Solved Microsoft Recommendations Regarding Recovery Partition

hsehestedt · Dec 24, 2022

I know that Microsoft recommends creating the recovery partition last (after the Windows partition). The reasoning is that by placing the recovery partition last, the Windows partition can be shrunk and the recovery partition grown if a Windows update is installed that requires more space in the recovery partition.

However, I just encountered a situation where the behavior was not what I expected and I'm wondering if any of you have ideas as to why I saw the behavior that I encountered.

Here is the scenario:

I performed a clean install of Windows 11 22H2 on my laptop using an unattended answer file. I have this unattended setup configured to create the recovery partition last with a size of 500 MB. Installation completes and all is well. After installation I enable BitLocker for the C: (Windows) drive. This is where the behavior is different from what I would have expected. Rather than resize my existing recovery partition, Windows shrunk C: and created a new recovery partition that was roughly 630 MB in size. The end result is that I ended up with two recovery partitions - one of about 630 MB in size followed by the original 500 MB partition. I'm curious to know if anyone knows why the behavior is like this.

It might also be worth noting that when I enabled BitLocker I got a message that said, "You will no longer be able to use Windows Recovery Environment unless it is manually enabled and moved to the system drive".

I realize that I could work around this manually, but simply for testing purposes I performed another clean install, but this time I set my unattended installation to create a recovery partition of 750 MB. This time, when I enabled BitLocker, I did not get the message noted above and no additional recovery partition was created.

I had thought that the whole idea behind creating the recovery partition last was that Windows would be able to manage the recovery partition better on its own so I'm a bit confused by these results.

Any thoughts?

NOTE: In case any further system details are needed, this was done on my system #2 (HP Spectre x360 15-BL012DX) laptop computer.

LeLibran · Dec 24, 2022

Having been through this process many times (including deleting 'old' recovery partitions) my understanding (which might be wrong) is that:
- when a 'reinstallation'/upgrade is carried out, if the existing recovery partition has sufficient space available it will be reused, but
- if it's not large enough a new partition is created by taking space from the end of the system partition, leaving the redundant recovery partition at the end of the drive.

I believe the logic is that an existing partitions can only be extended from adjacent space available to the right, so it's not possible for the recovery partition at the end of the drive to be extended.

But, I'll be interested to see if anyone has a better understanding/explanation.

zbook · Dec 24, 2022

These are paragraphs from different Microsoft links on the Windows update/Windows RE and automatic failover:

Code:

Recovery tools partition
This partition must be at least 300 MB.

The Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) tools require additional free space:

A minimum of 52 MB is required but 250 MB is recommended, to accomodate future 
updates, especially with custom partition layouts.


When calculating free space, note:

The recovery image, winre.wim, is typically between 250-300MB, depending on what drivers, 
languages, and customizations you add.
The file system itself can take up additional space. 
For example, NTFS may reserve 5-15MB or more on a 750MB partition.
This partition must use the Type ID: DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC.

The recovery tools should be in a separate partition than the Windows partition to support 
automatic failover and to support booting partitions encrypted with Windows BitLocker Drive 
Encryption.

We recommend that you place this partition immediately after the Windows partition. 
This allows Windows to modify and recreate the partition later if future updates require a 
larger recovery image.

Code:

Recovery tools partition
Create a separate recovery partition to support automatic failover and to support booting 
Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption-encrypted partitions.

We recommend that you place this partition in a separate partition, immediately after the 
Windows partition. 
This allows Windows to modify and recreate the partition later if future updates require a 
larger recovery image.


The Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) tools require additional free space:

A minimum of 52 MB is required but 250 MB is recommended, to accomodate future updates, 
especially with custom partition layouts.


When calculating free space, note:

The recovery image, winre.wim, is typically between 250-300MB, depending on what drivers, 
languages, and customizations you add.
The file system itself can take up additional space. 
For example, NTFS may reserve 5-15MB or more on a 750MB partition.

