Solved System Reserved and Recovery in File Explorer

bimfi · May 19, 2026

Good morning. Yesterday I did a clean install of Windows 11 pro due to an update failure and boot loop. Everything seems to be working fine. I looked into File Explorer and noticed the two virtual drives (I guess they are virtual) named System Reserved, and Recovery. When I opened them up, I noticed that most of the folders were dated 2019 and 2011 or earlier. I was expecting them to be files from my most recent reinstall. Can I delete them, or at least delete the files, or are they still necessary. Thanks for any and all responses.

OAT · May 19, 2026

bimfi said:
Good morning. Yesterday I did a clean install of Windows 11 pro due to an update failure and boot loop. Everything seems to be working fine. I looked into File Explorer and noticed the two virtual drives (I guess they are virtual) named System Reserved, and Recovery. When I opened them up, I noticed that most of the folders were dated 2019 and 2011 or earlier. I was expecting them to be files from my most recent reinstall. Can I delete them, or at least delete the files, or are they still necessary. Thanks for any and all responses.

Your guess is wrong as those drives are physical, not virtual.
Please post a screenshot of Disk Management so that we can better assess your setup.

Win+R+ diskmgmt.msc (enter)

bimfi · May 19, 2026

Here is the screen shot

bimfi · May 19, 2026

I forgot to expand the file system and status. Here is an updated shot.

OAT · May 19, 2026

bimfi said:
Here is the screen shotView attachment 171909 View attachment 171909

Deary me, what the heck have you done?
Thank you for the remarkable screenshots but this is quite a messy layout you've got there.
Some encrypted, some not, how did that come about?
Did you reinstall on top of reinstallations? :boom:

Please search this site and look for additional tutorials on required partitions needed in Win 11.
Basic partition should look like the one below except in your case, MSR is not needed since you are still using a MBR for booting.

UEFI/GPT-based hard drive partitions

learn.microsoft.com

Celery · May 19, 2026

Windows is currently booting from the EFI System Partition (100 MB) on Disk 2, while the current Windows installation itself is located on Disk 0.

You also have a 100 MB "System Reserved (E:)" partition on Disk 1 marked Active, which suggests that disk was likely created under an older BIOS/MBR installation at some point. You can safely delete that partition, because UEFI/GPT systems do not use "Active" partition flags.

You can determine which recovery partition is currently in use by running:

reagentc /info

To remove unused recovery partition:

diskpart
list disk
select disk #
list partition
select partition #
delete partition override
exit

Be careful not to delete the recovery partition currently used by Windows. Also note that GPT disks may contain a Microsoft Reserved Partition (MSR), which normally does not appear in Disk Management.

The safest thing to do is to remove the drive letters assigned to the "Recovery (D:)" and "System Reserved (E:)" partitions in Disk Management, rather than deleting the partitions themselves.

bimfi · May 19, 2026

Is it that bad? I built this system in 2018, I believe. So, how do I fix this?

Celery · May 19, 2026

bimfi said:
Yesterday I did a clean install of Windows 11 pro due to an update failure and boot loop.

bimfi said:
So, how do I fix this?

Perform another clean installation of Windows 11.

At the "Select location to install Windows 11" screen, delete all partitions on Disk 0 so the entire disk becomes unallocated space. Then, delete the existing 100 MB EFI System Partition on Disk 2.

When Windows Setup is running in UEFI mode, it searches all connected disks for an existing EFI partition. If one already exists, Setup may reuse it instead of creating a new EFI partition on the installation disk. If no suitable FAT32-formatted EFI partition is found, Setup creates a new one on the same disk where Windows is being installed.

glasskuter · May 19, 2026

I know exactly what happened.
The clean install tutorial explicitly states to remove all secondary drives before clean installing. . This is to prevent your bootloader from being written to the wrong drive. You did not do this so your bootloader did indeed write to the wrong drive.
The tutorial also tells you to delete all partitions on the drive and install windows on unallocated space so that the install can partition the drive correctly. You did not do this either so it's now your partitions are all wonky.

bimfi · May 19, 2026

Okay. That sucks, but I have to do it. I will take a breather and start it tomorrow. Thanks!

zbook · May 19, 2026

Consider:

a) testing drives

b) deciding the preferred disk drive for Windows

c) backing up important files from that disk drive

d) detaching all other disk drives

e) manually deleting all partitions to create an unallocated disk drive

f) clean installing Windows 11 using the newest bootable Windows 11 MCT /iso

g) deleting the extra partitions on various drives (system reserved and Windows recovery partitions)

h) enlarging a storage partition on disk 2 so that there is no longer any unallocated free space for new Windows recovery partitions

glasskuter · May 19, 2026

Clean Install Windows 11

IMPORTANT: You will have to have the encryption key to unlock all those other drives when you reconnect them. Make sure you have it.

bimfi · May 19, 2026

glasskuter said:
Clean Install Windows 11

IMPORTANT: You will have to have the encryption key to unlock all those other drives when you reconnect them. Make sure you have it.

Not sure if I have the encryption key. I didn't even know they were encrypted until I saw them in disk management. Should I have them somewhere on my PC?

bimfi · May 19, 2026

I was planning on purchasing 2 new drives. A 2T SSD for c: drive (Disk 0), and a 2T HDD drive for storage (Disk 1). My existing storage drive (Disk 2) could be used for low importance storage. Not sure how long that drive will last, seeing that it came out of an old My Cloud device. At least, that is my plan.

glasskuter · May 19, 2026

Both Bitlocker and device encryption encrypts partitions(volumes), not the physical disks. Every encrypted partition has its own unique recovery key. Device encryption is automatically enabled if one uses a MS account. For Bitlocker to be enabled the user has to enable it. Check your Microsoft account to see if the keys are stored there. Find your BitLocker recovery key - Microsoft Support

At the time one enables bitlocker it is prudent to make local record of these keys. I personally never do and never will use encryption. It scares me far worse than anyone getting to my data because what I store is of no use to anyone but me. No critical files or passwords are stored on my devices. But I would consider it a catastrophe to be locked out of access to my own data.
We have seen a few cases of that happening when the user used a local account when he enabled bitlocker and kept no record of his keys or lost his keys.

Scott · May 19, 2026

bimfi said:
I didn't even know they were encrypted until I saw them in disk management.

If you don't need bitlocker you could turn it off for each drive.
Control Panel>All Control Panel Items>Bitlocker Drive Enccryption

Celery · May 19, 2026

Go to:

Settings > Privacy & security > Device encryption

Turn it Off.

bimfi · May 19, 2026

Thank you all! Yes, I don’t think I need bitlocker especially since I didn’t even know it was on. I will basically rebuild my PC and keep it backed up religiously

I will give update when I get it all together.

zbook · May 19, 2026

Is D: the factory reset option?

bimfi · May 30, 2026

Good afternoon to all. I think I finally got my PC working properly. I ended up purchasing new drives. Took the old C: drive and wiped it after removing any necessary files, and am using it as my E: drive (storage). I have a new HDD drive that is designated as storage also, and designated it B: drive. I took the old storage drive and removed all pertinent files and folders, then wiped it clean and removed all partitions. My only major task is to go through my B: drive and remove all duplicate photos, documents, videos etc. I even included a screenshot of my Disk Management screen.

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