Windows 7 - 100MB System partition created during install

superplay

superplay

superplay

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Hi Folks

During the installation of Windows 7 RC1 (during the disk partitioning phase) the following message is shows

"to ensure that all windows features work correctly, windows may create additional partitions for system files"

On my test 150GB drive it creates a 100MB system partition with 86MB Free.

I have looked around the web to see what this area is actually for and I have found conflicting information:

Answer 1: "......... it is reserved for EFI boot and BitLocker."

Answer 2: "......... holds Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE)"


Does anyone have a link to a Microsoft document that gives a definitive answer?

Cheers
 
I was under the impression it was a boot partition. Anyways, simple way to find out - give it a drive letter in Disk Management.
This shows bootmgr, bootsect.bak, a folder called Boot and of course System Volume Information. Boot folder contains memtest.exe and bootmgr.exe.mui/memtest.exe.mui for lots of different languages - I'm guessing .mui is a manual of some kind?
So, no WinRE, no BitLocker and I don't know what you mean by EFI boot..

Edit: And it was something they changed between Beta and RC1 - in Beta it was 200mb reserved partition, they figured they could cut it down to save drive space so here we are at 100mb..
 
superplay said:
I have looked around the web to see what this area is actually for and I have found conflicting information:

Answer 1: "......... it is reserved for EFI boot and BitLocker."

Answer 2: "......... holds Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE)"
Click to expand...

Both are correct.
 
In Windows Vista, configuring features such as Windows Recovery Environment and Bit Locker required significant customer interaction. Also, a significant amount of drive space was reserved. The Windows 7 System partition enables features to be configured to work “out of the box” so very little customer interaction is needed to configure and utilize them. Based on feedback and telemetry data received through the beta, it became clear that we could cut the drive size in half (from 200M to 100M).
Click to expand...

OK, it would seem that it can be used for these features, but isn't always..
 
Basically, if you wanted to enable Bitlocker one day the reserve space is already there so you wouldn't have to mess about repartitioning your drive.
 
Not at all? It isn't assigned a drive letter so it will appear in Disk Management but not My Computer, unless you assign it a drive letter manually
 
I don't have this partition either, how odd. Nothing untoward in Disk Management..
 
miniyazz said:
Not at all? It isn't assigned a drive letter so it will appear in Disk Management but not My Computer, unless you assign it a drive letter manually
Click to expand...

First thing I did was look in Computer Management then Disk Management. Not there at all.
 
andshrew said:
Did you install on a drive which already had existing partitions? From what I understand it will only create this extra partition if you allow the Windows setup to fully partition the drive itself.
Click to expand...

Ah that is why then, I have a big 500gb storage partition on it.
 
andshrew said:
Did you install on a drive which already had existing partitions? From what I understand it will only create this extra partition if you allow the Windows setup to fully partition the drive itself.
Click to expand...

this is correct

if you manually setup partitions first, it leaves them as is iirc
 
I did a clean Install of RC1 on my 500GB it took 100MB also, but then It did mention "for backup" of files etc so I wasnt to fussed only 100MB out of my 1.5TB so I wont miss it. even if its never utilized.
 
I installed on my pre-partitioned 1tb F1, onto an existing partition, and it created the boot partition anyway.

Edit: As in, it took the 100mb out of the partition I told it to install on.
 
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