Windows 7 and the System Reserved Partition

Brian_K · ‎04-19-2009

If you install Win7 to unallocated space or let Win7 create the install partition, you will get a 100 MB SRP in addition to the Win7 partition. The SRP contains the boot files and is the Active partition.

When we have restored Ghost OS images in the past we have chosen, "Set drive active for booting". Now we must remember to NOT choose this option if there is a SRP. If Win7 becomes the Active partition, it will not boot.

The SRP takes up one of the 4 partition slots in the MBR and may limit future primary partition creation. I can see it causing issues with image restores, especially to new HDs. The SRP can be removed.

RKutash · ‎11-22-2009

Thank you for the great information, Brian. This is starting to make sense. I have a few questions. 1. What is the best way to remove the SRP? 2. If I remove the SRP, will there be any consequences other than the inability to boot via f8 in the event of an emergency (I don't use bitlocker, and I assume I could still boot through a windows recovery DVD/or Norton Recovery DVD in the event of an emergency? 3. If I don't remove the SRP, should my Norton backup make images of both partitions of the main drive (SRP and Windows 7 Partition)? Thank you!!

Brian_K · ‎04-19-2009

RKutash,

I expect other partitioning tools can be used but I've only tested with BING (BootIt NG).

1. Use a VistaPE boot CD to copy, not move, the contents of the SRP to the Win7 partition. A BartPE CD can be used instead.
From a BING CD, delete the SRP. In View MBR, set the Win7 partition active. Win7 then boots normally.

2. Delete the SRP from a BING CD (it can't be deleted from Windows). In View MBR, set the Win7 partition active. When you try to boot you will see a "BootMGR is missing" message.
Do two repairs from the Win7 DVD. It is only on the second repair that you will get to a large menu where you can choose "Startup Repair". Win7 then boots normally.

Very few of us will want BitLocker so we won't miss it. It isn't available in Win7 Pro and below anyway. F8 still works.

To answer Q3, yes. And they should be restored together. I don't know whether the SRP changes but play safe and assume it can.

huwyngr · ‎04-13-2008

Brian -- From what I've read from Microsoft on this the SRP also contains the Recovery Environment? So it isn't just Bitlocker and boot files?

If it were only BitLocker I was going to ask whether Home Premium also produced it since that version is likely to be the most used -- whereas a lot of the stuff about getting rid of it that appeared during the summer was from using RC versions all of which were the Ultimate version.

Hugh

Brian_K · ‎04-19-2009

huwyngr,

My 100 MB partition contained 28 MB of data. Two folders, Boot and System Volume Information. Two files, bootmgr and bootsect.bak.

Could I quote from Dan Goodell,

"To the best of my knowledge, the System Reserved partition has only two purposes: to allow BitLocker to be used on the Windows partition, and to provide a "safer place" for the Recovery Environment files. (That's where you get to if you press F8 at boot time and choose "Repair my computer".)

In order to encrypt the Windows partition with BitLocker, you understandably have to have unencrypted access to some place from which you can load the BitLocker driver/program. IOW, you can't encrypt the entire hard disk ... hence, the minimalist System partition. In a BitLocker'd system you would begin booting from the unencrypted System partition, it would load the encryption driver, and you'd then have access to the encrypted Boot partition.

The rub is that BitLocker is only available in the Ultimate and Enterprise versions of Windows 7. So for 99% of us, BitLocker isn't an option--and thus isn't a legitimate excuse to saddle us with a System Reserved partition.

As for the Recovery Environment argument, note that you'll still have a RE with or without a System Reserved partition. The RE files are put on the System partition, so if you do not have a separate System Reserved partition you can still press F8 and boot into the RE, be the RE files will end up coming from the same partition as Windows.

It's possible the RE might be slightly less vulnerable to corruption or viruses if it's on a different partition--especially when that partition has its drive letter removed (as is the case during a normal Windows 7 bootup). But I doubt it's really much of an advantage because it's a lot more difficult for a virus to infect the RE than it used to be. The RE is no longer a bunch of files sitting on your hard drive, it's actually a partition image (another .wim file). In essence, when you boot the RE I believe you're booting into a virtual drive that is "restored" on demand from the .wim image. I think it would be pretty difficult to infect the operating system contained in that image.

