Surely any user of Windows operating systems knows that in the event of unexpected critical failures, their functionality can be restored. The section is responsible for this Windows recovery, which stores the files needed to perform such a procedure. However, they take up quite a lot of hard drive space (sometimes up to 15 GB, as in Windows 8). This is especially noticeable on small-capacity hard drives. And many, quite rightly, are beginning to wonder about freeing up space, which is occupied by the notorious recovery section.

How to remove it and whether it can be done at all, we will consider further. But I would like to immediately warn all users that when performing this procedure you will have to, as they say, sweat, and such actions should be performed only at your own peril and risk.

What is a recovery partition and is it necessary?

The partition itself, as is already clear, is reserved space on the hard drive, moreover, in the system partition where the installed OS is located.

As a rule, depending on the modification of the system, its size may vary, but usually it is approximately 300-500 MB. The Recovery folder is located here, which contains a WindowsRE directory with a Winre.wim image embedded in it. It also seems completely logical that all this is hidden from the user’s eyes, so that he does not accidentally (or intentionally) delete the necessary recovery tools.

But the matter does not stop there. There are two more hidden partitions on the disk, the existence of which the user does not even know. This is an EFI system partition with a size of about 100 MB and an MSR partition with a size of 128 MB responsible for GPT partitioning. Thus, for example, the question of how to remove the recovery partition in Windows 10 comes down to removing the system disk not one, but three sections to fit into the available space.

It must be said that not all users realize that system recovery tools can be found both on installation media and on special disks for rolling back and eliminating system errors. Therefore, in some cases, you can not only hide the recovery partition, but also delete it, as they say, without a twinge of conscience. Several methods can be proposed for this.

Will reinstalling delete the recovery partition?

First, a few words about re-installation. Some users naively believe that reinstalling Windows 10 or any other modification with full formatting of the system disk will destroy the above partitions.

Nothing like this! Yes, at the stage of selecting a disk for installing the OS, absolutely all partitions will be displayed, and formatting will actually combine them into one. But in a “clean” system, which the user receives immediately after installation, automatic system recovery is activated by default, so the OS itself, whether you like it or not, again reserves space on the hard drive, where it writes the necessary information immediately.

Recovery partition: how to delete via command line?

So, let's start with the most difficult, but absolutely effective method, which involves the use command console(cmd), which must be run with administrator rights.

But before that you need to do a few things simple actions. First you need to create a recovery disk. If the “Recovery” menu is used in the “Control Panel”, you will need a flash drive; if the backup and recovery section is used, optical media will be used. A flash drive with a capacity of 64 GB or higher is convenient because it can be loaded with full data from the recovery partition itself (but more on that later).

Next, the solution to the problem of how to remove the recovery partition from hard drive, is to select the line of special boot options (for Windows 10) in the update and security menu, which is located in the settings section (for Windows 10) or install removable media as the first boot device in the BIOS.

After the restart, at the beginning of the installation of the operating system, use the combination Shift + F10 to open the command line, in which the following commands are written sequentially:

• diskpart;
• lis dis (list of all partitions);
• sel dis 0 (select a drive with the installed OS);
• lis par (view sections);
• sel par 1 (select first section);
• del par override (deleting the first partition);
• sel par 2 (select second section);
• del par override (deleting the second partition);
• sel par 3 (select the third section);
• del par override (deleting the third partition);
• create par efi size=100 (creates an encrypted EFI partition with a size of 100 MB);
• create par msr size=128 (creates an MSR partition with a size of 128 MB);
• lis vol (view sections);
• exit (exit diskpart);
• bcdboot C:\Windows (installation of boot partition);
• exit (complete exit from the console).

Disk management using AOMEI program

The reboot field should, for ease of further operations, use the AOMEI application, select the disk to which you want to attach the space, and then use the resize/move line in the menu on the left side.

Next, you select moving the partition, and drag the slider to the limit (to completely allocate all the space for drive C. Be sure to pay attention that after such actions there are zeros on the “Unallocated space before” line.

Click “OK” and “Apply”. In the pending operations window that appears, click the go button, after which you need to agree with the instructions in the message. After this, a black space freeing mode window will appear. Once the process is complete, the recovery partition will be deleted and the free space will be added to the system partition.

Method for Windows 8 and higher

Now about how to delete the recovery partition in Windows versions 8 and higher (in the seventh modification and lower, this solution does not work).

Remember, we were talking about creating at the first stage bootable flash drive? So, if you check the box next to the line Reserve copy, the entire partition, user files and programs can be transferred to this media. True, this may even require several hours and a flash drive larger than 64 GB.

