News How to Delete the EFI System Partition in Windows 10 or 11

[Admin]

Windows boot drives automatically have an EFI system partition for boot info that's nearly impossible to erase.

How to Delete the EFI System Partition in Windows 10 or 11 : Read more

 

[Colif]

I feel the need for one warning:

Warning: Diskpart Erase/Clean will permanently erase/destroy all data on the selected drive. Please be certain that you are erasing the correct disk.

which I would have added somewhere or user may delete the wrong EFI and suddenly, no boot

I probably would have selected the System partition for the example as well, deleting the reserved partition wouldn't achieve same outcome

 

[wifiburger]

or... you know I could install any diskpart freeware out there that works with one click so I don't waste time with that crap disk management gui or diskpart cmd

 

[USAFRet]

or... you know I could install any diskpart freeware out there that works with one click so I don't waste time with that crap disk management gui or diskpart cmd

"diskpart" is a command line tool built into Windows.
What it does cannot be summoned with "one click".

If you cannot manage what the commandline does in diskpart, or Disk Management, you do not need to be messing with a tool that does the same thing.
Tears will result.

 

[wifiburger]

"diskpart" is a command line tool built into Windows.
What it does cannot be summoned with "one click".

If you cannot manage what the commandline does in diskpart, or Disk Management, you do not need to be messing with a tool that does the same thing.
Tears will result.

I know disk management and diskpart. Used them for years.

What I was trying to say is that 3rd party partition tools for Windows or Linux (live usb) can do all of that without ever jumping to the terminal.

It's ridiculous that ones needs to jump to the command to play with diskpart (select disk, select part, del part) for special partitions. This should be enabled in the GUI period.

 

[USAFRet]

I know disk management and diskpart. Used them for years.

What I was trying to say is that 3rd party partition tools for Windows or Linux (live usb) can do all of that without ever jumping to the terminal.

It's ridiculous that ones needs to jump to the command to play with diskpart (select disk, select part, del part) for special partitions. This should be enabled in the GUI period.

And there are a plethora of 3rd party partition tools.
People get in trouble with them every day.

 

[plateLunch]

I agree with USAFRet. With a program that is as widely used as Windows, you have to sometimes protect people from themselves by making dangerous things hard.

 

[Friesiansam]

It's ridiculous that ones needs to jump to the command to play with diskpart (select disk, select part, del part) for special partitions. This should be enabled in the GUI period.

Bit of a fuss about nothing there, given how rarely most people will need to get rid of a UEFI partition.

 

[Colif]

I have never removed one by itself, so I would say its not a common thing for majority of users really. I wish regedit was just as hard to get to, it can be just as destructive.

 

[wifiburger]

Bit of a fuss about nothing there, given how rarely most people will need to get rid of a UEFI partition.

sure you can say that, but EFI being locked in the GUI is not the only thing where Microsoft fails

I lost count how many times I had to use diskpart cmd or boot linux to work with my partitions. Hidden, special flags on partitions, split usb partitions, double primary partitions, free space in weird spots, something corrupt on disk, formatting legacy fat devices, etc

3rd party disk management or live usb linux never fail me, no terminal tools required , all in the GUI

 

[kickstand]

I always use Windows install setup to delete all partions, then cancel setup before creating a partion. Then boot Windows and use disk management to initialize disk and create one partions. That makes it a Clickable operation, no command lines necessary.

 

[USAFRet]

I always use Windows install setup to delete all partions, then cancel setup before creating a partion. Then boot Windows and use disk management to initialize disk and create one partions. That makes it a Clickable operation, no command lines necessary.

The article is referring to bringing in a new drive, that was formerly an OS drive in something else.
How to remove the EFI from this secondary drive.

Personally, I just diskpart /clean the whole thing. Much easier.

 

[DSzymborski]

Bit of a fuss about nothing there, given how rarely most people will need to get rid of a UEFI partition.

People rarely need to get rid of a UEFI partition. But one thing I've learned from more than a decade here is that there are tons of people who can barely operate a PC who obsess with needlessly tinkering with Windows things they don't understand.

