Efi System Partition

Hi Thanks for your reply. I'm not going to pick this as the best solution. At this time. when I chose uefi as the boot mode in the bios it did create a system recovery partition. And using third part software Partition assistant I was able to delet them all and create Unallocated disk space then using the same software I was able to allocate that disk space back to the c drive to use it again. The only one that I can't delete is the fat 32 100mb gpt/efi partition. And I do not understand why I cannot. I also don't understand why My c drive is just the boot drive now and it's GPT.What I'm wondering is if I unplug all of my slave drives in my computer and keep the ssd plugged in the one that windows 10 is on and then reinstall windows with an iso image on a dvd will this fix the problem so that when I get back into windows it no longer shows the fat 32 EFI/GPT SYSTEM PARTITION. aND NOW I SEE THAT MY C DRIVE IS UEFI. That's what I want to use is uefi or efi whatever it is called. So what I would Like to do is delete the fat32 system GPT.UEFI partition from within windows 10 using third party software, and then open up my computer and unplug my 3 slave drives. (D E F) And then set the boot mode in the bios to uefi only no legacy support and then make the cdrom the first boot device with uefi support and then reinstall windows 10 from the dvd from The ISO IMAGE I hear that this fat32 system Partition only occurs if you are installing windowsw from a usb stick. I have no idea why.

I keep coming up with more things to add I can delete other partitions within windows which you said don't delete these I believe that is incorrect because I have already deleted those system recovery system reserved and others that were inactive and I allocated the free disk space and merged it back with the c drive and I had no problems booting into windows some of those extra partitions were active and some were inactive and it did not matter I was able to delete allocate and recover that data back to the c drive and had no problems booting into the operating system.

The only partition of course I can't delete it the fat32 system Partiton GPT/EFI

I have another question when I reinstalled windows I went into the bios and in the boot mode section I chose just uefi not uefi legacy mode and now I just noticed this by the way when I went into my bios the boot section The only drive that I have listed in there is the windows boot manger all the other drives are gone not showing up there. Is that because I reinstalled windows from a usb stick with just uefi and not uefi/Legacy. So if I do another reinstall with uefi legacy support will I get all of my drives to show up there again. And are there any disadvantages to have the bios only show the bootmanger in the bios Under boot options And how can I tell in my bios or anywhere for that matter if My computer is using full uefi to boot into windows ?

Thank you so much for all your help!

Hi well I reinstalled windows 10 and I unplugged all of my other drives and I choose to use uefi legacy support and the other section I forget the name but it was for legacy only by defauly when I reinstalled windows 10 I tried from the dvd Iso image and it said it could not install to GPT And there was also a system partition and I might have made a mistake but I formatted that with ntfs and it said it had to be formatted with fat32 so I was able to format it with fat32 but only if I used the usb stick. I couldn't get windows to run from the dvd it complained about not being able to run with gpt so I reinstalled with the usb and everything worked and My 3 devices show up in the boot menu of the bios windows boot manager is the first devce send is my ssd the one that has windows on it and the 3rd is dvd drive. I still have the same problem though I can't get windows to boot from my ssd it will only boot from the windows boot manager so I'm baffled.

Thank you so much for all your help. I could use some more. If you would not Mind

Okay I restored my operating system I used uefi only For the options in the bios and I was able to boot from the dvd iso image I did not get a message complaining about gpt format. But now Back in windows I have a healthy primary partition 99 mb basiclly the one I want to get rid of is the 100mb healthy system partition because I think that is why I can only boot into windows using the bootmanager. I'm wondering if you could help me I would really appreciate this I'm wondering if you could check on my motherboard the z77xud5h and tell me if there are any setting sin the bios that would allow me to boot windows straight from the ssd again instead of windows boot manager. I shouldn't have to boot from that. Also Let's say I went and bought another ssd and replaced it with the one I'm using not would that fix this problem?? Because when I reinstalled windows where it said where do you want to install windows I only had the c drive plugged in and there was another system partition on this ssd drive. And thats the system gpt/efi drive that I cannot get rid of but buying a brand new drive and reinstalling windows on it should do the trick right? All the other partition that windows created I can delete and make unallocates disk space and then with third party software like partition assistant I should be able to merge that disk space back to windows correct?

So Okay I'm very sorry for being a pain about this it's just technical for me and My aspergers sybdrome. So at the installation screen where it says where do you want to install windows before installing windows to my c drive hit f10 and do the disk part like you said right and it's just diskpart then hit enter, then select the disk number and at the screen where it says where do you want to install windows it will tell ne the disk number right? Cause it might not be zero. So whatever it is type that in at the command prompt then type clean right underneath then convert mbr underneath clean. Then just exit out of the command prompt right? Do I then need to go into the bios again and switch to legacy or is the command prompt all I have to do? so After I exit out of the command prompt I stay on the same screen I don't have to reboot or anything right? So I stay on the same screen with no reboot and I Install windows Correct. Now does it matter if I install from dvd (ISO) Or usb stick? I thought I heard that installing windows on a usb stick is what creates that fat32 system efi gpt,efi partition. and it has important files on it which is why you can't get rid of it. I thought I heard that.So My question is if I install from dvd using the method you gave me. I will not only be able to boot into windows from the ssd but I will also not have that fat 32 system efi partition either correct? Also I know you are right about the extra partitions that using efi creates. but I have deleted them all except for the c drive and that fat32 system efi partition which I can delete using 3rd party software but then it won't find windows when I restart my computer it will ask me to insert media. and as for delting those ectra partitions in Windows I have not had any problems before even though I know they are there for a reason. I thought they were there just for backup purpoases only. Maybe I'm wrong though. Maybe overtime I would start to see issues. So after doing the command prompt things at the windows setup right at the screen where it asks me where I want to install windows. I can just install windows right away right? I do not have to go back into the bios and make the dvd drive the first boot device right? Or should I do that first before anything else. And also just set it to thew dvd drive right not the dvd with uefi right?

