SOLVED: How To Delete The Recovery Partition

If you are trying to expand a disk volume, you may find that the Recovery Partition is blocking the expansion.

A few months ago we wrote a short article explaining that it is safe to delete the recovery partition and you can take a snapshot in VMware prior to removal, and then restore the VM have a problem. Note that we have never seen a problem… but safety first if you have VMware.

How To Delete the Recovery Partition:

Here’s how you can do it:

1. Launch a Command Prompt as Administrator (or PowerShell, or Windows Terminal)
2. List all partitions:
   • Type diskpart and press Enter
   • Then type list disk and press Enter to see all disks
   • Select the disk containing the recovery partition by typing select disk X (replace X with the disk number) and press Enter
   • Type list partition and press Enter to see all partitions on the selected disk
3. Select the recovery partition:
   • Identify the recovery partition from the list
   • Type select partition Y (replace Y with the partition number) and press Enter
4. Delete the recovery partition:
   • Type delete partition override and press Enter

Please be very careful with these commands, as deleting the wrong partition can cause data loss. If you’re unsure, it might be best to seek assistance from a professional.