200M mysterious hidden partition in Windows 7

Bare Metal new windows 7 users, run Diskmgmt.msc after the installation is complete open Disk Manager, and you can see a hidden partition of size 200MB before the system partition (typically the C partition). What is this special hidden partition associated with the Windows 7 system?

1. Partition status
The partition is formatted as NTFS, has no disk volume label, and does not have a drive letter assigned, and its disk status is described as: System, active, primary partition. Because there is no drive letter, it is not visible in the resource manager.

2. What is there in this partition?
To find out, a drive letter F is assigned to it. Next open "Computer" to see a new disk partition F, into the partition found there are two hidden directory boot and system Volume information, in addition to two hidden files bootmgr and Bootsect.bak. There is no doubt that Windows 7 saved the system's boot file in the hidden partition.

3. Does adding a partition number affect system startup?
Next we reboot the system to see if the above operation (adding the drive letter) will affect the boot of the Windows7. The test result system starts normally, so the above modification will not affect the system boot. It is very well understood that the operation to reassign the drive letter for the boot partition did not modify the system's boot file, nor did it modify the disk boot sector. As can be seen, Microsoft put the Windows 7 boot file in a separate hidden partition, must be out of the boot file Protection.

4. Can I return the partition to hidden mode?
Now that we have hidden the partition to protect the system boot file, let's test to see if we can cancel the drive letter that we just gave it. Right-click the partition, select Change Drive letter and path, try the change or delete drive letter to display "Cannot delete/change Drive letter of volume" because the volume is a system or boot volume. Thus, the process of adding a drive letter for this special hidden partition in Windows 7 is irreversible.

5. Does deleting files in a partition affect system startup?
Below we try to delete the system boot file in this partition. The author takes administrator login system, enters the F partition and then carries on the file deletion. In the process of deletion, it was found that some of the files could not be deleted, that "file is in use" or "no delete permission" is displayed. It then tries to give administrator full control, and the result is rejected. After testing the discovery, even the system does not have full Control permissions, only the Trusterinstaller user has Full Control permissions. The user is unique to Windows 7 and has a single task that is related to system installation and is not in Windows 7 users and Groups (LUSRMGR.MSC). Let's take a look at whether some of the files in that partition will affect system startup after you delete them. Reboot the system, no problem the system starts normally. As you can see, the files we just deleted are not related to system startup, and the files that are actually associated with system startup cannot be deleted.

6. Does deleting the partition affect the system startup?
Through the disk Manager, I try to "format", "Delete volume" are not successful, it is visible that Windows 7 protection of the partition is doing very well. Since the system tools are not working, try third-party tools. I tested it with Acronis Disk Director Suite 10.0, which removed the partition and the data above it, and then restarted the system. The system cannot start by displaying "bootmbr is missing" that is, the primary boot sector is missing. This shows that the hidden partition holds the system's boot file and the primary boot partition information of the disk.

Summary: This hidden partition is uncovered by the above test, which is a 200MB-size hidden partition that is critical to Windows 7, which preserves system boot.

200M mysterious hidden partition in Windows 7