How to Create a Recovery Partition in Windows 10 and Windows 11

Creating a recovery partition in Windows 10 and Windows 11 is an essential step that can help restore your system in case of issues. The recovery partition allows you to bring your computer back to a working state without the need for a complete reinstallation of the OS. In this guide, we will go through the process of creating such a partition.

Step 1: Preparation for Creating the Recovery Partition

Before you begin, ensure that you have:

  • A system disk with enough free space.
  • A backup of important data.
  • An administrator account.

Step 2: Backing Up the System

Before creating a recovery partition, it's important to back up your system. To do this:

  1. Open the Start menu and type Backup and Restore.
  2. Select Create a system image.
  3. Follow the on-screen instructions to create a backup on an external drive or another storage medium.

Step 3: Creating the Recovery Partition

Now you are ready to create the recovery partition:

  1. Press the Win + X keys and select Disk Management.
  2. In the Disk Management window, find unallocated space or select an existing partition that you can shrink to free up space for the new partition.
  3. Right-click on the partition and select Shrink Volume. Specify how much space you want to free up.
  4. After shrinking the volume, right-click on the unallocated space and select New Simple Volume.
  5. Follow the wizard’s instructions to create the new partition, assigning it a label and file system (usually NTFS).

Step 4: Installing the Recovery System

After creating the partition, you need to install the recovery system on it. To do this, use the Command Prompt:

  1. Open the Start menu, type cmd, right-click on Command Prompt, and select Run as administrator.
  2. In the command prompt, enter the following command: 
    reagentc /setreimage /path R:\Recovery\WindowsRE
  3. Here, R: is the letter of your new recovery partition. Change it to the appropriate letter if necessary.
  4. Then, activate the recovery environment by entering: 
    reagentc /enable

Step 5: Checking the Recovery Partition

To ensure that the recovery partition is working, restart your computer and press F8 or Shift + F8 during boot. Select Troubleshoot and check if your recovery partition is displayed.