actually used...

The problem is, when a future feature upgrade needs more space for recovery tools, the partition cannot expand, EFI partition blocking it. Windows Setup has no alternative, it must create a new recovery partition after the Windows system partition, C: drive (blue highlight):

I was lead into thinking that my 2x Recovery Partitions were just potential "dupes", but they may in reality actually contain different sets of recovery tools.
I could take a peak at those partitions if I assigned them a drive letter, but if I want to revert them to become inaccessible again, I don't know how to.

The recovery partition can something no other partition can: it can expand backwards, when placed directly after the Windows partition. It "steals" the space it needs from Windows partition when next feature upgrade again needs to expand recovery partition. Green highlight shows where the recovery partition would expand next time it needs more space:

Didn't know it could also do this!

Actually my first recovery partition on the left is 450MB
The second recovery partition after my C partition is 535MB

I think I'll just assume that its better not to delete them and just leave it as is, assuming that both partitions have different tools inside them.
If they were exactly of the same size I would have been lead to believe otherwise.

I disabled Windows 10 updates though, because I'll be dual booting into Linux. When windows 10 updates to a major build, it can screw up Grub's bootloader so my entire system will remain static until the next reformat.
Thank you very much again!

Microsoft should just really make it into one recovery partition and follow their own standards for GPT partitioning. Its not that hard, maybe they're lazy.

 

[avg9956]

The only thing I might consider is having the C partition to be adjacent to the unused space instead, so if I ever decide on expanding or shrinking it will be feasible, using third party tools.

 

[Colif]

i didn't know about backwards expansion of recovery partition either. Whenever you are told it can only be done one way, there are almost always exceptions.

The only thing I might consider is having the C partition to be adjacent to the unused space instead, so if I ever decide on expanding or shrinking it will be feasible, using third party tools.

problem there is, win 10 is trying to do right thing, it sees last partition as C and puts itself after that. It has no clue the unallocated space is there.. Or what its purpose is. It may have shrunk c like it can, but then your drive wasn't full. It can't create a partition after the unallocated space, for reasons I don't know but I am sure there are reasons.

The only way to make sure C is next to the empty space is to create a partition of that empty space, you can always delete it when you come to install other OS.

 

[avg9956]

The only way to make sure C is next to the empty space is to create a partition of that empty space, you can always delete it when you come to install other OS.

a.) Do you mean creating a blank partition during the installation process of Windows 10? I usually overlook it and just hit next without bothering to do it the CLI way. Didn't knew if it was possible, but it is if you disk parted it manually: https://www.diskpart.com/articles/create-partition-before-windows-installing-4348.html

I could create blank partitions before proceeding further with the install of Windows 10. That way, I'd be assured that my C partition can be extended in the future, but you may end up with something like this:

If you under estimate the exact size of the 2nd (Healthy) Partition via entering the size of the blank partition, you will have unused space at the end.

If you over estimated the blank partition, then Windows is most probably going to do that backwards expansion thing on the (Healthy Recovery Partition) like this:

Its also worth noting that, lets say you decide to use the Blank Partition and name it as D Partition and fill its space to the brim. When windows 10 updates and 2nd (Healthy) Recovery Partition decides to do its backward expansion thing due to it having not enough of the needed space (535MB), then either Windows will have to make compromises to the 2nd (Healthy) Recovery Partition or Windows pushes ahead insisting with its 2nd (Healthy) Recovery partition and you suffer data loss?

b.) Do you mean shrinking the C partition? Afaik the Windows disk management tool is limited - you can only expand or shrink existing partitions in their place via on the right side of the partition but not reorder them hence, 3rd party tools are recommended: https://superuser.com/questions/346...rds-to-the-left-without-third-party-to/346186

I can imagine 2 positions on how to make C adjacent to the unused space

1.) Move the 2nd (Healthy) recovery partition to the end of the unused space (as you have said)

I think this would be safer option, since unused space is literally unused space. I know its impossible on Windows Disk management tool, but most likely feasible in 3rd party partition tools. I think the partition is copied first by the 3rd party tool and redefine its location on the disk, and then deletes the former partition to prevent duplicates. This is what I'm most likely to do given the current scenario if I want to decide to expand C partition.

2.) Literally swap the order of the C partition and 2nd (Healthy) recovery partition so that C partition is adjacent to unused space.

I think might cause problems. Its overwriting the data where C partition used to be and literally swapping it and vice versa. I know its impossible on Windows Disk management tools, not sure if 3rd party partition tools can do this, or if there is one tool out there that specializes in doing exactly this kind of reordering.

Usually the GUI interface of 3rd party partition tools are so seamless that you only tell the program what to do and the program figures out what's the best way to order the partitions (i.e. between method 1.) or 2.)) They don't explain to you behind the scenes how they did it until you find out later by checking in Windows disk management how the program reordered your partitions.

 

[Colif]

You can create a partition now, I didn't mean to do it during install at all. I thought you had decided to leave the recovery partitions as is since the 2nd is likely being used now.

1. create one using all the unallocated space.
2. and when you ready to install the dual boot thing, delete the partition you made in 1.

that will lock that space and mean the recovery partition if it needs more space will use some from C.