Code:

The Windows RE update process makes every effort to reuse the existing 
Windows RE partition without any modification. 
However, in some rare situations where the new Windows RE image 
(along with the migrated/injected contents) does not fit in the existing Windows 
RE partition, the update process will behave as follows:

If the existing Windows RE partition is located immediately after the Windows partition, 
the Windows partition will be shrunk and space will be added to the Windows RE partition. 
The new Windows RE image will be installed onto the expanded Windows RE partition.

If the existing Windows RE partition is not located immediately after the Windows partition, 
the Windows partition will be shrunk and a new Windows RE partition will be created. 
The new Windows RE image will be installed onto this new Windows RE partition. 

The existing Windows RE partition will be orphaned.
If the existing Windows RE partition cannot be reused and the Windows partition cannot 
successfully be shrunk, the new Windows RE image will be installed onto the Windows partition. 
The existing Windows RE partition will be orphaned.

They reported a known issue and there may be others.

UEFI/GPT-based hard drive partitions

learn.microsoft.com

BIOS/MBR-based hard drive partitions

learn.microsoft.com

Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE)

learn.microsoft.com

DigitalGoat · Dec 24, 2022

Not sure if this is worth it for you but disabling the recovery environment, re booting, then re enabling the recovery environment puts the recovery files into the Recovery folder in the root of C:\, you can then remove the Recovery partition.
This updates without issue, so far, and doesn't lead to any recovery partitions being created/ leftover.
Obviously a clean install would require the above steps to be taken again, a repair install/ feature update should maintain the Recovery folder instead of the partition, I think.

This works fine if you use something like Macrium to create system images as I feel it would be a rare occurence to need to use the Recovery environment as intended.

cereberus · Dec 24, 2022

LeLibran said:
Having been through this process many times (including deleting 'old' recovery partitions) my understanding (which might be wrong) is that:
- when a 'reinstallation'/upgrade is carried out, if the existing recovery partition has sufficient space available it will be reused, but
- if it's not large enough a new partition is created by taking space from the end of the system partition, leaving the redundant recovery partition at the end of the drive.

I believe the logic is that an existing partitions can only be extended from adjacent space available to the right, so it's not possible for the recovery partition at the end of the drive to be extended.

But, I'll be interested to see if anyone has a better understanding/explanation.

This is correct.

hsehestedt · Dec 24, 2022

I'll have to find it, no time at moment, but I recall a posting (I believe from @Kari ), indicating that the recovery partition now has the unique ability to be grown to the left (as viewed in disk management). This applies ONLY to the recovery partition. Technically, it may simply be that Windows shrinks the C: partition, deletes the existing recovery partition, then recreates it in the new larger size. Maybe this is something that can happen only with a Windows upgrade and not when enabling BitLocker, but I'll see if I can find that info when I get back in front of PC later.

zbook · Dec 24, 2022

hsehestedt said:
It might also be worth noting that when I enabled BitLocker I got a message that said, "You will no longer be able to use Windows Recovery Environment unless it is manually enabled and moved to the system drive".

I realize that I could work around this manually, but simply for testing purposes I performed another clean install, but this time I set my unattended installation to create a recovery partition of 750 MB. This time, when I enabled BitLocker, I did not get the message noted above and no additional recovery partition was created.

The error message that you reported has been reported for Bitlocker problems on Windows 7.

The free space was insufficient before the upgrade was sufficient once there was more free space on the existing recovery partition.

With Windows 7 a larger system system partition made more free space to avoid the error message.

With Windows 11 it may require more free space to generate a clear key during the transition?

Code:

One of the items that BitLocker checks is the configuration of the system partition.
BitLocker requires a minimum system partition size of 100 MB, and the Windows Recovery
Environment requires 200 MB.
When the operating system is installed, the system partition is automatically created by the setup process
with a default size of 300 MB.
However, this default partition size can be changed by computer manufacturers or system administrators
when they install the operating system.

