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  2 Recoveries "Bill Bradshaw" <bradshaw@gci.net> - 2026-06-27 09:07 -0800
    Re: 2 Recoveries Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2026-06-27 20:44 -0400

#32740 — 2 Recoveries

So I am not sure if Windows 11 needs 2 recoveries.  I would like to combine 
these.  Is one of them surplus and not active?
--- 
<Bill>

Brought to you from Anchorage, Alaska 

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#32742

On Sat, 6/27/2026 1:07 PM, Bill Bradshaw wrote:
> So I am not sure if Windows 11 needs 2 recoveries.  I would like to combine 
> these.  Is one of them surplus and not active?
> --- 
> <Bill>
> 
> Brought to you from Anchorage, Alaska 
> 
> 

This depends on the position. In this case, both recover partitions
could be attempts at valid ones.

      +----------+---------------------+----------+---------------------+
      | Win10    |  Recovery Partition | Win11    |  Recovery Partition |
      +----------+---------------------+----------+---------------------+

In this case, the one closes to the OS is the valid one.

      +----------+---------------------------+---------------------------+
      | Win10    |  768MB Recovery Partition |  2.0GB Recovery Partition |
      +----------+---------------------------+---------------------------+
                    Created 21H2 --> 22H2       User fixed during 21H2
                                                Can be removed now

But before you remove anything, or for that matter, make any rash moves,
you verify the situation on both OSes.

    Admin window

    PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> reagentc /info
    Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) and system reset configuration
    Information:

    Windows RE status:         Enabled
    Windows RE location:       \\?\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk0\partition4\Recovery\WindowsRE
    Boot Configuration Data (BCD) identifier: 497fe39f-30d1-11f1-8a51-e8ea6a0992ff
    Recovery image location:
    Recovery image index:      0
    Custom image location:
    Custom image index:        0
    Windows RE Version:        10.0.26100.8655

    REAGENTC.EXE: Operation Successful.

In diskpart.exe (command line), you check the partitions

    DISKPART> list part

    Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
    -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
    Partition 1    System             100 MB  1024 KB
    Partition 2    Reserved            16 MB   101 MB  <=== Cannot see this in Disk Management
    Partition 3    Primary            118 GB   117 MB
    Partition 4    Recovery          1024 MB   118 GB  <=== This is my "Enabled" partition4.
    Partition 5    Primary            128 GB   119 GB
    Partition 6    Recovery          1025 MB   248 GB

If there had been a Partition 5 which was also a Recovery Partition, chances are
it can be removed. However, consider my Windows 10. His
reagentc says Partition6 is a Recovery Partition. If I removed a partition
somewhere to the left of Partition 5 (Windows 10) then the partition
numbering would change, and the Windows 10 Recovery Partition would
be instantly invalidated and need a PBR (PushButtonReset).

Summary: While it is fun to pretend you are in charge of your machine,
         you are merely a disinterested audience member. Doing a job
         properly will take more time than it's worth. Like, if the scheme
         had been designed *properly*, would it have these sorts of glaring issues ?
         Imagine, for example instead of using this flavor of namespace

         \\?\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk0\partition4\Recovery\WindowsRE

         I had used a GUID of the partition, such that no matter what its
         position on the disk, it would still be valid. Then, when you ask me
         whether the <unused> partition could be removed, I would not have
         to give you bomb squad answers regarding cutting the red wire or
         the blue wire. You could just do it.

         If you have *ONE* OS on the HDD, then yes, now you can whack at those
         things all you want. Use your  reagentc /info  to verify which one
         is the valid one. If the reagentc command gives you some "disabled"
         answer anyway, or "cannot enable", then you may end up doing a PBR
         anyway. It is when you have more complex setups, that the additional
         iffs and butts arise.

   Paul

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