And of course, for frequenters of this forum the RE is even less useful because we make backup images of our OS ... who needs a RE when we can just restore our OS from a backup image?

So, the advantages of having a System Reserved partition are, IMHO, minor or insignificant, while the disadvantages are:

it takes up a slot in the partition table,
to backup your OS you have to capture two partitions instead of one, and
if you restore to a different DiskID or different partition layout it becomes a lot harder to control the drive letter of the Windows partition (because the System partition may want to become "C")."

huwyngr · ‎04-13-2008

While I was quoting a Microsoft support engineer .... <g>

<< The RE files are put on the System partition, so if you do not have a separate System Reserved partition you can still press F8 and boot into the RE, be the RE files will end up coming from the same partition as Windows. >>

There was talk of deleting the SRP and of moving the boot files. If one did those then the RE would not be directly available as I understand it although would be if you use the Recovery via the installation media disk.

I don't want to argue about it but I'm against messing with Windows although the situation with imaging is important and should be dealt with by the imaging software. Does GHOST detect Windows 7 and how it is installed and warn about the situation if necessary?

Hugh

Brian_K · ‎04-19-2009

huwyngr wrote:
There was talk of deleting the SRP and of moving the boot files. If one did those then the RE would not be directly available as I understand it although would be if you use the Recovery via the installation media disk.

huwyngr,

I knew you were going to ask so I just installed Win7 to unallocated space so that I'd have a SRP. I needed to jog my memory too about the F8 option. I removed the SRP using the second method from Message #3. Win7 boots and I can guarantee that using F8 still works.

I didn't make it clear in my first post that if you create a primary partition (to be used for the Win7 install) prior to booting from the Win7 DVD, you don't get a SRP. Here is an interesting video on installing Win7 to its own primary partition. It's directed at BING users so some of the concepts will appear strange. Using a mouse is much easier than using a keyboard in BING but the keyboard was used as a demo.

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/videos/bing/win7.wmv

That's how I installed Win7 on my main computer and Ghost works fine.

huwyngr · ‎04-13-2008

Since all of my WIN 7's are multibooted with XP I don't have the SRP either ....

And I've always created my partitions first .... except for one time when I wanted to see how well WIN 7 could shrink an existing XP partiton and do the creation and installation but I don't remember whether that one created the extra partition or not.

Most of the controversy about simple deleting arose back in RC days with some MS support staff saying just delete and some saying no you can't ...

Hugh

RKutash · ‎11-22-2009

I was wondering what complications might arise if one decides not to remove the SRP, and just backup up both partitions (SRP and Windows 7) using Ghost. If they need to recover the Ghost disk images onto a brand new, unformatted hard drive (i.e., in the event of hard drive failure), the new hard drive would presumably be unformatted and unpartitioned when purchased, and may also be a different size as the original drive.

Are there any extra steps that would need to be taken prior to attempting to recover the images with the recovery environment as a result of the SRP, i.e., formatting and partitioning the new hard drive to match the size and location of the 2 partitions on the old hard drive, or something like that? Or will Ghost automatically recreate the partition structure on the new drive when it restores the images?

Thanks again for all the great information!!

Brian_K · ‎04-19-2009

RKutash,

I haven't done this but I'd expect no problems if done correctly. That is, restore both partitions with the SRP being marked Active. If they are restored to a different LBA you may need to do a Startup Repair but that would also apply to a Win7 system without a SRP.

In summary, leave the new HD unpartitioned, restore the SRP and choose Set Active. Then restore the Win7 image. A big improvement in Ghost 15 is you can resize the restored partition, larger or smaller. This wasn't present in previous Ghosts. If you restore to a partition you don't have the resize option but you can delete the partition from the Ghost CD and then Resize is an option.