Do you want to delete the dedicated recovery partition from your Windows 10 PC to free up some space? Not sure how to safely remove the recovery partition in Windows 10? Here is how to do just that.
What’s a recovery partition?
The recovery partition is a dedicated partition on your PC’s hard drive or SSD used to restore or reinstall the operating system in the event of system failure.
The recovery partition comes in handy when you want to restore your Windows 10 or reset your Windows 10 to factory settings. But since Windows 10 can be reinstalled or reset without the help of the recovery partition, many users prefer to delete the dedicated recovery partition to free up valuable disk space. On top of that, Windows 10 allows you to create a USB recovery drive so that you can use the USB recovery drive if and when required to restore your PC.
Deleting a recovery partition, although not a difficult job, it’s important to safely delete the recovery partition to avoid booting issues.
Deleting Windows 10 recovery partition
In this guide, we will walk you through the process of safely deleting the recovery partition in Windows 10. Refer to the instructions mentioned in one of the two methods given below to safely delete the delete recovery partition in Windows 10.
IMPORTANT: This method applies only to OEM created recovery partition.
Method 1 of 2
Windows 10 doesn’t allow you to delete the existing recovery partition without creating a new USB recovery drive. In fact, you can access the delete recovery partition only after creating a new recovery drive.
If you don’t need a recovery drive, you can format the USB drive after creating the recovery drive and deleting the existing recovery partition from your Windows 10 PC.
Step 1: Connect a USB drive with at least 8 GB of capacity to your Windows 10 PC and backup all data to a safe location as the USB drive will be erased while creating the recovery drive. As said before, Windows 10 doesn’t allow you to delete the recovery partition without creating a USB recovery drive.
Step 2: Type Create a recovery drive in the Start menu or taskbar search box and then press Enter key to open Recovery drive wizard.
Step 3: Select the checkbox next to Back up system files to the recovery drive option and then click the Next button.
Step 4: In a few seconds, you will see the following screen where you need to carefully select the USB drive that you want to use for preparing the recovery drive.
Please backup all the data from the USB drive as the drive will be completely erased before preparing the recovery drive.
Once you select the USB drive, click the Next button.
Step 5: On this screen, you will see “Everything on the drive will be deleted. If you have any personal files on this drive, make sure you have backed up the files” message.
Click Create button to begin preparing the recovery drive of Windows 10. The wizard might take up to an hour to make the recovery drive. So have patience.
Step 6: Once the recovery drive is done, you will see a Delete the recovery partition from your PC link. To delete the recovery partition, click Delete the recovery partition from your PC link and then click the Delete button.
On many PCs, including my own PC, Windows 10 doesn’t show Delete the recovery partition from this PC link on the final screen. Even Microsoft recommends using this method to delete the recovery partition. If you didn’t get Delete the recovery partition from this PC link, please refer to the directions mentioned in Method 2 of this guide.
Method 2 of 2
Using a third-party tool to delete the recovery partition in Windows 10
We recommend you create a system image of Windows 10 or backup all data to an external drive before deleting the system drive as it might make your PC unbootable. Go ahead at your own risk.
Many users have reported that Windows 10 doesn’t show usual options when you right-click on a recovery partition. So we are using a third-party tool called MiniTool Partition Wizard Free.
Step 1: Download MiniTool Partition Wizard Free and run the installer to get it installed.
Step 2: Launch MiniTool Partition Wizard Free.
Step 3: Right-click on the recovery partition and then click Delete.
Step 4: Finally, click the Apply button to delete the recovery partition and free up space.
Step 5: Once you have the unallocated free space, you can create a new drive out of it by right-clicking on it, clicking Create, and then following simple on-screen directions.
Don’t forget to check out our how to hide the recovery partition in Windows 10 guide.
Akito says
Tip: You do not need to tick “Back up system files to the recovery drive” on! If you tick it off, then the whole process will only take minutes, instead of hours.
dreame says
Yes, it is very easy to delete a partition using third party tools, like minitool partition wizard, aomei partition assistant, easeus partition master, etc.