How to Move Recovery Partition to Start/End of the Disk

What Is a Windows Recovery Partition?

A Windows Recovery partition is a hidden partition that can store the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) files. WinRE provides recovery tools that can help you:

• Troubleshoot startup problems
• Access Advanced Startup options
• Perform system recovery
• Reset Windows
• Repair certain Windows boot problems

The Windows recovery partition is typically located on the main system drive immediately after the primary C: partition. You may need to move the Windows recovery partition for the following reasons:

• The recovery partition blocks C: drive extension. If the recovery partition is located between the C: drive and unallocated space, Windows Disk Management cannot extend C: into that space.
• After upgrading or cloning the disk, the recovery partition is located in the middle of the disk, and you want to move it to the end.
• You want to move the recovery partition to the beginning of the disk.

How to Move Recovery Partition to End of Disk

To move the recovery partition to the end of disk, you can try the following 2 methods.

#1. Use MiniTool Partition Wizard if the disk layout is as follows:

#2. Use the DiskPart move partition method if the disk layout is as follows:

Use MiniTool Partition Wizard to Move the Recovery Partition

MiniTool Partition Wizard is a reliable and free partition manager. It can help you resize, move, and extend a partition easily. In addition, it supports NTFS, FAT32, and exFAT file systems.

With this software, you can move Windows recovery partition to the end of the disk with ease and no data loss.

Below are the detailed steps:

Step 1: Download and install MiniTool Partition Wizard on your PC. Then launch it to get into the main interface.

MiniTool Partition Wizard FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Step 2: Right-click the recovery partition and then select Move/Resize from the context menu. Also, you can highlight the target partition and select Move/Resize Partition from the left action panel.

Step 3: In the pop-up window, drag the whole partition slider to the rightmost and click OK.

Step 4: Finally, click Apply at the bottom-left corner to save the pending change. When prompted, click Yes for confirmation.

Here is a video guide:

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Use DiskPart to Move the Recovery Partition

DiskPart is a Windows built-in tool. It cannot move a partition. However, it can delete the recovery and then recreate it in another location. Through this method, it can move the recovery partition more flexibly.

Here is the guide:

Step 1: Shrink the last partition to make room for the new WinRE partition.

1. Press Win + X and select Disk Management to open it.
2. Right-click the last partition and then select Shrink Volume.
3. Enter the amount of space used for the new WinRE partition in the text bar.
4. Click Shrink.

Step 2: Check the WinRE status and then disable it.

1. Press Win + S and then type “cmd”.
2. Right-click Command Prompt from the results list and select Run as administrator.
3. Run “reagentc /info”. If the WinRE is installed, you will see the Windows RE location.
4. Run “reagentc /disable” to disable the WinRE.

Step 3: Delete the original WinRE partition by running the following commands.

• diskpart
• list disk
• select disk * (* is the disk number of the system disk)
• list partition
• select partition # (# is the partition number of the Recovery partition)
• delete partition override

Step 4: Open Disk Management to extend the C drive with the unallocated space gotten by deleting the original WinRE partition. Just right-click the C drive and choose Extend Volume. Then, click Next, Next, and Finish.

Step 5: Back to the Command Prompt DiskPart and then create a new WinRE partition at the end of the disk using the following commands.

• create partition primary id=de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac (If you are using an MBR disk, run “create partition primary id=27”)
• gpt attributes =0x8000000000000001
• format quick fs=ntfs label=“Windows RE tools” (If you are using an MBR disk, you should then run “set id=27”)
• list volume (Check if the recovery partition is created successfully)

Step 6: Re-enable WinRE and check it using the following commands.

• exit (Exit from DiskPart and back to Command Prompt)
• reagentc /enable
• reagentc /info

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How to Move Recovery Partition to Beginning of Disk

Some people may want to move Windows recovery partition to the beginning of the disk. DiskPart can also help you do that. However, how to make unallocated space at the beginning of the disk? Disk Management can’t help you do that because:

• It cannot shrink the portion at the beginning of a partition.
• The first partition on the system disk is an EFI partition or a System Reserved partition. Disk Management cannot shrink them.
• If you are using a GPT disk, there is a hidden MSR (Microsoft Reserved) partition between the EFI partition and the C partition. Unless this partition is deleted, there is insufficient space to create the new WinRE partition.

If you understand these issues but still wish to move the recovery partition to the beginning of the disk, you can refer to this guide.

MiniTool Partition Wizard FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Step 1: Launch MiniTool Partition Wizard. Right-click the small Other partition on the system disk and then select Delete.

Step 2: Use MiniTool Partition Wizard’s Move/Resize feature to make unallocated space at the beginning of the disk. As you can see, I have resized the D drive, and then moved the C drive and the EFI partition. Then, click Apply.

Step 3: Now, you can use the DiskPart commands to delete the original WinRE partition and then create a new one at the beginning of the disk.

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Move Recovery Partition FAQ

Bottom Line

Hope you move Windows recovery partition successfully with the help of this guide. If you have any questions about MiniTool Partition Wizard, please feel free to contact us for assistance via [email protected]. We’ll reply to you as soon as possible.