Use DiskPart to Create the OS Partition on Clean Install.  

@Paul Black,

I created a 128GB drive in a VM. I used diskpart to create a primary partition size 30720, formatted as NTFS, marked as active. Then I did a clean install to the partition created:



I selected the 30 GB System partition and clicked next. Surprisingly, I ended up with exactly what I believe that you want:

Paul Black said:

Is there nothing else to Add for the Reserved / Recovery Partition?

Not needed for mbr

I selected the 30 GB System partition and clicked next. Surprisingly, I ended up with exactly what I believe that you want:

Why is it surprising

Paul Black said:

Thanks for the reply @NavyLCDR, it is appreciated.

So basically, these are the steps . . .

[1] Boot from the installation USB.
[2] On the Windows Installation Screen press Shift + F10.

• diskpart
• list disk
• select disk 0
• clean
• convert mbr
• create partition primary size=30720
• format fs=ntfs
• active
• exit
• exit

[3] Continue to the "Where do you want to install Windows?" screen.
[4] Highlight Drive 0.
[5] Click Next to continue the installation.

Those were the steps I did.

SIW2 said:

Why is it surprising

Because I figured that Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, would have required Windows setup to create a separate system and/or recovery partition.

Because I figured that Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, would have required Windows setup to create a separate system and/or recovery partition.

Not if you already marked a partition active.