If the system partition is exactly 100 MB, BitLocker setup assumes that you have a Windows Recovery DVD
for use with your computer and the system check is completed without any errors.

However, if you have a system partition size between 101 MB and 299 MB, the following error message will
be displayed: 

"You will no longer be able to use Windows Recovery Environment unless it is manually enabled
and moved to the system drive."


If you have a Windows 7 DVD that contains the Windows Recovery Environment or you have another system
recovery process in place, you may disregard this message and continue with BitLocker setup.
Otherwise, you should check your system partition and verify that you have at least 200 MB of free space on
your system partition so that the Windows Recovery Environment can be retained on the system drive along
with the BitLocker Recovery Environment and other files that BitLocker requires to unlock the operating system
drive.

Scenario 1: Turning On BitLocker Drive Encryption on an Operating System Drive (Windows 7)

learn.microsoft.com

hdmi · Dec 24, 2022

DigitalGoat said:
Not sure if this is worth it for you but disabling the recovery environment, re booting, then re enabling the recovery environment puts the recovery files into the Recovery folder in the root of C:\, you can then remove the Recovery partition.
This updates without issue, so far, and doesn't lead to any recovery partitions being created/ leftover.
Obviously a clean install would require the above steps to be taken again, a repair install/ feature update should maintain the Recovery folder instead of the partition, I think.
This works fine if you use something like Macrium to create system images as I feel it would be a rare occurence to need to use the Recovery environment as intended.

As an additional step to what you have described, you could always decide to delete the WinRE.wim file from C:\ after copying the file onto a USB flash drive. Most users rarely need WinRE regardless of whether they create system images, and, even if you do need it like once or maybe twice a year, most likely you will still be better off if you keep it on a rescue stick anyway.

If you have a custom WinRE.wim, you can use this to boot straight into the file:

Ventoy

Ventoy is an open source tool to create bootable USB drive for ISO files. With ventoy, you don't need to format the disk again and again, you just need to copy the iso file to the USB drive and boot it.

www.ventoy.net

Also, if you have the space for it on your USB flash drive, you can put the offficial Windows Installation ISO file alongside it and use this whenever you want:

Ventoy

Ventoy is an open source tool to create bootable USB drive for ISO files. With ventoy, you don't need to format the disk again and again, you just need to copy the iso file to the USB drive and boot it.

www.ventoy.net

The bootable rescue media ISO file of Macrium and/or of Acronis and/or of etc. can be on there too, along with your image files. As long as you've got enough space at least. Just make backup copies of stuff that either you can't afford to lose or you don't want to afford to lose. Even if you permanently lost your WinRE.wim file you can still always extract it from the offficial Windows Installation ISO file and redo any customizations that you might have applied to your WinRE.

As an aside, it also is possible to use iPXE with rEFInd to boot from an iSCSI device so that your boot environment that you keep on there can use things like TFTP to grab whatever bootable image file you want, from wherever you want, before it uses Ventoy to boot straight into that one. It's a handy strategy especially if you're dealing with a lot of machines.

Megahertz · Dec 25, 2022

What I have seen is that, if the actual Recovery partition size isn't enough, Windows won't resize it, it will create a new one.
To avoid having more than one recovery partition, I've created mine with 850M.
You can also disable the recovery partition (reagentc /disable) and the recovery environment will be created under C:

hsehestedt · Dec 25, 2022

Megahertz said:
What I have seen is that, if the actual Recovery partition size isn't enough, Windows won't resize it, it will create a new one.

Yeah, I'm very familiar with managing the recovery partition, that's easy, but the whole idea of having it last was so that Windows can manage it on its own without ending up with two of them. It's not any big deal, I was just curious why I was observing the behavior that I'm seeing.

