What is the role of WIN8 system partitions?

With pre-installed Win8 computers flocking to the market, the standard combination of UEFI+GPT has received a wider range of attention. Uefi+gpt is undoubtedly the future trend, so it is necessary to first understand the role of some special partitions on the disk that is used to boot Windows's GPT partitioning structure.

Partition created by default by using Windows Installer

When we install WINDOWS8/7 in GPT and use Windows Installer to repartition the hard disk, the default will be to create several partitions as shown in the following table.

Partition size Type File system

Recovery partition (WinRE) 300MB primary partition NTFS

EFI System partition 100MB EFI FAT32

MSR Reserved Partition 128MB MSR

Windows installation partition user specified size primary partition NTFS

Here's a brief list of the roles of these partitions:

The first recovery partition is the partition that holds the winre image, and this partition is created by default only when WINDOWS8 is installed. WinRE is the abbreviation for the Windows Recovery Environment, including System Restore point restore, System image recovery (which is now known to be removed in Windows 8.1), system refresh, System reset, and so on. Automatic failover to winre occurs when the Windows 8 system does not start properly.

In Windows7, WinRE and Windows installation partitions are in the same partition and are not taken out alone. In Win8, Microsoft defaults to separate the WinRE and Windows installation partitions to ensure the highest degree of winre reliability. When you install Windows 8 o'clock on an MBR hard disk, you will find that the size of the system's reserved partitions is extended to 350MB by the Win7 100MB, which is used to save the winre image.

The second partition is the partition that holds the system boot file, which is the partition necessary to implement the UEFI boot.

The third MSR partition, which is a Microsoft Reserved partition, is not yet clear about its specific role. The partition is known to be useful for converting a basic disk to a dynamic disk.

The fourth is that we install the system is the target partition to select. Its actual capacity = the capacity you specify-the front several partition capacity.

The EFI System partition (the second) and the Windows installation partition (fourth partition) are required if you only consider the normal boot of the system.

Branded machine default partition with Windows 8 pre-installed (with an example of a model)

The partitions shown in the previous table are also visible in branded machines that are preloaded with WIN8, although their size may vary, and you may see other hidden partitions. The following table is the default partition situation for a type of pre-installed Win8 computer.

Partition size Type File system

Recovery partition (WinRE) 1000MB primary partition NTFS

EFI System partition 260MB EFI Fat32

MSR Reserved Partition 128MB MSR

OEM Partition 1000MB

Windows installation partition user specified size primary partition NTFS

Recovery partition (System backup) 20000MB

Comparing the partitions in the first table, the partitions in the second table are used for brand-key recovery. The OEM partition is the branding machine for storing one key recovery tool, while the larger recovery partition is used to store the system backup image.

This is a simple explanation of some of the special partitioning effects on the disks that are used to boot windows to the GPT partitioning structure, followed by a more detailed explanation of the GPT, UEFI, and uefi+gpt guides.