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HDG Explains – What is the System Reserved Partition?
September 21st, 2012 by Aseem Kishore | File in: Featured Posts (http://helpdeskgeek.com/category/featured-posts/), Help Desk
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If you have ever installed Windows by yourself, you may have run into the situation where Windows setup tells you it’s going to
create a System Reserved partition for system files. The size of this partition is 100 MB. The exact prompt is
To ensure that all Windows features work correctly, Windows might create additional partitions for system files.
You only get this dialog and this additional system reserved partition in certain scenarios. Normally, if you click OK at the
prompt, your partitions will look like this:
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The System Reserved partition is 100MB in size, but only has data worth 30 MB. So what exactly is on this special partition, do
you really need it and how can it be removed? Let me go ahead and answer those three questions separately.
What is the System Reserved (100MB) Partition
If you go in and actually view what is stored in this partition, you’ll see something like this:
Basically, the folder contains the following files and folders:
- Boot
- System Volume Information
- bootmgr
- BOOTSECT.bak
- $RECYCLE.BIN
So what is all this for exactly? The partition has two main functions. First, it stores the Boot Manager code and the Boot
Configuration Database. The second thing it does is store the startup files needed by BitLocker Drive Encryption. If you end up
using BitLocker to encrypt your entire hard drive, you don’t have to repartition your system to enable it. If you don’t plan on
ever using BitLocker, then that means you’ll never need this special partition.
Do you Need the System Reserved Partition?
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2. The short answer is that if you already have it, then YES you need it. You cannot delete it because it contains boot files
necessary to load Windows. Unfortunately, once it has been created, there is no way to get rid of it. If you want to have a
system without the extra partition, you can only do it during the Windows 7 install process.
How to Remove System Reserved Partition?
Like I mentioned before, you can’t remove it on an existing installation of Windows. However, you can choose not to create it
when you are installing Windows on a new system. There are a couple of ways to do this.
1. Use E xisting P a rtitions - Windows will only create the system reserved partition if you create a new partition on a disk
that has no partitions created. It will also create it if you delete all the current partitions on the disk and then create a new
one. If you want to avoid the extra partition, just use whatever partitions are already on the system. To do a clean install, you
can just format an existing partition instead of deleting all partitions.
2. P a rtition Be fore Insta lling – The second way to do it is to use a third-party tool or a different Windows installation disk
(like Windows XP or Windows Vista) and partition the disk before you start the Windows 7 setup. If you only have the Windows
7 DVD with you, there is a way to do it, but it require a little more work.
Basically, when you get to the first screen in the Windows 7 setup, press SHIFT + F1 0 , which will open a command prompt
window. Then type the following commands, pressing Enter after each line.
dspr
ikat
slc ds 0
eet ik
cet piaypriin
rae rmr atto
ei
xt
Then just continue with the Windows 7 installation and choose the partition that you create with the above commands. Since
it’s an existing partition, Windows will not crete the system reserved partition.
3. T rick Wind ows Se tup – The last way to do it is a little trick in Windows 7 setup. Basically, delete all partitions and then
create a new one while in setup. It’ll tell you it’s going to create additional partitions and you click OK. Now you’ll have what I
have shown in the second screenshot in this post above.
At this point, you simply delete the primary partition, which will give you a prompt saying something like “This partition has
system files and if you delete this partition, all data will be lost”. Click OK and then you’ll be left with just the system reserved
partition and unallocated space.
Now click on the System Reserved partition and click on E xte nd . This will make the System Reserved partition the size of the
entire disk instead of just 100 MB. Finally, you have to click on Forma t to convert the System Reserved partition into a normal
partition.
Hopefully, that clears up a little bit about what the system reserved partition is for and how you can manage it. Enjoy!
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ASE E M KISHOR E
Founder of Help Desk Geek and managing editor.
He began blogging in 2007 and quit his job in
2010 to blog full-time.
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Welcome to Help Desk Geek- a blog full of help desk tips for
IT Professionals. My name is Aseem Kishore and I work as a
Systems Analyst in Dallas, TX. I graduated from Emory

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