windows 7 system reserved partition not created?

Hi Guys,

Reinstalling Windows 7 on a Dell laptop, I had three partitions, system reserved, OS and the recovery partition.
So deleted the OS and system reserved partition, I want to keep the recovery partition for now, and I thought the now two unallocated partitions would become one, but they never did.
So I installed Windows and now I have no system reserved partition, instead I have a 40mb unallocated partition.
Something went wrong somewhere?

So what I should have done is, delete both the OS and system reserved partition, then from the unallocated space, create a 100mb partition and format it, then install?
Except what happened was, I had deleted both the OS and system reserved partition which is what the 40mb is from, and I didn't end up with one single unallocated partition/space, I tried to make the larger partition that had prevously had the OS on bigger and use up the 40mb unallocated space, but that didn't want to work, so I had to install the OS on the larger partition leaving the 40mb one doing nothing.

So below is what I have now, I have acronis disk director that I was going to use to add the 40mb back to the OS partition.

If I press f8 now, it starts brings up the recovery partition, which I guess is the original dell OS which you can restore from, would having the 100mb system reserved partition add the abilitly to go into the recovery console without a disc?

If I have to reinstall again to get it right, I will, or else it will bug me no end.

You can create the System reserved partition if you are keen.

System Reserved : Create Using Disk Management

OTOH theres that 40 mb unallocated space, i'm not sure but it may have something to do with dell recovery. Dont know how it'll play out with system reserved if you create one. But since you're willing to go the whole hog, you can give it a shot.

Your Recovery is marked System Active which means it contains the critical boot files. This is likely required to boot it should you need to run Recovery - which is the only way it will run now that you've installed Win7 and it's lost its link to Vista.

I would not mess with trying to create a SysReserved partition since your boot files need to remain on the Recovery partition as long as you keep it. In similar cases where System Active has been moved to Win7 partition or its System Reserved boot partition, Recovery would not run even when marked Active again.

What you deleted is a factory OEM partition typically seen on a factory configuration such as yours. There was no System Reserved partition. You could not add that space to Win7 partition because Recovery is in the way. It can be done using free Partition Wizard bootable CD but I would not move the Recovery Partition now unless you decide to delete it.

If you made your Recovery Disks when you had Vista or have any Vista retail installer, you can consider wiping the HD since you've deleted your Factory OEM utilities partition anyway. SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

Then you'll have a clean slate so that the installer creates 100mb System Reserved partition when you use Custom>Drive options to partition and format the wiped HD. Clean Install Windows 7

Where have you gotten vista from.


They definitely was a 40 mb partition marked system reserved along side the OS and the recovery partition, which is why I deleted it, and that must have been to do with Windows 7 install?


Yer using the dell backup and restore manager, I did create some discs, system image and a 'Windows 7 ENG Business' which is a Windows 7 Pro disc with some dell drivers on, I've just installed that in a virtual machine and although I only used it for about 5 minutes, apart from the dell logo in system properties it looks like a clean oem Windows 7 disc.


Having the two dell system backup discs, I guess I can reinstall from them if I ever needed, would just need to install dells backup and restore manager?


TBH, think what I will do is just wipe the entire drive and reinstall again, I'm pretty certain I'll have zero need for the dell recovery partition, reason I done a reinstall is to have a 64 bit OS and have a clean OS, the amount of junk pre installed is a joke.

Sorry I thought you were preserving a Vista Recovery Partition. If you've already made the Recovery Disks and even have a clean-copy Win7 Installation DVD then you can confidently wipe your HD to reinstall without the bloatware.

I compiled some tips to get a perfect OEM clean reinstall based on hundreds I've done:
re-install windows 7

Thanks bare foot kid,

Yer I have 64 bit HP disc, that I copied to the hdd, deleted the ei.cfg, used the command prompt and 'oscdimg.exe -bC:\expandedSetup\boot\etfsboot.com -u2 -h -m -lWIN_EN_DVD C:\expandedSetup\ C:\Win7.iso' to create an iso, then used microsofts usb tool.


So just so I'm 100% on what I'm doing.
1, boot from the memory stick and press shift+f10 when the select language comes up.
2, 'diskpart', 'list disk', 'select disk #', 'clean all'
3, 'create partition primary size=200', format fs=ntfs label="System Reserved", 'active'
4, exit diskpart/command window.
5, go to custom (advanced) and select the unallocated space and click next to continue installation.

Sounds right from what I have read?