 

[avg9956]

But I have already locked it in place essentially by just disabling Windows 10 updates
I don't think any program or your usual malware can create partitions to occupy the unused space.
I just leave it as is for now.

Next time, I will just consider installing Windows 10 via the Windows creation tool media. The tool makes an iso of the latest windows 10 version. That way, I'm not going to face the 2x (Healthy) Recovery partition problem. I'm so used to installing Windows from CD/DVDs before and then just update Windows afterwards, but time to change old habits.

I have verified this by installing Windows 10 on a virtual machine using said iso in VMWare. It only has one (Healthy) Recover Partition which has a size of 499MB.

Note: My current windows 10 OS is also the latest version: 20H2 (At the time of this post)

Makes me wonder if those two recovery partitions back at my host OS are still really in use. I guess I'll just leave it as that

 

[Colif]

win 10 updated every 6 months so it helps to make a new installer each time as it also cuts down on number of updates you get after.

I did think it made no sense what i said in last post, so i was waiting for a reply

 

[avg9956]

In my experience, I think its only important to get the latest Windows 10 ISO if its a new Windows Build (i.e. the next one after 20H2)

When I got the latest ISO from the Windows 10 Media creation tool (20H2), Windows 10 still ran some updates afterwards. Meaning to say, Microsoft only puts the base build minus any updates on their ISOs.

Gives me an idea if someone made a repository of Windows 10 ISOs of various Windows builds. If you ever need to run a specific build of Windows 10 for whatever reason (most especially the program compatibility error), then you could solve it that way.

 

[Colif]

Even though it only has a base build on the ISO, the way cumulative updates work now means you only get 1 of those after install, and maybe 4 or 5 other driver updates. Its nothing like win 7 where you would get 300+ updates. You will continue to get Cumulative updates every 2nd Tuesday of month but at initial install, the number of updates is greatly reduced.

There are websites with all the ISO on them, I don't have a link.

I wonder if 21H1 due out next week

 

[USAFRet]

Creating that second Recovery Partition is not a result of the semi annual update.

I ran that last week on my HTPC, and...
(Currently 20H2)

 

[Colif]

We know why 2nd recovery partition was made, the original one created by Windows during the install process isn't big enough in all ISO prior to 20H2, and so it creates the second one.

The flaw is, Windows Setup positions the small but important 500 MB recovery partition first on the system disk. If and when future feature upgrades need more space to store the recovery environment, the recovery partition cannot expand, and a new recovery partition is created.

The problem is, when a future feature upgrade needs more space for recovery tools, the partition cannot expand, EFI partition blocking it. Windows Setup has no alternative, it must create a new recovery partition after the Windows system partition, C: drive (blue highlight.

https://www.tenforums.com/windows-i...h1-brings-important-change-windows-setup.html

My C drive was created by 20H1

it still has the old layout, Recovery/EFI/MSR (hidden partition)/WIndows

Your picture shows they have finally moved it from being 1st partition on C to last or at least, behind C. There it can grow without needing to create 2 recovery partitions.
Going forward its EFI/MSR/Windows/recovery

 

[avg9956]

We know why 2nd recovery partition was made, the original one created by Windows during the install process isn't big enough in all ISO prior to 20H2

Noted. Time to delete my older Windows 10 ISOs

The next step that Microsoft can improve upon is definitely make the Windows C Partition adjacent to unused space so users don't have to download 3rd party partition tools and eliminate any need for having 2 recovery partitions by making their recovery tools be able to fix Windows versions.

EFI/MSR/Recovery/Windows/Unused space (if any).

It shouldn't be hard on Microsoft's part to make the C partition at the end.

I personally don't find any utility or added advantage in rolling back to previous versions of Windows and then keeping older versions of recovery tools designed to fix those older versions of Windows - if that's the reason why there's 2 recovery partitions in the first place. Microsoft should also delete that Windows.old folder in C drive as it occupies like 20-30GB after you a major windows update build. I personally don't know of anyone who swaps between Windows 10 builds at will/back and forth, and should rather just stick to one Windows 10 Build.

The whole point of an update is to improve your existing version and go forwards, that's if assuming everything will work after an update. Sadly however, it is not the usual case as sometimes software is removed after you updated to a newer Windows 10 Build without your consent.

 

[Colif]

windows.old folder should/will auto delete 10 days after an update, it sticks around in case you decide to roll back due to errors in the update, and you can use disk cleanup to remove it before then if you want to.

Now that the Recovery partition is at end it at least doesn't have to make a 2nd copy of itself. Shame you can't move it, I have a 3tb hdd with almost nothing on it. it could go there (but I don't have a space problem on C)

it took many versions of win 10 to get it moved to where it is, I expect they had reasons why they didn't put it in-between EFI and C. I doubt they move it now. Most people who dual boot use 2 different drives and don't need to worry about partitions eating space. It being at end behind C means it can eat any space it needs from C now.

21H1 just turns on features already in Win 10, its very unexciting when it comes to features - https://www.neowin.net/news/windows-10-version-21h1-is-coming---heres-what-to-expect/