During Windows installation you may notice the presence of a “Recovery Partition” in your system disks.

The purpose of a recovery partition is to allow you to restore your system to its factory settings or to a previous working state in case of a problem. A recovery partition can also include drivers, applications, and other files that are specific to your device.

The Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) is a companion operating system installed alongside Windows 10, typically in a separate partition, that can help with troubleshooting, recovery, or booting from external media, such as a USB stick. WinRE is also used during the Windows update process to apply updates in specific paths or phases.

For more information see: Windows Recovery Environment explained

Delete the recovery partition

Usually the recovery partition is build AFTER the C: volume and this can be a problem if you plan to extend the C: volume!

Is it safe to delete Recovery partition in Windows? Yes. Removing a recovery partition will not affect the Windows operating system. How do I restore a deleted Windows recovery partition? To restore deleted recovery partitions, rebuild the Windows Boot Configuration Drive, use a third-party tool, or reinstall Windows.

But you cannot delete it from the GUI… You need to use the diskpart tool from the CLI:

DISKPART> select disk 0
Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> select partition 4
Partition 4 is now the selected partition.

DISKPART> delete partition
Virtual Disk Service error:
The device is in use.

The selected volume or partition is in use. To continue with the operation use the OVERRIDE parameter.

DISKPART> delete partition override

Check the recovery partition

You can verify the presence of the recovery partition with the disk management tools, but also from the CLI:

C:\Windows\system32>reagentc /info
Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) and system reset configuration
Information:

Windows RE status:         Disabled
Windows RE location:
Boot Configuration Data (BCD) identifier: 165c49d6-c5dd-11ee-ad81-9e71eca1ae81
Recovery image location:
Recovery image index:      0
Custom image location:
Custom image index:        0

REAGENTC.EXE: Operation Successful.

If is enable

C:\Windows\System32>reagentc /disable
REAGENTC.EXE: Operation Successful.

Build a new recovery partition

In case you need the recovery partion again, there is a simple procedure to rebuild it:

1. Shrink Volume in Disk Management

1. Press the Windows key and search for “Disk Management”.
2. Right-click on C: (or the boot and primary partition).
3. Select Shrink Volume…
4. In “Enter the amount of space to shrink in MB”, input 1024.
5. Click Shrink.

2. Create New Simple Volume

1. Right-click on the new volume.
2. Select New Simple Volume.
3. Click Next.
4. Click Next.
5. Select Do not assign a drive letter or drive path.
6. Click Next.
7. Format this volume with the following settings:

• Volume label: System Reserved.

8. Click Next.
9. Click Finish.

3. Locate or Restore Winre.wim

1. Open File Explorer and navigate to C:\Windows\System32\Recovery.
2. If Winre.wim is not visible:

• Open Command Prompt in administrator mode.
• Run reagentc /info. If enabled, run reagentc /disable.
• If still not visible, go to the next step.
• In File Explorer, at the top, right-click on View, check Hidden items.
• Click on Options, then the View tab, and uncheck Hide protected operating system files (Recommended).

3. If Winre.wim is still missing:

• Obtain a new copy of WinRE.wim.
• For a USB Windows image:
  • Go to Sources and right-click on install.esd.
  • Use 7-zip to Open Archive.
  • Navigate to folder 1, then Windows\System32\Recovery.
  • Copy the files to C:\Recovery\WindowsRE.
• For a Windows ISO:
  • Extract the files and follow the same steps as for the USB.

4. Configure the New System Reserved Partition

1. Determine the Partition Style:

• Go back to Disk Management.
• Right-click on disk 0 (or the disk with the OS).
• Select Properties, then Volumes.
• Note the Partition Style (GPT or MBR).

2. Open Command Prompt in administrator mode and enter the following commands:

• diskpart
• list dis
• sel dis 0
• lis par
• sel par 3 (select the newly created partition)
• det par (verify the correct partition is selected)

3. Set the Partition ID:

• If MBR: set id=27
• If GPT: set id=de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac

4. Verify the Partition Type Change:

• det par
• exit

5. Enable the Recovery Environment:

• reagentc /enable
• Verify with reagentc /info that the Windows RE location is on the correct partition.