How to delete partition in Windows 7 during installation

User case：want to delete additional partitions

“If I perform a clean installation of Windows 10, I will see that Windows 10 will create additional partitions during installation. Will I have to keep the partition instead of deleting it? If I continue to delete it, I will not be able to reboot into Windows, right? If so, how would I delete the extra partition and merge the extra space into the C drive?”

What is system reserved partition and recovery partition ？

When you choose unallocated space to install Windows 10, you may find a prompt "Windows may create some extra partitions to store system files". The additional partitions actually refer to the Microsoft system reserved partition, EFI system partition and recovery partition.

When your disk uses the Legacy BIOS and MBR partitioning scheme, a "Microsoft system reserved partition" will be created; if your disk uses the UEFI BIOS and GPT partitioning scheme, it will create an "EFI system partition".

In fact, these two belong to system reserved partition, which refers to the partition reserved for storing system boot files when the Windows manages the hard disk for the first time.

The recovery partition refers to the built-in recovery environment (Win RE) in the Windows system, which contains some recovery tools. When there is a problem with your system, it can help you recover.

Can I delete system reserved partition and recovery partition?

Some users think that there is both system drive，system reserved partition, and recovery partitions, which seem too messy. Just want to delete the other two partitions to extend the space of the system drive. Therefore, many people want to ask, can these extra partitions be deleted? The answer is that the system reserved partition cannot be deleted, and the recovery partition can be deleted, but it is not recommended.

Because the system reserved partition stores the startup files needed to successfully load the Windows operating system. If you delete the reserved partition of the system, it will cause the system to fail to boot normally. Moreover, the system reserved partition is protected by the Windows system, and you cannot delete it through Disk Management unless you use a third-party tool. 

But the recovery partition can be deleted, also with the help of third-party tool. It's just that after deletion, when there is a problem with the system, you cannot use the built-in Windows tools to restore it.

How to reduce additional partitions when installing Windows 10

The following two parts will introduce you how to deal with system reserved partition and recovery partition.

│Part 1. Extend system reserved partition

According to the above description, the system reserved partition is very important and cannot be deleted. However, I still have a method that allows you to reduce the chaotic partition to extend system drive without deleting them, which is to install the system on a reserved system partition to reduce the separate system drive.

Step 1. When you clean install Windows on an empty disk (without partitions), you will be prompted to create additional partitions for system files. Just click “OK” to proceed.

Step 2. Now you can see there are two partitions on the disk（One is the system reserved partition, the other is the system partition）. Then delete partition 2 and click “OK”. 

Step 3. Now you only have one system reserved partition and unallocated space. You need to extend the space of Partition 1. When extending the space, enter all the free space of the unallocated space.

Step 4. Now you only have one system reserved partition, and then install the system in this partition. In this way, you reduce the partition originally used to install the system.

│Part 2. Delete recovery partition

After installing Windows 10, if you insist on deleting the recovery partition, please continue reading.

Since the recovery partition is protected by Windows and cannot be deleted directly(Using CMD and Diskpart commands is not suitable for people who have no computer knowledge), so I recommend you use a third-party tool——AOMEI Partition Assistant Pro. It is a professional partition management software that can help you easily complete many operations related to partitions. Including Quick Partition, Merge Partition, Migrate OS from MBR disk to GPT SSD or HDD.

PS.: AOMEI Partition Assistant Pro requires a charge, please download the Demo to try it out.

Step 1. Download and Install. In the main interface, right-click on the recovery partition you want to delete and select "Delete Partition", and then click “OK”.

Step 2. Select a method to remove the recovery partition and click “OK”.

Step 3. The recovery partition will be displayed as unallocated space and click "Apply" to make the operation in process.

PS.:  After that, the recovery partition has been deleted. You can add this unallocated space to any partition on this disk by using merge partition.

Use a simple way to extend partition

What should you do if you want to extend the system drive without changing the system reserved partition and recovery partition? AOMEI Partition Assistant Pro also can help you.

Step 1. Launch AOMEI Partition Assistant, right-click the partition which you want to allocate free space from and select "Allocate Free Space". (take D partition as an example)

Step 2. As a result of step 1, you will get a pop-up window. Type in the size of the free space which you want to cut from D partition and this free space will be directly added into the destination partition. (take partition C as an example)

Step 3. You can preview that the space of Partition C has extended, don’t forget to click "Apply".

Conclusion

In summary, unless absolutely necessary, do not delete the system reserved partition to extend the drive. Moreover, It is very easy and safe to extend system drive with AOMEI Partition Assistant. If you are enterprise user, I recommend  you to use AOMEI Partition Assistant Server.

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