SOLVED Altering system reserved partition to download win 10 updates

[Dinosaur]

I downloaded Win 10 over Win 7. The latest Update for Win 10 failed regularly. I contacted Microsoft support. Eventually was told the problem lies in insufficient space within the System Reserved Partition. When I use Disk Management to increase the space, it is shaded grey. It will however allow me to shrink it!!?? I have 38 Mb used with 5 free. I am told I need 500 Mb within the partition.

 

[Bighorn]

You may not be able to increase that partition if there is no unallocated space immediately to the right of it, before any next partition. And Windows does have issues Expanding a partition on the C:/System/Boot drive. You MIGHT be able to shrink the adjacent partition on the right enough but maybe not from the left. For such more-difficult issues I prefer a bootable partitioning CD.

 

[Saltgrass]

Many folks ran into that problem with the upgrade from win 8 to 8.1. Because of this, Microsoft started adding a second partition behind the OS partition to replace the original one.

I have been using a UEFI install so I have little experience with the Legacy version. But if you want to increase the partition size, you need to use something like Partition Wizard to move the leading edge of the OS partition over and then expand the System Reserved into that space.

Anytime you alter partitions, there is a danger for data loss, so make backups. If you have a system running Win 7, your experience with Win 10 may not be the best if devices on that system are not supported normally with Win 10 drivers and the OEM has not developed Win 10 drivers.

 

[Wolfie]

Hi Dinosaur,

can you please paste a screenshot of your partition layout.

Windows Key > Windows Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Storage > Disk Management and you will see something like the pic below:

 

[davehc]

If you are in the good habit of backing up images, with third party programs, then, as I have found, the best idea is to delete the reserve partition. At the same time, it will be needed to stop the backup system.

 

[Dinosaur]

Hi Dinosaur,

can you please paste a screenshot of your partition layout.

Windows Key > Windows Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Storage > Disk Management and you will see something like the pic below:

View attachment 7850

 

[Wolfie]

The only way around your problem is complete fresh install wiping all the partitions and starting over, you cannot increase the size of the first partition as things stand now!.

 

[davehc]

Beat me too it, Wolfie. With that mess, your suggestion would save a great deal of hassle.

 

[Comp Cmndo]

https://www.partitionwizard.com/par...ouldn't-update-system-reserved-partition.html

 

[davehc]

Too late to edit my previous post. referring to Wolfie's, though. It is relatively easy to actually delete the first partition. The harder part is then making sure the "C" partition is then identified as the first, and initial, boot partition.
Post on the web are in abundance, for those who have attempted it. I have completed it successfully, on occasion, for acquaintances who needed help. I have had almost as many failures!
The third and fourth partitions are not a problem.
But reading the first post again, I cannot quite understand why an update would automatically select the first partition.
How did you, quote " downloaded Win 10 over Win 7." It does look as though the update does not recognise the first partition as its default reserve.

 

[Wolfie]

Another thought is to delete (DO NOT FORMAT THE PARTITIONS) the first two partitions and then select new at the install window after selecting "Upgrade", it might be that you can let the auto installer resize the partitions and still have your files in the "Windows.old" folder IF YOU ARE LUCKY!.

BACK UP ALL YOUR FILES BEFORE YOU TRY THE ABOVE SUGESSTION!.

See also:

https://www.windows10forums.com/threads/re-install-w10-and-keep-your-files-app-data-intact.15825/

 

[T_J]

Eventually was told the problem lies in insufficient space within the System Reserved Partition. ... I have 38 Mb used with 5 free. I am told I need 500 Mb within the partition.

My 'Nov 2012' Dell desktop was 'windows updated' from W7 to W10 in 2016. I have not altered any partitions (size, location, etc.) on this original 1 TB hard drive. Print screen is from Jan 9, 2018. I have W10 Home, 1709, 16299.125 . My 39 MB capacity partition has 39 MB free. I haven't had any problems with 'windows updates' (besides my November W10 update / McAfee LiveSafe problem). Maybe you have a 'security software' problem like I had; I had to turn OFF everything in LiveSafe, then restart, then Defender took over, then 'windows update' worked, then I turned ON everything (firewall, real time whatever, etc.) in LiveSafe. And if you uninstalled LiveSafe you couldn't reinstall it, unless you deleted 1 file in a folder somewhere.

MyPC2018Jan by T J, on Flickr

 

[T_J]

My 2012 39 MB Dell is up to date (Last checked: Today). While had Ghost 15 running I noticed that my 39 MB OEM Partition (Reserved) is FAT16.

Updates by T J, on Flickr

 

[Bighorn]

FAT16 doesn't sound right, has a limit of 4GB. FAT32 has a limit of 32GB in Windows 2000 or Windows XP and later but 127GB in Windows 98.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc938432.aspx

 

[T_J]

I found this info from Dell community (2012) - “The Dell Utility partition [Reserved] is booted by the bios, not by the MBR.” “runs the same diagnostic program that is on the Utilities CD” .

I took this picture with my cell phone this evening while Ghost 15 boot CD was running.

Ghost15Jan9 by T J, on Flickr

 

[clifford_cooley]

FAT32 has a limit of 32GB in Windows 2000 or Windows XP and later but 127GB in Windows 98.

Windows will support 127GB FAT32 partition. Windows will not create a FAT32 partition larger than 32GB.

I found this info from Dell community (2012) - “The Dell Utility partition is booted by the bios, not by the MBR.”

You may be mistaken about that. The boot sequence starts with the BIOS and then passes to the MBR. The MBR has record of which partition to boot. Once the partition is known, the boot process is then passed to the Operating System (in this case the Dell Utility). This allows for a boot menu to interrupt the boot process at the BIOS, MBR, and/or Operating System. There are no bypasses, the boot sequence has to go through each location.

 

[Bighorn]

Windows will support 127GB FAT32 partition. Windows will not create a FAT32 partition larger than 32GB.

Actually Windows will work with larger FAT32 drives, had one at 500GB for use on Windows, Mac OS X/macOS and Linux. I use GPARTED on Linux to do the creation and formatting, it is just limiting as FAT32 can't support files over 4GB in size so exFAT turned out to be better for storage needs.