Solved My not so amazing family computer

Haydon · Mar 5, 2022

A Recovery (D) shows up in File Explorer (see first attachment) Disk Management shows non-default partitioning (see second attachment) I don't know what happened, computer (W10 Home) works well.

Nonetheless, what does it take to get the default partitioning with MSR and the like?

The-Hive · Mar 5, 2022

I seem to be missing the obvious, I cannot see anything wrong. Are you on 11 as well?

Haydon · Mar 5, 2022

Well, I expect NOT to see a Recovery (D) in File Explorer.

Then, I expect to see a Recovery partition with content, an EFI system partition with content, the Microsoft reserved partition (usually 16 MB) and the C: partition.

Edit: It is not a dual boot system, it's a family friendly family computer :)

cereberus · Mar 5, 2022

Haydon said:
Well, I expect NOT to see a Recovery (D) in File Explorer.

Then, I expect to see a Recovery partition with content, an EFI system partition with content, the Microsoft reserved partition (usually 16 MB) and the C: partition.

Can you see files on D drive. It could be an OEM recovery partition, or just a normal data partition.

Winuser · Mar 5, 2022

Haydon said:
Well, I expect NOT to see a Recovery (D) in File Explorer.

Then, I expect to see a Recovery partition with content, an EFI system partition with content, the Microsoft reserved partition (usually 16 MB) and the C: partition.

Edit: It is not a dual boot system, it's a family friendly family computer :)

You assigned it a drive letter.

Winuser · Mar 5, 2022

Winuser said:
You assigned it a drive letter.

If you don't want to see it, use Disk Management to remove the drive letter.

Haydon · Mar 5, 2022

All partitions are empty except for C: as you can see from the screenshot. D disappearing like that is not what I want.

If I do a clean install, then the default partitions including their default contents should be there, correct? It's a couple of hours of work to restore the machine.

Sir_George · Mar 5, 2022

Haydon said:
All partitions are empty except for C: as you can see from the screenshot. D disappearing like that is not what I want.

If I do a clean install, then the default partitions including their default contents should be there, correct? It's a couple of hours of work to restore the machine.

If you want the partitions to have their default settings and contents as set by Windows during the install, you could try a repair install before resorting to a clean install. Just a thought.

Berton · Mar 5, 2022

The Recovery partition on my computers don't have a drive letter assigned, not usually enough free space on them anyway for practical use.

NavyLCDR · Mar 5, 2022

Your computer does have a default disk layout for a factory-built system. The 980MB recovery partition is the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE). The 11.31 GB recovery partition is the factory provided recovery partition that would be used for a restore back to off-the-shelf condition with all the factory software restored.

To remove the D: drive letter simply:

Code:

diskpart
select volume d
remove
exit
exit

That will not remove the partition, only the drive letter. You could completely remove all recovery partitions, just make sure to run the below command first:

Code:

reagentc /disable

then remove both recovery partitions, expand C: to fill the empty space, then reactivate Windows RE with:

Code:

reagentc /enable

Haydon · Mar 5, 2022

I fear the command line stuff is above my skill level. I need a clean install where I can delete all partitions, i.e. a 'Custom Install' in W10 parlance, is that correct?

NavyLCDR · Mar 5, 2022

Haydon said:
I need a clean install where I can delete all partitions, i.e. a 'Custom Install' in W10 parlance, is that correct?

No, that is not correct at all. There is absolutely nothing wrong with your current installation.

NavyLCDR · Mar 5, 2022

Haydon said:
All partitions are empty except for C: as you can see from the screenshot. D disappearing like that is not what I want.

The partitions appear empty, because that is EXACTLY what is supposed to happen. The EFI System, Windows RE, and Recovery partitions are marked as hidden, just like they should be. Because they are marked as hidden, their contents won't show in normal disk management so they appear to be empty when they are not.

Haydon · Mar 5, 2022

OK, why is there no MSR?