 

[USAFRet]

tons of people who can barely operate a PC

Change to:
"tons of people who can barely operate a 4 function calculator"

 

[drtweak]

I feel the need for one warning:

Warning: Diskpart Erase/Clean will permanently erase/destroy all data on the selected drive. Please be certain that you are erasing the correct disk.

which I would have added somewhere or user may delete the wrong EFI and suddenly, no boot

I probably would have selected the System partition for the example as well, deleting the reserved partition wouldn't achieve same outcome

All it does is wipe the filesystem table. it doesn't "Wipe" the data. If you run a clean command on a drive, and as long as you don't do squat to it after, you can recovery all your data without issue. Also windows 10 and newer are better about making sure the boot is on the same disk.

 

[Colinoframe]

or... you know I could install any diskpart freeware out there that works with one click so I don't waste time with that crap disk management gui or diskpart cmd

Wow - this is a rehash of FDISK that I was using 40 years ago.

 

[USAFRet]

All it does is wipe the filesystem table. it doesn't "Wipe" the data. If you run a clean command on a drive, and as long as you don't do squat to it after, you can recovery all your data without issue. Also windows 10 and newer are better about making sure the boot is on the same disk.

clean all, OTOH, is much more destructive.

 

[waltc3]

I've done this for years, literally, and since we aren't converting our current boot drive, of course, it's child's play to use something like MiniTool Partition Wizard to provide a graphical picture of the drive and its partitions. Run the program, rightclick on the pictured partition of your choice, select "delete", and repeat the steps until all of the drive's partitions have been reduced to a single large "unformatted" partition--which you can then format and presto-chango, you have a new partition. Diskpart is ancient... Nothing wrong with it--just no reason to use it anymore, and hasn't been for years. You can then subdivide that partition, or not, into as many partitions as you desire. It's all doable right from the GUI of the program. Highly recommended.

https://www.partitionwizard.com

 

[USAFRet]

I've done this for years, literally, and since we aren't converting our current boot drive, of course, it's child's play to use something like MiniTool Partition Wizard to provide a graphical picture of the drive and its partitions. Run the program, rightclick on the pictured partition of your choice, select "delete", and repeat the steps until all of the drive's partitions have been reduced to a single large "unformatted" partition--which you can then format and presto-chango, you have a new partition. Diskpart is ancient... Nothing wrong with it--just no reason to use it anymore, and hasn't been for years. You can then subdivide that partition, or not, into as many partitions as you desire. It's all doable right from the GUI of the program. Highly recommended.

https://www.partitionwizard.com

Nothing wrong with Minitool.
Just as there is nothing wrong with the commandline.

An unknowing person can get his system in trouble with either.

 

[OldManYellingAtClouds]

None of these programs/techniques actually worked for me when trying to do anything with win 11 partitions and errored out at 99% every time. The only way I was able to blank the drive after win 11 was on it was to go and pretend to install win 11 and delete the partitions by doing a fresh install.

 

[waltc3]

Nothing wrong with Minitool.
Just as there is nothing wrong with the commandline.

An unknowing person can get his system in trouble with either.

I agree with that wholeheartedly. A n00b can mess himself up, easily these days, as is always the case. I've forgotten the bulk of the errors I made early on, thank goodness!... I stopped using Diskpart years ago because I much prefer the way that GUI programs provide one with a graphical, logical picture of his drive--I just think it's much easier to conceptualize advanced disk operations through a GUI. Even Microsoft's Disk Management provides an easy-to-understand GUI for the drive logic. But you are surely right--these operations are not for the faint of heart.

 

[brian532]

I keep getting this error --

DISKPART> list disk

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 931 GB 1024 KB *
Disk 1 Online 2794 GB 28 MB *
Disk 2 Online 3726 GB 0 B *
Disk 3 Online 931 GB 1024 KB

DISKPART> set disk 1

The arguments specified for this command are not valid.
For more information on the command type: HELP SETID

DISKPART> set disk1

The arguments specified for this command are not valid.
For more information on the command type: HELP SETID

 

[USAFRet]

I keep getting this error --

Please start a NEW thread for your particular situation.

And include a screencap of your Disk Management window.

 

[Colif]

Please start a NEW thread for your particular situation.

And include a screencap of your Disk Management window.

I think he using wrong command, probably wanted select.

 

[kiniku]

Windows boot drives automatically have an EFI system partition for boot info that's nearly impossible to erase.

How to Delete the EFI System Partition in Windows 10 or 11 : Read more

This is such a clickbait article. So much so that even the admin had to post a quick disclaimer. You can't remove the EFI partition from a Windows boot drive. So if you have an old "boot drive" lying around that you now want to use for data, this probably would work? But in that case, you'd erase the entire physical drive anyway. Jeez.