I believe that is it for noe thank you so much. I should print out what you said here and on your next reply.

Thank you so much! Microsoft's TECH SUPPORT SUCKS!
Forgive me and my spelling mistakes.

Thanks for I assume being so patient with me!

Hi again,

I have 2 sections in my bios 1 is. In the( boot mode section) . I have uefi and legacy, That's the first option Legacy only the 2nd Option and UEFI ONLY 3RD OPTION sO WHAT SHOULD i SWICTH THAT TOO? Because I do not have legacy first for that section. Now the second section of the bios is (Storage boot option control) and I have disabled, uefi only Legacy only Legacy first. Uefi first. I'm not sure about the first section of the bios but this one here it would be leacy first correct?


Okay so as I mentioned earlier Windows 10 had all these different partitions in it when I went to disk managment I could see them all.System reserved system recovery the fat32 system efi and some others.So I went into the bios and I have 2 sections in there one is (bootmode section) and I have uefi and legacy all 1 option legacy only and uefi only. So it was set to uefi with legacy support by default I figured we were not using uefi anymore so I switched it to legacy only Now the 2nd section in the bios is( boot option control) and I had in there disabled, uefi only, legacy only, legacy first well I switched it to legacy first and because I switched the first one to legacy only instead of leaving it at uefi and legacywhen I went back into windows and installed the cd which was fine then I was at where do you want to install windows I saw a lot more than just drive 0 there were other partitions Like drive 0 partition 1 2 3 4 5 I think so did the diskpart on disk zero it was the 99mb system efi.gpt partition and I did that but all the other partitions were still there and the 99mb system efi,gpt partition as well.and it was still giving me the gpt message saying it cannot install to a gpt disk or something like that so I went back into the bios and I changed my first change from legacy only back to uefi and legacy and I also made the first boot device the dvd rom cause that's where windows was going to install from I had to do a boot override. and I could not just do a regular dvd I had to do the one that had uefi in front of it. so I went back to where it saysa where do you want to install windows and there was one partition in there all the others were gone. The partition that was in there was the 99mb system efi,gpt partition. and it was unallocated disk space so because it was only 99 mb in size I had to hit the size button and I used the default size that was in there. One I did that I clicked next and windows was installing. However there was a system reserved Partition in there as well and that was not 100 mb but 500mb no idea why, but I installed windows 10 with out a problem so now I'm back in windows booting from my ssd as the first boot no boot manager option in there at all and when I go into disk managment in windows 10 the only other partition that's in there is the 500 mb system reserved Partition I think that is just for backup purposes so I'm going to use partition assitant and delete it and it will become unallocated disk space and then merge the space back to the c drive.

So everything worked. Thank you so much! I feel like I should tip your or something for as long as you stayed with me on this. Some people have given up on me in the past for different tech questions a lot sooner than this. Trust me!

thanks again.

Well from the information that I got the system reserved partition is only for people that have a software or program called bitlocker and that is just for higher versions of windows not the home edition which I have the home edition. And the 500 mb System reserved partition I was able to remove that as well. There is a command prompt entry that puts boot files back onto the c drive and that's what allows you to boot back into windows. That System Is just where boot files are stored, but some people might not know that you can have boot files copied to the main c drive.I posted the fix for getting rid of the system reserved partition. I can sen it to you if you want.There is also like a hack for when you First install windows where is says where do you want to install windows and it list your drives there is a hack for getting rid of the system reserved partition so that it does not load with windows. Anywways after you copy the boot files using the command prompt you have to use diskpart or a third party like partition assistant and delete the system reserved partition. The right clcick the unallocated disk space and merge it back to the c drive and presto change O done. I'm sure you knew all of this part of what I said anyways.




I hope you don't think I was trying to upstage you or anything like that with my comment. I was just repeating something you may not have known about is all. Now my issue further down the line in like a month or longer might be that I may run into issues because these boot files that I installed on the c drive from the command prompt might be for earlier operating systems like 8.1, 7, vista, xp and not specific to windows 10 but I thought boot files were boot files not matter what. maybe not though. but so far so good. Plus another member of this site said that this could not be done that I would not be able to boot back into windows I said yes you can he said no you can't omnce I sent the messaage with the troubleshooting steps proving that I could do it all of a sudden his message all of a sudden dissapeared. Hmm I wonder why maybe because he's wrong and his Ego isn't allowing him to admit that.Especially to The many people that might see it. It might be different if he was private messaging just me.

Thanks