Recreating Microsoft Reserved (system reserved) partition

appros

New Member
Messages
9
Hi guys,
I have had a look here https://support.software.dell.com/appassure/kb/137589 for instructions using diskpart to create an MSR partition. A while back I had to move the MSR partition around, which caused it to get corrupted and I was unable to fix it. PC has been working fine until trying to upgrade to windows 10. Now, I get an error which complains about the system reserved partition, which I know is not as it was initially.

After deleting the volume in diskmgmt, I check the partition layout:
Code:
DISKPART> list partition

  Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
  -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
  Partition 1    System              64 MB    20 KB
  Partition 3    Primary             23 GB   193 MB
  Partition 4    Recovery          5400 MB    23 GB
and then run
Code:
DISKPART> create partition msr offset=65

Virtual Disk Service error:
There is not enough usable space for this operation.

I need help to recreate this MSR or somehow repair it (alternatively just let it upgrade to windows 10)

Thanks
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x86
Are you sure its MSR and Not EFI ?
otherwise you'll have to use a partitioning manager software to move your partitions around to get enough room at the beginning of the drive for this partition to have enough useable space?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro MC
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus G75VW / Z97 Pro
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-3610QM / I7-4790K
    Motherboard
    Z97 Pro
    Memory
    16 GB Hyundai HTM315156CFR8C-PB PC3-12800
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M (GF114M)
    Sound Card
    VIA 6.0.10.1600
    Screen Resolution
    1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 850 Pro 256, Samsung 850 Pro 1TB
    Internet Speed
    30 down 3 up
    Browser
    Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    NIS and Malwarebytes
I have 128 MB free, and I want to make a 128 MB partition. The EFI is another partition located before the MSR and is 64MB. Diskmgmt actually lists it as 129 MB when there isn't any partition on it. Is there a way to check why diskpart if failing? Maybe there needs to be more room, I'm not sure.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x86
== 1. System partition =========================
create partition efi size=100
format quick fs=fat32 label="System"
assign letter="S"

== 2. Microsoft Reserved (MSR) partition =======
create partition msr size=16

== 3. Windows partition ========================
create partition primary
shrink minimum=500
format quick fs=ntfs label="Windows"
assign letter="W"

=== 4. Recovery partition ======================
create partition primary
format quick fs=ntfs label="Recovery"
assign letter="R"
set id="de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac"
gpt attributes=0x8000000000000001
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
I guess I can try making a 16 MB partition. For your reference, this is my current setup: Partitions.PNG
I definitely have an EFI partition, which I believed contained all my booting stuff that wasn't on C:
I tried to follow this guide: https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/3a6znd/we_couldnt_update_the_system_reserved_partition/
but since there isn't anything on the partition (when an NTFS partition is created) I get File not found - bootmgr when I run the attrib command.
I will try creating one with a smaller size, although 128 mb is recommended. If you have any ideas on where I should be running those commands in the reddit thread, you thoughts are welcome.
EDIT:
Now I have created one with a smaller size. Problem persists.
Also found this We couldn't update the system reserved partition. Something - Microsoft Community
Seems that perhaps the EFI partition is the problem?
I have tried to mount the EFI partition with diskmgr, though the options to are greyed out. With diskpart I was able to get into the EFI partition inside of cmd, though I'm not 100% confident on deleting stuff out of there and adding owernership didn't seem to work as per the reddit guide. Wondering if extending the EFI partition over the now 127mb MSR partition would allow it to upgrade?
On a slightly separate note, I am unable to to a clean install of windows 8.1. I have tried to get a tool to get the product key, though this complains that I have the wrong edition of windows when I try to install again using a USB created with the media creation tool.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x86
Solved?

Hi,

I had the same problem when treating to create a 128 MB msr partition using DISKPART. Now I solved it! The trick are the units diskpart uses: size in MB, but offset in KB. So, in your case the diskpart commant should be:
> create partition msr offset=66560
Es decir 65*1024 KB, en lugar de 65 MB.

I've found it on this reference: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc770438.aspx

Hope this solve your problem!!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
== 1. System partition =========================
create partition efi size=100
format quick fs=fat32 label="System"
assign letter="S"

== 2. Microsoft Reserved (MSR) partition =======
create partition msr size=16

== 3. Windows partition ========================
create partition primary
shrink minimum=500
format quick fs=ntfs label="Windows"
assign letter="W"

=== 4. Recovery partition ======================
create partition primary
format quick fs=ntfs label="Recovery"
assign letter="R"
set id="de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac"
gpt attributes=0x8000000000000001


This did it for me, the missing link I had not seen anywhere else:

create partition efi size=100
format quick fs=fat32 label="System"
assign letter="S"
create partition msr size=16

The info on setting recovery partition too, but I have not looked at that yet, I'm happy to be booted with EFI!


I have my old and new win7 connected. I can boot to either and see the same info in EasyBCD... where does it show which store it is displaying?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    w764pro
EasyBCD displays the current store location in the top, but when it's the system BCD, it doesn't say where it is up there. When you load a different BCD it does display like D:\BOOT\BCD.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    w764pro
Back
Top