Restore Deleted EFI Partition in Windows 10 Safely & Easily

PC cannot boot? Need to restore deleted EFI partition? Don’t panic, this article will help you recover EFI partition and bring everything back to normal.

Lora

By Lora / Updated on November 4, 2022

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"What happens if I delete the EFI partition?"

   
   
   
       

The hard drive in my pc failed yesterday. I managed to get almost everything back, but the EFI partition is lost, so I can't boot into windows 10. Is there any way I can restore it?

       

- Question from TenForums

   

Perhaps you were attempting to free up space on your hard disk using Disk Management and accidentally deleted a partition marked as "Healthy (EFI System Partition)." You didn't realize the disaster it may bring.

Or, you may have planned to delete a recovery partition but accidentally deleted a partition that is in use by the system– regardless of the reason, you indeed deleted the EFI partition. As a result, your computer will never boot.

The exact symptom is the error prompt: Reboot and select the proper boot device or insert boot media in the selected boot device and press a key.

reboot-and-select-proper-boot-device

But don't be frustrated; this article will help you out. In this article, you will figure out how to securely and quickly recover EFI partition in Windows 10 and bring everything back to normal without reinstalling the Operating System.

Prior to that, we recommend you have a primary impression of the EFI partition to restore deleted EFI partition in Windows 10.

About EFI partition

EFI, Extensible Firmware Interface, developed in 1998, is the original specification of UEFI – United Extensible Firmware Interface.

EFI partition, also known as EFI system partition, short for ESP, is a small partition, default 100MB, formatted using FAT32. It stores the EFI bootloader for the installed system as well as the firmware's boot applications.

Therefore, when an EFI partition is removed, your computer will fail to boot. Moreover, if the EFI partition is formatted as NTFS or other types of File Systems, or you encounter an invalid partition table, your computer perhaps won't boot as well. Then you might need to recover partition table.

disk-management-efi-partition

With the info gathered, you could restore EFI partition in Windows 10 more safely and consciously.

How to restore deleted EFI partition in Windows 10?

Then, how to recover EFI partition in Windows 10? When your computer cannot boot correctly, all the data in it is unavailable at all, which is absolutely terrible. But no worries, this guide will help you out.

Phase 1. Make a Windows bootable media with AOMEI Partition Assistant

Since you cannot boot Windows from the local drive, it is necessary to make bootable media to help you access Windows.

For safety's sake, utilizing professional software is a wise choice – AOMEI Partition Assistant can do it for you.

This software can assist you in getting access to Windows and offers many repair tools to check/fix bad sectors, rebuild MBR to perform MBR partition table recovery, etc. Now check what you need here below.

What you need:

  • Another bootable computer.
  • A free USB flash drive (Do not use a data USB drive; or choose to back up the data before the process).

Now download AOMEI Partition Assistant to enjoy a free trial.

Download Demo Win 11/10/8.1/8/7/XP
Secure Download
Notes:✎...
When creating a bootable media on the USB drive, the USB drive will be formatted. So, using a free USB stick is preferable. 
If you are about to use a data USB, please remember to back up your data.

Step 1. Run AOMEI Partition Assistant on a working PC > connect a USB stick to it > click Make Bootable Media > Next.

make-bootable-media

Step 2. Select USB Boot Device > choose your connected USB drive > Proceed.

choose-usb-drive

Step 3. Click Yes to confirm formatting the USB device and making a bootable media.

make-nootable-media-warning

When finished, bootable media is ready to help you boot the computer.

Phase 2. Restore deleted EFI partition safely & easily

With bootable media available, we can have the computer booted. Then, we still need to restore EFI partition in Windows 10.

AOMEI Partition Assistant could handle this. Using this program, you could recover deleted or lost partitions in Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista/XP/Server from HDD/SSD/SD card/USB flash drive.

Apart from this, it also possesses more efficient features.

Easy-to-use. Offer a simple user interface and detailed guide. 
Convenient. Restore deleted partition with data in it kept intact. 
Quick. Scan hard disk for deleted or lost partitions very quickly and at a high success rate. 
Compatibility. Support all file systems: NTFS/FAT32/FAT16/FAT12/exFAT, etc. Ext4 partition recovery will also be easy using it.

For Windows 10 users, you could have this tool run perfectly on your devices and retrieve partitions effortlessly.

Notes:✎...
The USB drive is pre-installed with AOMEI Partition Assistant.

Step 1. Connect the USB to the computer that cannot boot > come to the Boot menu > change the boot order to boot from the bootable USB.

Step 2. Come to the program interface > click Partition Recovery Wizard > choose the drive where the EFI partition was deleted > Next.

click-partition-recovery-wizard

Step 3. Select a search mode. Try Fast Search for the first time; if failed, use Full Search.

fast-search-full-search

Step 4. When finished, The software will list all the detected partitions. Select the deleted EFI partition you need > click Proceed to recover it.

If you have deleted data partitions, you could also utilize this versatile software to restore accidentally deleted partitions in Windows 10.

Related suggestions

In this article, there is detailed info about EFI partition gathered. With the guide on how to restore deleted EFI partition in Windows 10, users could bring their computers back to normal again safely and efficiently if they accidentally deleted EFI partitions.

Some suggestions are available here to free you from a similar dilemma in the future.

  • Do not delete any partition before knowing the results, especially the EFI partition and MSR (Microsoft Reserved Partition).
  • Please do not delete any partitions or data before baking them up.
  • Clone the EFI partition to make double insurance.
  • Back up your essential data regularly to prevent any data loss.

To back up data flexibly and efficiently, use AOMEI Backupper as your helper. "Disk Backup", "File Backup", etc., a bunch of unique features will guard your data safety.

Lora
Lora · Editor
Lora is an editor of AOMEI Technology. She is also a tester and editor of AOMEI Data Recovery Tools. -- "Keep testing, write the most useful tutorials for helping people recover the lost data for Windows and phones" is the most meaningful thing for her. Dedicated to creating helpful tutorials, she hopes her tutorial can assist users to effortlessly solve data loss problems on their personal computers and mobile phones.