But at the end of the process, the system itself will offer to delete the desired recovery partition. We agree and immediately see how much space is freed up.

Conclusion

It remains to be said that deleting the desired partition is advisable only in cases where recovery in any situation is planned to be carried out exclusively from removable media, which must be created in advance. If for some reason you don’t have it at hand, rolling back the system even to its factory state without reinstalling it will be absolutely impossible.

Many Windows users 7, as well as 8 and 8.1, are often unaware of their existence hidden section on your computer. Microsoft engineers hid it from the eyes of the average consumer (this is where the “popular” name came from - hidden section), this area on disk. However, you can still see it in a special applet in the control panel called “ Disk Management" How to get there? Very simple! Open the Control Panel (in Windows 7 you can use the “Start” button, in Windows 8 through the search by entering “Control Panel” in the search bar):

And we got into the applet " Disk management».

That's hidden section- a shaded rectangle with a size of 300 MB in Windows 8, and if you have a “seven”, then it will be about 30 MB in size. Notice how he “plumped up” tenfold! :)

This area does not have a familiar drive letter, like the C:\ drive, for example. What is its purpose?

Hidden section (aka system reserved partition from English " System Reserved") in Windows 7 and later versions of Windows 8 and 8.1 is intended to protect system boot files OS (operating system).

A little technical information about what is there:

• BCD- download storage configuration files
• bootmgr- bootloader Windows systems

In the environment ordinary users There is an opinion that using this section you can restore the system in the event of any software failure. It is also often called recovery partition. This is a little not true specifically for Windows 7, because the size of this area ( System Reserved) barely exceeds 30 MB in the “seven”. All recovery files are located in the hidden Recovery folder. Previously, I described how easy and painless it is to produce.

In Windows 8, these files were moved to the System Reserved partition, which is why it became almost 3 times thicker - 300 MB in the “eight”.

Indeed, the recovery environment is entered from the hidden partition; however, the recovery image is then loaded from hidden folder Recovery, which is physically located in the root of the C:\ drive in Windows 7.

At the same time, one must understand that hidden section it's not the same as system recovery partition. The first, as I already said, is reserved by the system for download files. The second one is created by manufacturers mobile computers(laptops, for example), to restore the PC to its original, or factory, state.

However, Windows 8 has its own recovery partition, separate from the laptop manufacturer's.

There may not be a hidden section

Yes, it may well be that you specifically may not have a hidden partition in the system. Why does this happen? In order for it to be created when installing the system on a computer, several conditions are necessary:

1. Firstly, installation must be done from any external device, for example, a DVD or USB drive. In this case, it will not be possible to perform operations with partitions on a stationary disk.
2. There should be no more than three main, that is, primary (primary) disk partitions before installing the system. If you already have four of them at the time of installation, then a hidden partition (100 MB) will not be created. The download files will simply be copied to the active partition. By the way, it is not a fact that they will be located on the partition with the system files. Like this!
3. The partition in which Windows is installed must be the first in the literal sense of the word, that is, the topmost in the installation window.
4. The OS installation area should not be marked. If there is no such area, you will have to first delete one of the main partitions and then create it again. Of course, if there is no need for a reserved area (System Reserved), then simply do not delete the previously created partition.

Here it is necessary to make a reservation that it is necessary to install on an active partition, since otherwise the partition that was active before installation may disappear (become invisible). The fact is that Windows it simply deletes its letter during its installation. However, the problem is solved in the Disk Management applet by setting the letter to the active partition.

Advantages of a hidden section

The most important advantage of the hidden section is download file protection from accidental change or damage. This section is not subject to negative influence disk space compression. You can completely safely restore the boot in case of failure, without reinstalling Windows.

Of course, a hidden partition is a significant help when it is necessary to restore the system due to operations performed by an inexperienced user.

Disadvantages of a hidden partition

These are not even disadvantages, but rather inconveniences. As I wrote above, they are related to the fact that when used together on one computer, say Windows XP and Windows 7 and 8, it becomes necessary to assign a letter to a hidden disk partition, and then delete it to copy files there Windows boot XP.

So, the system-reserved hidden partition in latest versions Windows is a great way to protect important boot files systems from rash user actions.

If you have successfully completed the installation of the OS, updates, necessary drivers and programs, checked the performance and stability, are satisfied with the result obtained and want to be able to “roll back” the OS to this state if necessary.

