Is it possible to install Win 11 on one partition (with no recovery or boot partitions)?


mingle

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Hi Guys,

With Windows 10 it was possible to 'trick' the installer to use a single partition and bypass the creation of system-reserved/recovery partitions.

I found this very convenient, as I use image-backups to create a nice, clean copy of my system partition, for backup purposes.

Recovering from an image was simple; plonk the image back onto the single partition.

However, with Windows 11, it seems that it's now not possible to bypass the creation of the two 'extra' partitions. Does anyone know a workaround and/or if this would cause problems?

Cheers,

Mike.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
With Windows 11 there are supported and unsupported installations.
Supported installations use UEFI and GPT.
Unsupported installations can use Legacy and MBR or UEFI and CSM.

To properly boot BIOS UEFI a FAT32 EFI partition is typically used.

If you have no other options the unsupported options are still available.

The loss is the improved security that Windows 11 was designed to address (UEFI, Secure boot, etc.).

If you remain with a supported installation it is possible to reduce the number of partitions.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4800MQ CPU @ 2.70GHz
    Motherboard
    Product : 190A Version : KBC Version 94.56
    Memory
    16 GB Total: Manufacturer : Samsung MemoryType : DDR3 FormFactor : SODIMM Capacity : 8GB Speed : 1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Quadro K3100M; Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600
    Sound Card
    IDT High Definition Audio CODEC; PNP Device ID HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_111D&DEV_76E0
    Hard Drives
    Model Hitachi HTS727575A9E364
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender
    Other Info
    Mobile Workstation
Recovering from an image was simple; plonk the image back onto the single partition.

Yes.

If your bios supports bios boot mode:

You could use use mbr partition style and have a single system and boot partition.

If your bios supports efi boot from ntfs:

you might be able to have gpt partition style, just one partition and have the efi folder on the same partition.
Or mbr partition style, one partition and the efi folder on the same partition.

During installation, windows setup.exe wont set it up that way, but it can easily be done by partitioning the disk yourself.
e.g.
F10 to get cmd prompt then use diskpart to intitialize disk/create a partition
Apply the image from install.wim to the partition using dism or similar
Create the boot files by pointing bcdboot at the partition
 
Last edited:

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i5-8400
    Motherboard
    gigabyte b365m ds3h
    Memory
    2x8gb 3200mhz
    Monitor(s) Displays
    benq gw2480
    PSU
    bequiet pure power 11 400CM
    Cooling
    cryorig m9i
  • Operating System
    win7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    pentium g5400
    Motherboard
    gigabyte b365m ds3h
    Memory
    1x8gb 2400
    PSU
    xfx pro 450
See post #12 in this thread:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4800MQ CPU @ 2.70GHz
    Motherboard
    Product : 190A Version : KBC Version 94.56
    Memory
    16 GB Total: Manufacturer : Samsung MemoryType : DDR3 FormFactor : SODIMM Capacity : 8GB Speed : 1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Quadro K3100M; Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600
    Sound Card
    IDT High Definition Audio CODEC; PNP Device ID HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_111D&DEV_76E0
    Hard Drives
    Model Hitachi HTS727575A9E364
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender
    Other Info
    Mobile Workstation

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