Users report the appearance of a mysterious recovery partition in Windows 10 that the operating system indicates to have low space. What it is and what to do if you have multiple recovery partitions.
This is not a new thing (the problem had already occurred in the past). Still, with the installation of the Windows 10 April 2018 Update (Windows 10 April 2018 Update), there are more and more reports of users who report abnormal behavior: l ‘sudden appearance of a new recovery partition of a few hundred megabytes (400MB and up).
Users have only begun to notice the existence of a new Windows 10 recovery partition today because the operating system shows an out of space error message on that partition.
Obviously, such an error message is shown: the recovery partition, added after applying a Windows 10 update, is, unfortunately, visible and the operating system even assigns a drive identification letter to it.
The Windows recovery partitions should not be visible from the This PC window or any other operating system screen, nor should they be given a drive letter.
So while we hope that Microsoft will soon solve the problem automatically, through the release of an appropriate update through Windows Update, let’s try to shed some light on the mysterious appearance of the recovery partition in Windows 10.
Windows 10 recovery partition visible and multiple partitions already present
Try pressing the Windows + R key combination, then type diskmgmt.msc .
There should be only one recovery partition (referred to as such) on the drive where Windows is installed. Even in the past, some users have instead reported the existence of multiple recovery partitions, as in the emblematic case that follows.
The problem that causes Windows 10 to show the message about low space on the newly added recovery partition has to do with an anomaly during the update.
The recovery partitions should always have the attribute 0x0000000000000001 : it indicates that the partition must not be assigned a drive letter and that it is essential for starting Windows 10 (Microsoft also talks about it on this page ).
To solve the problem, making both the recovery partition and the “out of space” error disappear, just do the following:
1) Open the command prompt with administrator rights by typing cmdin the search box and pressing the CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER keys.
2) Type diskpart, then issue the command list volume.
3) Check the number associated with the recovery partition (first column Volume ## ) to which Windows 10 has associated a drive letter.
4) Write select volume N (replacing N with the partition number found in the previous step).
5) Finally, issue the following command:
attributes volume set nodefaultdriveletter
By doing this, the recovery partition will be configured so that it is not associated with a drive letter.
In case of error ( Object not found ), you will have to type: remove letter X (X must be replaced by the drive letter assigned by Windows 10 to the recovery partition).
Delete the other recovery partitions
The other recovery partitions are not essential. When there are multiple recovery partitions on the same drive, you can use the following procedure:
1) Create an image of the contents of the drive on which Windows is installed.
2) Type reagentc / info at the prompt and note the partition number shown.
This is the partition number corresponding to the recovery partition used by Windows 10.
2) Start the Diskpart utility as seen above and type list volume.
3) Choose the various recovery partitions with select volume N except for the partition found in point 2).
4) To delete the selected partition (make sure you have chosen an unnecessary recovery partition and not partitions containing data or operating systems), type delete volume override.
Then type exit to close Diskpart.
5) Download and start the EasyBCD program (see EasyBCD, manage the Windows boot menu and start ISO file ).
Then click on Backup / Repair BCD, choose to Recreate and/or Repair Boot Files and select Run Action.
6) After rebooting the system, use the Disk Management utility: press Windows + R, then type diskmgmt.msc, right click the volume containing Windows and choose Extend Volume to merge the unallocated space with the partition containing the Windows 10 installation. In case of non-contiguous space, you can merge it with the main partition of Windows 10 using a program such as MiniTool Partition Wizard.
A tech-savvy writer with a knack for finding the latest technology in the market, this is what describes John Carter. With more than 8 years of experience as a journalist, John graduated as an engineer and ventured soon into the world of online journalism. His interest includes gadget reviews, decoding OS errors, hunting information on the latest technology, and so on.