It has powerful backup tools that reduce the time required to restore the system.

It should be clarified that those who bought new computers with Windows 7 pre-installed are familiar with the recovery function, after which the system, and perhaps the contents of the entire hard drive, returns to its factory state. But in this case, user files located on the hard drive may be lost.

In stock installation disk with OS you avoid such losses, but next installation updates and drivers are inevitable.

There is a method that will significantly reduce the time spent setting up the OS after reinstallation, and it will not require an installation disk.

The algorithm described below does not require special knowledge and is relatively easy to implement for users. Work order:

• preparing a partition for a future recovery partition;
• creating a system image in Windows environment RE;
• setting up the recovery environment;
• reinstallation and new setting recovery environment.

Preparing the recovery partition

First of all, we create a partition on which we will place the OS image file and the file for deploying the recovery environment.

There are many ways to perform the operation, but we will use standard tools: Disk Management and the command line utility DISKPART.

The partition size is determined based on the current occupancy of the OS partition and the availability free space. For example, if the system takes up approximately 20 GB, a size of 5 to 10 GB is considered optimal.

In the example section D:\ was first compressed:

Figure 1 – compression of partition D:\

Figure 2 – unallocated disk space after compression

Using the utility DISKPART a primary partition was created, formatted, and a label was assigned to it Recovery and letter R. (DISKPART was used because Disk Management will make the fourth partition created be a secondary partition. You can experiment a little with placing the recovery partition on a secondary partition.

We do the following sequentially:

::Start DISKPART Diskpart::Select a disk. If there are several of them, then the number the desired disk determined by the command LIST DISK Sel disk 0::Creates a primary partition on the entire unallocated area of ​​the disk. If necessary, specify the partition number using the LIST PART Create partition primary::Quick formatting of the created partition and assigning it the “Recovery” label Format LABEL=”Recovery” quik::Assigning the letter R to the partition Assign letter=R::Completing work in DISKPART Exit

Figure 3 – work in DISKPART

We will use the command line, launched with administrator rights.

Before moving on to capturing an OS image, you need to create a R:\ folder WinRE for storage.

Figure 4 – WinRE folder at the root of the future recovery partition.

Creating an OS image

The version of the utility that needs to be used depends on the bitness of the system. In the example, both versions are placed on the section D:\ in folder WAIK Tools:

Figure 5 – WAIK Tools folder on a non-system partition

We restart the computer and enter the recovery environment (to do this, press F8 after turning on the computer and select “Troubleshoot computer problems” in the menu of additional boot options).

Launch the command line and text editor:

Using the “Open” menu (combination Ctrl keys+ O) determine the letters of the sections.

In the example, as can be seen from Figure 7, the section with the system received the letter D:\, utility imagex.exe is in the folder E:\WAIK Tools\, and the section Recovery– letter F:\.

Figure 7 – partition letters in the WindowsRE environment.

Since we do not need to transfer the configured image to another computer, we will use the command given in the section “Loading into Windows PE and saving the image using the ImageX utility” and. Now we run the command:

"E:\WAIK Tools\amd64\imagex.exe" /capture D: F:\WinRE\install.wim "Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 Custom"

Explanations:

• "E:\WAIK Tools\amd64\imagex.exe"- Path to the imagex.exe utility. Quotes are used to avoid problems with spaces in the folder name.
• /capture D:- The key indicates capturing the system image on the D: partition (as seen in WindowsRE).
• F:\WinRE\install.wim "Windows 7 Ultimate"SP1Custom"- Saving the captured image to the install.wim file (this is important, since in this case only this name is valid) in the F:\WinRE folder. A file comment is specified, and the default compression method is used (compress maximum).

Figure 8 - creating an operating system image in the Windows RE environment

Having finished working in the WindowsRE environment, we reboot.

Setting up the recovery environment.

In addition to the OS image file, we will place a file on the new partition that allows loading into the recovery environment. With this arrangement, it will not depend on the OS partition.

It is known that the recovery environment is deployed from an image file WinRE.wim which is in the folder recovery at the root of the system partition. Using Windows Explorer - access to this folder is blocked. The file attribute is hidden system. To place the file in the location of our choice, we will use command line utilities.

