Windows 10: New SSD - Clean Install - 3 (???) Partitions Created!

Normally I Partition my drives myself using Gparted.
With a Fresh out of the box (Not even formatted) I wanted to see what Win10 would do with the drive.

It created 3 partitions (Which surprised me).
I expected an EFI partition, and the OS partition, but I didn't expect a 450 MB "Recovery Partition" to be created at the very beginning of the drive.





This is a Zenbook (so a UEFI system) UX303UB, 12 GB Ram, i76500U Processor, & an nVidia 940M (with Optimus)

What exactly does Windows 'DO' with this "Recovery" partition, and IF I had partitioned the drive myself with only the EFI System Partition, would Windows 10 Really have cared?
What functionality would I have been out exactly?

Thanks,

Greg

:)

 

Having trouble with clean install of Windows 10 on new SSD.

I loaded the Windows 10 installer onto a USB drive and booted it up, and the installer recognizes that I have an empty SSD with two partitions. However when I try to move to the next step the installer tells me it "couldn't create a new partition or locate
an existing one" and that I should check the Setup log files.

I don't understand why it's telling me this when on the same screen it shows two partitions on the SSD, one of which has plenty of space to install the OS. Any advice?

 

Clean Install of Windows 10 (laptop) on ssd that already has Windows 10

Thanks for the info. I didn't realize I could select the partitions then delete them. Thanks!

 

That contains the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE). It provides you with advanced boot (try depressing shift key while restarting) options - recovery troubleshooting and others. You may or may not prefer to do without it. Those partitions, along with a 16 MB MSR partition (snugged in between the EFI System Partition and the OS Partition, that you don't see in Disk Management) are part of any standard Win10 clean install to a GPT disk.

You can see all 4 partitions from an elevated (admin) command prompt using the following commands, in sequence:

diskpart
select disk 0
list par

("exit" to leave diskpart)

 

This WinRE is very useful. It has saved my bacon already a couple of times.

 

Thanks Word Man.

IF I had defined my own partitions with Gparted and never created a WinRe partition OR an MSR partition, would windows create them by readjusting the size of the OS partition anyway? (Just wondering how it works)

What is an MSR partition any how?
MSR = ???

Thanks

 

Hi whs,

could the same thing not be accomplished with a USB recovery drive that we create after the install?

Thanks.

 

It would have created another one.

MSR means microsoft reserved and is a special partition design for future expansion of OS. Just ignore it.

 

If you delete the 450 mb recovery partition and add the free space to your Windows partition you will gain 0.11% free space on it - just for perspective.

That being said, for me it's because I like my hard drives partitioned the way I want them partitioned - not always the way Microsoft wants them partitioned so I will delete and move partitions around even though I don't gain free space from it.

 

RE is a bit more than that.





Source: Windows Recovery (Repair) Environment (WinRE)

 

and why can't the recovery drive be used for those same functions?

 

You try all those functions with the recovery drive and let us know whether that worked.

 

Why don't you answer the question? After all, you provided this link:

And the exact same link that YOU provided states this:
Access Windows Recovery Enviroment

 

Because I don't have this setup.

 

Fair enough. And heck, for myself I expand the WindowsRE partition. I prefer Legacy and MBR booting. I expand the recovery partition to about 5 GB. I copy the Windows setup files to it (from the ISO), set the reagentc /osimage to the install.wim file, move the boot files to the recovery partition, copy Macrium Reflect and MiniTool Partition Wizard ISO files to it, then set up a boot menu with a 3 second timeout that has the options of Windows 10, Windows 10 Setup, Macrium Reflect and MiniTool Partition Wizard. I'm left with the OS partition and the recovery partition only on my disk.

But the truth of the matter is if someone wants to delete the recovery partition, all of the useful options can still be accessed by booting from a Recovery or Install media USB/DVD.