Tuesday, December 11, 2012

How to Remove System Reserved Partition from Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2

The procedure below has been validated on the following OS:

Windows 7 Professional
Windows 7 Enterprise
Windows 7 Ultimate
Windows Server 2008 R2 (all editions)



  1. Run command prompt as administrator
  2. Type: bcdboot c:\windows /s c:
  3. You should get a message that states: Boot files successfully created.
  4. Open Disk Management, right-click on your C: drive and select Mark Partition as Active.
  5. Reboot
  6. Open Disk Management, delete the system reserved partition.

8 comments:

Chennai MCSA MCSE said...

Dear Jacob,

Is this System Reserved Partition is still required if we are not using bitlocker encryption? I read somewhere Windows 2012 Server are using this for bitlocker encryption.

Thanks a lot for this wonderful tech blog.

Chennai MCSA MCSE

Jacob Ackerman said...

It's not required unless you're using bitlocker.

YYZ GUY said...

This is beautiful! I found other super complicated crazy instructions that require a PE or recovery disk and a ton of commands.

This worked for me, sweet and simple.

Thank you so much.

Anonymous said...

Great info.You saved my butt. Thank you much.

Unknown said...

Just did this on 2012 R2 DC edition. Did not have to mark C: as active since it already was the OS drive, just not the boot drive.

Thank!

Anonymous said...

Outstanding info! Thanks for the simple answer to what looked like a complex problem.

Cheers,

Anonymous said...

I had a problem upgrading in-place a Domain Controller Win 2008 R2 to Windows 2012 R2.

Install stop with error:

"Setup cannot continue. Your computer will now restart, and your previous version of Windows will be restored."

I had to Remove System Reserved Partition following the instructions and then run the install.

Now I have my DC as Windows 2012 R2!. Thanks!

Hope that helps!

Alain said...

Have been looking for HOURS in search of
how to remove that "System Reserved Partition" ...
Only to find answers suitable for " advanced programmers " ...
I don't know if to laugh or cry at the simplicity and precision
of your BEAUTIFULLY ELEGANT ANSWER !
Needless to say : IT WORKS PERFECTLY ... !

Bless you and thanks a lot dear Jacob .