First of all, disable the recovery environment. Attention!!! L Any actions with the recovery environment must be preceded by disabling it! To do this, we perform in command line:

Reagentс /disable

After this the file WinRE.wim will move to the folder c:\Windows\System 32\Recovery . From it we will copy the file to the folder R:\WinRE. Use the command xcopy with key /h:

Xcopy /h c:\Windows\System32\Recovery\winre.wim r:\WinRE

Figure 9 – copying the WinRE.wim file

Finally, a few final chords:

::Set custom path (key /path) to the system image file located in the folder specified by the key /target Reagentc /setosimage /path R:\WinRE /target c:\Windows::Setting a custom path (key /path) to the system recovery environment deployment file located in the folder specified by the key /target Reagentc /setreimage /path R:\WinRE /target c:\Windows::Enable the recovery environment Reagentc /enable::Check the recovery environment settings Reagentc /info

From Figure 10 you can see that the setup was successful. You will still need the command line window.

Figure 10 – setup user environment recovery.

On the section Recovery changes have occurred. To track them, turn on the display of hidden and system files.

Figure 11 – changing the contents of the R section.

File WinRE.wim in folder WinRE no, but a folder appeared Recovery at the root of the section. The file is now there. We will not dwell on the structure of the Recovery folder - if you wish, you can study its contents and also compare it with the BCD parameters (using the bcdedit / enum all command).

It is necessary to protect the section from accidental impact from users. Therefore, it is better to hide it from Explorer and exclude the possibility of working with it in Disk Management. And the utility will help again Diskpart. On the command line, run sequentially (the disk and partition numbers correspond to the configuration given in the article):

::Start DISKPART Diskpart::Select a disk. If there are several of them, then the number of the required disk is determined by the command LIST DISK Sel disk 0:: Select a partition. If necessary, specify the partition number with the command LIST PART Sel part 4:: Removing a letter - the section will be hidden in Windows Explorer Remove::Setting the section identifier ID=27. This ID is set specifically for recovery partitions. It becomes impossible to work with such a partition in Disk Management, which provides additional protection for it Set id=27

Figure 12 – working with the recovery partition in DISKPART

Changes that have occurred in the system

Figure 13 – Explorer and Disk Management Manager.

We see that now in the advanced recovery methods window in the description Windows reinstallation There is no requirement to have an installation disk.

Figure 14 – Windows advanced recovery methods menu.

The recovery environment menu has also undergone changes:

Figure 15 – additional menu item in Windows recovery options in the recovery environment

We could end the article here, but there is a need to dwell on several nuances that arise after reinstalling the OS using the indicated method. Let's reinstall the system from the recovery environment.

Setting up a recovery environment after reinstalling the system

Let's conduct an experiment. For the purity of the result, I will format the partition with the system and the partition with the download files. Moreover, I strongly recommend formatting the “System Reserved” section to avoid confusion with loading.

Regardless of the manufacturer, there is a hidden section on laptops. You can also create it yourself. It is needed to restore the operating system Windows. This is not difficult to do, but not everyone can do it.

Almost all modern laptops have a hidden partition on their hard drive. It is designed to restore the operating system in case of failure. In the “My Computer” folder, as well as in “Explorer”, the hidden section is not displayed. It can only be seen in “Disk Management”. There may be other hidden partitions on your laptop, but this one has a larger capacity. Immediately after purchasing the device, you need to allocate disk space where the hidden partition will be located. You can install the program Acronis Disc Director Suite and select “ Manual mode" To continue, press the “Ok” button. In the same program, select “disk C” and change the size using the “Unallocated space in front” field. In the “Unallocated space after” section, the parameters are set to zero. Next, click the button with a flag. After that – “Proceed”. The computer needs to be restarted. Now the place for the hidden section is ready.

When this partition needs to be restored, the program is loaded Acronis True Image. After opening it, select “Restore” from the menu. Click the “Search” button backup copy" You must specify the address where the hidden section is located, and click the “Ok” button. Select the “Restore” option. After this, select “Recover disks or partitions” and click “Next”. In the next window, select “FAT32 and MBR” and continue using the same “Next” item. In the tab that opens, select “Disk Settings”. Further actions are aimed at selecting free space for drive C. After that, click “Apply”. Next, select “Change default settings”, and the partition type is indicated as “Main”. Click on the “Accept” button. A link “Change default settings” will appear at the bottom, click on “Next”. You must again select the disk where the MBR will be restored. Last action– this is a click on the “Proceed” button, and then the restoration of the hidden partition will begin.

There is another way - an easier one. Laptop manufacturers create a disk image with operating system and place it in a hidden section. In order to restore it, you press a certain key combination before loading Windows (each manufacturer specifies its own set of symbols, which can be found either in the instructions or found independently on the Internet). After this, the recovery process starts automatically. This method is much simpler and more convenient. Utilities, programs and drivers will be restored. However, there are certain disadvantages: they will recover in the same way unnecessary programs, which will have to be deleted manually later.

