Move system partition to primary disk?


  1. WhiteZero
    Posts : 3
    Windows 10 Pro
       New #1

    Move system partition to primary disk?


    So I recently formatted my Windows 8.1 system and installed Windows 10. But it seems that the setup decided to set my System parition to a separate HDD (G: ) and put the bootmgr and all the boot files there, instead of using the left-over 350MB System Reserved partition on my primary SSD that Windows 8.1 had used. So of course now if I removed that disk, I wouldn't be able to boot anymore.

    So what'll be the best way to move all of the boot files and system partition setting back to my old 350MB System Reserved partition? Will I need to disconnect all the other drives and do a repair install of Windows 10? Or can I manually move the files and partition settings over? The old partition is still marked as Active, so maybe I can just move all the Boot related files from G: to the 350MB partition and it'll just work? Maybe mark G: as INACTIVE too

    Here is what my Disk Management looks like.
    https://i.imgur.com/xX0RsYh.png
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  3. NavyLCDR
    Posts : 18,432
    Windows 11 Pro
       New #2

    Changing the Boot Partition

    EasyBCD - NeoSmart Technologies

    Scroll down to the register button. Click register. You don't have to enter a name or email address, just click download.

    Judging from the screenshot you posted, though, the system should be booting from the 350mb partition on the SSD that is already there. Which physical drive is bios set to boot from?
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  4. cereberus
    Posts : 15,480
    Windows10
       New #3

    An easy way to sort this is to download windows 10 version iso from here and create a bootable usb flash drive using rufus.

    Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk - Windows 10 Forums

    Then make sure bios is set to boot from usb first.

    Temporarily disconnect all drives, except the ssd.

    Boot from the usb drive, and run Macrium Reflect

    When Macrium Reflect runs, select the restore tab, and click 'fix windows boot problems', and it will list the windows 10 on the ssd. Then click next, finish and the boot sectors will be rebuilt on ssd.

    Reboot pc to check it is now working, and then reconnect other drives thereafter.
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  6. WhiteZero
    Posts : 3
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       New #4

    NavyLCDR said:
    Judging from the screenshot you posted, though, the system should be booting from the 350mb partition on the SSD that is already there. Which physical drive is bios set to boot from?

    Nope, the 350MB partition was a leftover from my Windows 8.1 install. After installing 10, it was totally empty. The boot loader files went onto my G: drive (seperate HDD). I think my boot order had the SSD first and the next one was probably the HDD with G:. So the Win10 installer in all its wisdom put the bootloader on G:

    Also, EasyBCD would not load on my system, for some odd reason, even with Run as Administrator; the exe would show up in task manager for a second then go away.

    Anyway, before I saw any replies here, I started on my own by marking the old 350MB partition as active and attempted to copy the boot files over from the G: drive, but the BCD file was locked out and could not copy. I attempted to reboot into Macrium Reflect to use its file explorer to copy the files from there, but then my system would not let me get into BIOS (a separate issue I've been struggling with). So after troubleshooting around that, I went to copy the files but they all seemed to be missing now.

    Eventually, after some reading around, I booted into my Windows 10 install USB, went into Repair, and used the command prompt to use bcdboot and setup the 350MB partition as my bootloader drive. Worked great! Set my G: dive as Inactive in Diskpart too.

    Good ol built-in Microsoft commands win over the 3rd party apps today, my friends!
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  7. NavyLCDR
    Posts : 18,432
    Windows 11 Pro
       New #5

    WhiteZero said:
    Good ol built-in Microsoft commands win over the 3rd party apps today, my friends!
    Every now and then the underdog does win - but not very often.
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