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Missing System Reserved Partition for Win7

Discussion in 'Windows 7' started by mechanic, 2016/05/03.

  1. 2016/05/03
    mechanic

    mechanic Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    I have a Dimension desktop which was set up with a dual boot XP/Win7 configuration. There were two partitions on the hard drive with an operating system in each partition.

    I wanted to remove the XP from the machine. I first moved a copy of the Boot.ini from the XP to the Win7. I then deleted the partition with the XP on it. After this the machine would not boot. So I did the Bootrec.exe commands, declared the remaining partition as primary. and ran a few repairs with the Win7 disc. This fixed the boot issue. The machine now boots up and runs fine, as good as before the partition delete.

    However, I am now missing the 100MB System Reserved Partition.
    Everything seem to now be on the one partition. I would like to recreate/restore the Reserved Partition. Is this possible at this point, and is there a step by step instruction you can point me to for this?

    Thanks!
     
  2. 2016/05/03
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    The reserve partition is not necessary anymore because the repairs you did put the boot files on the C partition. AFAIK you would have to delete the partitions and install Windows from scratch to get back the boot (reserved) partition.

    I setup all my Windows systems without that boot partition because a drive can only have 4 partitions (primary) and I've no need for extended partitions anymore with today's drives being so large. It also makes it easier to do multi boot.
     

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  4. 2016/05/03
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    That sounds to me like you did what I did. I started by installing Windows XP on the 1:1 partition (drive 1 : partition 1), creating all partitions in the process with no unallocated space.

    (I have three partitions, XP, W7 and a separate data partition - shared by the two OS.)

    I instructed Windows 7 to install on the 1:2 partition and to create a dual boot.

    (The partition with the booted operating system is always assigned the drive letter C:. The other partition with the not booted operating system is assigned the drive letter D:.)

    In this dual boot, Windows 7 installed the bootfiles on 1:1 (containing Windows XP) and that partition should not be removed. The reason is that the 1:1 partition also contains the files that normally goes into the "system reserved partition ", including the hidden folder named "Boot ".

    If I'm on the right track here, you never had a separate "system reserved partition" but it was "integrated" in the 1:1 partition. When you repaired Windows 7, the missing files were recreated but I have no idea in which location.

    If you install Windows 7 from scratch, on a new HDD with all space unallocated, when defining the partition sizes, in addition to the partitions defined by the user the installer by default creates the "system reserved partition ".
     
  5. 2016/05/03
    mechanic

    mechanic Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    So it sounds like its not a big deal to be without the Reserved Partition. I just wanted to be sure it was not a critical system component, or something that will be an issue for me in the future.

    I appreciate your help and quick response. Its probably OK to close this thread, as I have the answer to my question.

    Thanks!
     
  6. 2016/05/03
    retiredlearner

    retiredlearner SuperGeek WindowsBBS Team Member

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    Hi mechanic, You close the Thread by going into Thread Tools and follow the instructions. :) Thanks Neil.
     
  7. 2016/05/03
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    Correct, not a big deal, nothing to worry about either.

    When I setup systems, I partition the disk using a Parted boot cd or using a usb to sata adapter, If there are two formatted partitions on the drive when the Windows setup runs, it won't create that reserved partition IF setup is directed to install on the first partition.
     

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