A feature of the Windows 7 operating system, as well as a big surprise for users who first installed this system on their computer, was the hidden partition System Reserved(Reserved by the system). In this article I will try to reveal the functions and advantages of this innovation.

Purpose of the hidden section

If Windows 7 is your first operating system, then you may not suspect anything about the existence of this partition. It is not visible in Windows Explorer. Over time, if the main purpose of the computer is not gaming or surfing the Internet, you will reach “Disk Management” and see that in addition to one or two partitions there is little space on the hard drive. It looks like a separate section, but it doesn’t have a letter and the name is unclear. Why then is it needed?

The main purpose of this section is to protect operating system boot files. This partition contains the boot store configuration files (BCD) and the system boot loader (bootmgr file). It is believed that this partition can be used to perform a system recovery (sometimes called the recovery partition). This is not entirely true, since the volume of all files located on the partition System Reserved, does not exceed 30-35 MB, while the volume of recovery files is about 150 MB. Although you can log into the recovery environment using this partition, there is no image of the recovery environment on this partition. He is in hidden system folder Recovery on the partition with the operating system

Do not confuse the hidden partition, reserved by the system for boot files, and the recovery partition, created by manufacturers to return the computer to its “factory state”. Such sections have completely different attributes. At the same time, on modern computers(especially on laptops) both of these sections are necessarily present.

Automatic partition creation during operating system installation

To be honest, it was a mystery to me why in one case, when installing the system, a hidden partition is created, but in another - not. The answer to the question emerged as a result of experiments.

There are several prerequisites for creating a section:

1. The first and main condition is loading from an external device (DVD, USB), because when running the installation program from Windows, you will not be able to work with hard disk partitions;
2. The total number of main (primary) hard disk partitions before installation should not exceed 3. That is, if before installation the space of your hard drive is already divided into 4 such partitions, in this case a hidden partition of 100 MB in size will not be created, and the download files will be located on the existing active partition. Moreover, this may not be the partition on which the system is installed. The number of logical partitions on an extended one does not matter.
3. The partition into which installation is performed must be the first one (top, in the graphical representation of disk space);
4. The operating system must be installed into an unallocated area of ​​the disk. If the disk is already partitioned, then when choosing a partition to install the system you need to not only format it, but also create it again, that is, the partition for installation must first be deleted. Accordingly, if you do not want a partition to be created on your hard drive System Reserved, do not delete the existing one;

One point is interesting in this regard. If the system installation partition and the active partition are not the same, the active partition becomes invisible after installation is complete. This happens because the installer first places the Windows 7 boot files on the active partition, and then “unmounts” it - removing the letter. This is why many users, since the beta version of Windows 7 (and even now, sometimes it happens), installing the system on an inactive partition, “lost” the partition with already installed system(with Windows XP, for example). The cause of “invisibility” can be easily corrected by assigning a letter to the active partition in Disk Management.

Advantages and disadvantages

As I already noted, the purpose of the hidden partition is to protect the boot data storage. Since this partition is not connected to the others, operations such as disk space compression do not affect boot files, which avoids compression-related problems such as boot messages "bootmgr is compressed". With certain knowledge and skills, boot restoration is not such a complicated process, but it does take some time. If they are absent, the matter may end with reinstalling the system.

The second advantage is the less labor-intensive process of reinstalling one of the systems if you have several of them on the same computer. You can read about this in the article “Restoring a joint boot of Windows 7 and Windows XP when reinstalling one of them” - section “Option two - the recovery partition has been created”.

Finally, having a hidden section is another type of foolproof protection.” To be honest, the experience of helping users solve problems with the operating system allows us to conclude that problems often arise due to a lack of experience and knowledge, as well as a lack of understanding of many of the processes that ensure the stable operation of the operating system.

A few words can also be said about the shortcomings, although it would be more correct to classify them as inconveniences. They are connected with the fact that when organizing a joint boot with Windows XP, you have to assign and delete the letter of the hidden partition to place the XP boot files on it. But I think the advantages of this section outweigh this disadvantage.

Conclusion

The hidden "System Reserved" section in Windows 7 was another step in the evolution of Windows boot, which has undergone significant changes in Windows Vista. Thanks to this section, system booting becomes more reliable and less dependent on user actions.

I express my deep gratitude to Vadim Sterkin for reviewing the article and helping with publication.