Weird partition problem


  1. Posts : 39
    w10 home 64b
       #1

    Weird partition problem


    My hidden EFI partition is on the wrong drive.
    There is a hidden partition on one of my data drives that I need to move to the drive that has has Windows 10 on it. I want to remove disk 0 (1TB e:\) from the pc but the pc needs it to boot.
    See my screen shot. I need to move it from disk 0 to disk 1.
    Weird partition problem-screenshot-2022-11-27-050943.png
    How can I do this?
    I think I will need to shrink down the partition that holds c:\ enough to make room for the EFI partition, then copy it over.
    I don’t know if I can shrink a partition that has an active Windows session running in it.
    Or should I shrink the other partition, the recovery partition by 100 mb to make room for the efi partition?
    Or is there a better way to do this?
    This is getting to the edge of my technical abilities and I wanted to ask before I do something stupid.
    There is probably some switch in Windows that I’m not aware of. I’m waiting for a teenager to tell me oh yeah, go here, here, and here and press THIS. Lol.
    Thanks in advance.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 14,020
    Win10 Pro and Home, Win11 Pro and Home, Win7, Linux Mint
       #2

    My experience over the past 30 years has been that installing the Operating System is best done with only the desired drive connected. Copying a partition from one drive to another is different from copying the contents from one drive to the other. If I were doing it I'd use a GPARTED Bootable LiveCD to manipulate partitions. I can also do it with the drive in a dock on a different computer, my workbench has a Linux Mint computer with a dock attached and GPARTED installed. GPARTED LiveCD uses a lite version of Linux. A downside of installing with 2 drives connected is the possibility of Windows reading the BIOS and find AHCI/RAID, removing a seemingly-empty drive can break the booting process requiring reinstall as some files are written to the second drive. If one wants to name it use the KISS principle.
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 42,988
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       #3

    I don’t know if I can shrink a partition that has an active Windows session running in it.
    This is easy using a decent 3rd party partition manager (free) such as Minitool Partition Wizard.

    As for moving the EFI partition, this has been addressed in several threads on tenforums.

    E.g.
    Moving / recreating EFI partition

    Can I move an EFI partition that's on the wrong drive?

    As ever, first ensure you have a current full 3rd party disk image so you can recover easily if something goes wrong. E.g. Macrium Reflect/Aomei Backupper...
      My Computers


  4. Posts : 39
    w10 home 64b
    Thread Starter
       #4

    This is a media server that I have on my home network.
    All my movies and stuff are backed up so I am not concerned with loosing any data.
    At this point I think it would be easier better faster to just pull the drives, wipe them out, and re-install only the ssd drive then reinstall windows from scratch. This might be a cleaner way to go rather than trying to resize and move partitions.
    Any thoughts? Am I on the right track?
    Thanks again for your help.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 42,988
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       #5

    Well, the choice is yours. Personally I'd deal with moving the EFI partition.

    Far quicker than a clean install.

    Recommended if you do clean install- have only the system disk in place at the time.
    And of course a clean install means deleting all O/S partitions.
      My Computers


  6. Posts : 14,020
    Win10 Pro and Home, Win11 Pro and Home, Win7, Linux Mint
       #6

    sdtag said:
    This is a media server that I have on my home network.
    All my movies and stuff are backed up so I am not concerned with loosing any data.
    At this point I think it would be easier better faster to just pull the drives, wipe them out, and re-install only the ssd drive then reinstall windows from scratch. This might be a cleaner way to go rather than trying to resize and move partitions.
    Any thoughts? Am I on the right track?
    Thanks again for your help.
    Agreed, starting from the beginning is a good option and sometimes the only option to get things working properly. I wipe drives clean with GPARTED to as-shipped condition and let the OS do its thing, don't try to manipulate things. I bought a new computer in 2016 with Win8 Pro, upgraded to Win10 Pro, haven't had any issues with it, no reinstalls.
      My Computers


  7. Posts : 18,432
    Windows 11 Pro
       #7

    Open a command prompt with admin privileges, run from your normal Windows installation. Then:
    Code:
    diskpart
    select volume c
    shrink desired=100
    create part efi size=100
    format fs=fat32 quick
    assign letter=w
    exit
    bcdboot C:\Windows /s W: /f UEFI
    exit
    It is just that easy. No need for removing drives, no need to boot into Windows PE or GPARTED or anything like that. No need to copy any partitions. Just a 1 minute solution in command prompt.

    Here it is done on my own computer just now:

    Code:
    Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.22621.819]
    (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
    
    C:\Windows\System32>diskpart
    
    Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.22621.1
    
    Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.
    On computer: RAIDER
    
    DISKPART> select volume c
    
    Volume 3 is the selected volume.
    
    DISKPART> shrink desired=100
    
    DiskPart successfully shrunk the volume by:  100 MB
    
    DISKPART> create part EFI size=100
    
    DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition.
    
    DISKPART> format fs=fat32 quick
    
      100 percent completed
    
    DiskPart successfully formatted the volume.
    
    DISKPART> assign letter=w
    
    DiskPart successfully assigned the drive letter or mount point.
    
    DISKPART> exit
    
    Leaving DiskPart...
    
    C:\Windows\System32>bcdboot C:\Windows /s W: /f UEFI
    Boot files successfully created.
    
    C:\Windows\System32>exit
    And I undid it just as quickly as I did it:

    Code:
    C:\Windows\System32>diskpart
    
    Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.22621.1
    
    Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.
    On computer: RAIDER
    
    DISKPART> sel vol w
    
    Volume 5 is the selected volume.
    
    DISKPART> del par override
    
    DiskPart successfully deleted the selected partition.
    
    DISKPART> sel vol c
    
    Volume 3 is the selected volume.
    
    DISKPART> extend
    
    DiskPart successfully extended the volume.
    But you won't want to undo it, of course.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 39
    w10 home 64b
    Thread Starter
       #8

    Thank you everybody, I will file these solutions away for next time.
    I know this is going to sound predetermined but I ended up pulling and wiping the drives then reinstalling Windows.
    I have some extra drives and stuff so I will play around and familiarize myself with some of these commands. Never stop learning.
    This DISKPART is new to me and reinstalling Windows was not so I went with the comfortable route.
    You know what really started all this? Plex wouldn't update a library. lol
    Thanks again everybody.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 14,020
    Win10 Pro and Home, Win11 Pro and Home, Win7, Linux Mint
       #9

    I ended up pulling and wiping the drives then reinstalling Windows.
    That's always a good choice after making sure there are copies/backups of your data, anything that exists nowhere else. My second 'career' began in a computer store w/shop a week after I retired, been at building and repairing computers and fixing user problems last 28 years.
      My Computers


  10. Posts : 6,319
    Windows 11 Pro - Windows 7 HP - Lubuntu
       #10
      My Computers


 

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