Edit: If I delete all partitions at the beginning of the clean install procedure and let the OS do the partitioning, then there would be something like RE, EFI, MSR, C: which I believe is the default (and which I like)

NavyLCDR · Mar 5, 2022

Haydon said:
OK, why is there no MSR?

Edit: If I delete all partitions at the beginning of the clean install procedure and let the OS do the partitioning, then there would be something like RE, EFI, MSR, C: which I believe is the default (and which I like)

There is an MSR. MSR does not show up in Disk Management. Again, your computer is in EXACTLY the configuration that is should be for a factory computer. Notice my screenshot in post #13. No MSR in disk management, right? But look:

Code:

C:\Windows\system32>diskpart

Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.22000.1

Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: RAIDER

DISKPART> select disk 1

Disk 1 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> list par

  Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
  -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
  Partition 1    System             100 MB  1024 KB
  Partition 2    Reserved            16 MB   101 MB
  Partition 3    Primary            443 GB   117 MB
  Partition 4    Recovery           980 MB   443 GB
  Partition 5    Recovery            21 GB   444 GB

DISKPART>

16 MB MSR (Partition 2) just like it is supposed to be. Your computer is configured EXACTLY correctly. All you need to do is remove drive letter D: from the factory recovery partition, which you are unwilling to do. Your computer's system disk is configured EXACTLY like my computer's system disk, except you have a drive letter assigned to partition 5 and I don't. And the solution is incredibly simple:

Code:

diskpart
select volume d
remove
exit
exit

Winuser · Mar 5, 2022

Haydon said:
OK, why is there no MSR?

Edit: If I delete all partitions at the beginning of the clean install procedure and let the OS do the partitioning, then there would be something like RE, EFI, MSR, C: which I believe is the default (and which I like)

My suggestion is to remove the drive letter D, then leave the drive as is.

NavyLCDR · Mar 5, 2022

Haydon said:
Edit: If I delete all partitions at the beginning of the clean install procedure and let the OS do the partitioning, then there would be something like RE, EFI, MSR, C: which I believe is the default (and which I like)

If you are so dead set on doing a clean install....nobody is stopping you. Please come back to this thread and let us know how it worked out so that others may benefit from your experience. Here is a Windows 11 clean install I did last week on a VM:

Code:

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.22000.493]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>diskpart

Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.22000.1

Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: RAIDER

DISKPART> sel dis 3

Disk 3 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> lis par

  Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
  -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
  Partition 1    System             100 MB  1024 KB
  Partition 2    Reserved            16 MB   101 MB
  Partition 3    Primary            127 GB   117 MB
  Partition 4    Recovery           518 MB   127 GB

DISKPART>

Haydon · Mar 5, 2022

Hm, I keep an empty test machine in my stable that I always reset after doing tests, so that I always have a default machine at hand. On that machine, MSR does appear in the Disk Management panel. Since I have done x resets on that machine, I took that as the default.

It's not that I am against doing things on the command line (I can type, LOL) just that if something goes wrong, I don't know what to do

Let me think what to do, the machine does work well, so there is no urgency. Thanks for the responses!

NavyLCDR · Mar 5, 2022

Haydon said:
Hm, I keep an empty test machine in my stable that I always reset after doing tests, so that I always have a default machine at hand. On that machine, MSR does appear in the Disk Management panel. Since I have done x resets on that machine, I took that as the default.

A Microsoft System Reserved partition has never shown in disk management. You might be confusing the Microsoft System Reserved (MSR) partition present on a GPT disk (which NEVER shows in disk management), with a System Reserved partition on an MBR disk, which is really just a volume label (not a partition type) which a computer boots from in legacy BIOS mode.

cereberus · Mar 5, 2022

NavyLCDR said:
The partitions appear empty, because that is EXACTLY what is supposed to happen. The EFI System, Windows RE, and Recovery partitions are marked as hidden, just like they should be. Because they are marked as hidden, their contents won't show in normal disk management so they appear to be empty when they are not.

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