The System Reserved Partition
When you install Windows 7 or Windows 8 and do not manually create a new partition, a small System Reserved partition is automatically created. The size of this partition is 100MB for Windows 7 and 350MB for Windows 8.
What is it for?
This partition contains critical boot files such as the Boot Configuration Database (BCD). While it is possible to install Windows without a system reserved partition (for example, by manually specifying a single partition that fills the entire disk), whereby the boot files reside in the single partition, this is not recommended. Without a system reserved partition advanced features such as Bitlocker drive encryption are not available.
Can I remove the system reserved partition after installation?
No. Removing the system reserved partition after installation will leave you with an unbootable system.
Note: When you have installed Windows with a system reserved partition present, it is normal for Windows not to assign a drive letter to it. We do not recommend that you assign a drive letter to the system reserved partition.
Applies to:
- All systems running Windows 7 or Windows 8