ThrashZone · Dec 26, 2022

Hi,
Yeah if you end up with two at the end of your disk just delete the one at the end and extend the newest with the oldest/ unallocated space
Should be good for a while
I tend to just make the one up front larger so ms won't create more clutter, gpt requirement realized why, so ms can create endless little partitions :lmao:

PhilB · Dec 27, 2022

I have several recovery partitions on the drive with my C: partition. I also create a D partition for data files on the same physical drive. When I built this system in 2019, I was still running Windows 7, but then upgraded to Windows 10, updating it to the current 22H2 release. I assume that all but one of the recovery partitions is no longer needed, but I don't know which one. I would like to delete these partitions and merge that space into my existing C and D partitions.

hsehestedt · Dec 27, 2022

If you run the reagentc /info command it will tell you what partition the active recovery partition is. In general, I would expect this to be the first recovery partition from the left side as viewed in disk management, but I would run the command to make sure.

Diceman2037 · Mar 3, 2024

hsehestedt said:
If you run the reagentc /info command it will tell you what partition the active recovery partition is. In general, I would expect this to be the first recovery partition from the left side as viewed in disk management, but I would run the command to make sure.

on Windows 11 the reagent partition is the last, placed after the EFI and OS partition,

With the Jan 2024 bitlocker CVE updates, the WinRE partition should be 950MB-1GB.

sdowney717 · Mar 3, 2024

Windows Recovery Environment explained | Microsoft Community Hub

Explore the recovery and troubleshooting tools in WinRE, and the latest features available to Windows Insiders.

techcommunity.microsoft.com

Not actully ever been able to use RE tools that worked to fix non booting windows

I did find that installing windows using setupprep.exe /product server from a mounted windows install iso makes a new RE on the drive.
I had Samsung migration clone a drive and the clone was missing RE. Then doing an upgrade install to 23H2 and keeping files and programs, the RE was recreated on the disk

ThrashZone · Mar 3, 2024

hsehestedt said:
Yeah, I'm very familiar with managing the recovery partition, that's easy, but the whole idea of having it last was so that Windows can manage it on its own without ending up with two of them. It's not any big deal, I was just curious why I was observing the behavior that I'm seeing.

Hi,
Yep
Once you shrunk C is why bitlocker had to make a new RE seeing the one from the clean install stayed where it originally was at the end of the disk I'd bet thus the bitlocker message occurred and created a new RE.

I did this when I was recreating a new RE in front of C "this is ultimately why I did this and made it 1.5gb" so windows would stop the RE recreation madness.
I used disk management to shrink C and broke my original RE from clean install, which it didn't matter but still was surprising DM was that poorly designed or uninformed RE existed and should of moved it to.

But either way glad you found out how weird windows still is having the RE at the end of C really is a silly thing for MS to do.

Hell people use a lot larger disks now days having a RE at the end of a 1-2tb os disk is really silly as hell hehe because a user may at some point want to partition the large disk and disk management will break it really quickly, not sure other third party apps do any better though I have not tried any after a clean install to see if they move the RE with C or not.

Either way I believe long run wise this was well worth the effort to do this thanks again for the help

Here's my RE not sure what bitlocker would do but likely reuse it as windows does

.

hdmi · Mar 4, 2024

Diceman2037 said:
on Windows 11 the reagent partition is the last, placed after the EFI and OS partition,

With the Jan 2024 bitlocker CVE updates, the WinRE partition should be 950MB-1GB.

Well if you have split the main OS disk up into two separate partitions C: and D: you normally should see that the D: partition is positioned after the WinRE partition. In the example below, you can see that WinRE is enabled, and is located on disk 1 partition 4. So then, in this example, disk 1 partition 5 turns out to be a leftover WinRE partition that can be removed, as it no longer will be needed for anything. After that, the freed up space can be merged with the D: partition and not cause any data to be lost as a result, which is an easy task with AOMEI Partition Assistant 10.3.0 (free download). The whole process can be done within a matter of only minutes, and it doesn't even require to reboot. (Whether you use a Powershell window as an administrator or use a command window as an administrator, shouldn't actually even matter, as both should work equally fine with reagentc and diskpart.)

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