Windows 10 Boot Partition Deleted? Recover Now!

Help! Windows 10 boot partition deleted

Windows users who are familiar with Disk Management may notice some partitions with no name attached to them.

Usually, those partitions or volumes will be marked as "Disk 0 partition 2" or so.

Some users may have intentionally or accidentally deleted partitions because of insufficient drive space; they might think there won't be any problem if deleted since they have no name.

But that's not true – because these partitions you deleted are likely to be boot partitions.

│ About boot partition

There are generally 2 types of boot partition: an EFI partition for the GPT drive and a System Reserved Partition for the MBR drive.

If you have accidentally deleted these two volumes, your computer will be unbootable.

EFI partition, also known as EFI System Partition (ESP), stores the boot loader and the boot applications that the firmware requires. If you head over to Disk Management on a normal working PC, you can view its status and size, usually 100MB.

A GPT drive must contain an EFI partition to boot; once you have accidentally deleted EFI partition, you cannot get the PC booted.

System Reserved Partition is a primary partition that contains the boot loader. It was first introduced in Windows 7 and will be created when the Operating System is installed.

Both these 2 kinds of boot partitions are responsible for booting the operating system, so they are never recommended to be deleted.

Windows 10 boot partition deleted. What to do?

If things had happened, then how to fix the Windows 10 boot partition? 3 feasible methods are provided here; choose anyone according to your specific needs and preferences.

▶ Fix 1. Reinstall your Windows 10

If you are not too concerned about the data in your computer, then you can choose to reinstall your system. This not only recovers the boot partition but is also the most effective method.

Before reinstalling, you need to prepare an installation drive. Connect it to your PC and set the boot priority to this USB from BIOS, and then restart your PC to boot from the installation drive.

Step 1. Wait for Windows 10 installation files to load.

Step 2. Set up language and other preferences, then click "Next" and "Install now".

Step 3. Click "I don't have a product key" and "Next". The product key will reactivate itself after reinstallation if it was activated on your computer.

Step 4. Select the operating system and click "Next".

Step 5. Accept the license terms and click "Next".

Step 6. Select Windows 10 installation type: Custom.

Step 7. Click Drive Options and you will see some options (eg: Delete, Format, Extend) at the bottom.

Step 8. Right-click the system partition and the operating systems-related partition, click "Delete". Finally, select the unallocated space and click "Next" to install your Windows.

▶ Fix 2. Recover deleted boot partition using the partition recovery tool

What to do if you have the Windows 10 boot partition deleted? A professional partition manager tool could be a great choice if you want to solve it without reinstallation.

AOMEI Partition Assistant is your second-to-none choice – "Create Bootable Media" could save you from a desperate situation.

This tool could help you boot your affected computer quickly within 3 simple steps. Then, the function "Partition Recovery Wizard" will take care of you and scan hard disk for deleted partitions.

Competent. As a multi-functional tool, it offers a series of unique features, e.g., "Merge Partition", "Clone Partition", "MBR/GPT converter", and so on. 

Convenient. In several simple steps, you could get problems fixed. Also, as long as no data overwriting occurs, you can recover the partition as well as the data in it. 

Compatible. It supports Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista/XP.

Step 1. Run the program on another working computer > connect a USB > Make Bootable Media > Next.

Step 2. Choose USB Boot Device > Proceed.

Step 3. Connect the USB to the affected computer > click Partition recovery wizard > select the affected boot drive > click Next.

Step 4. Choose a search method. Try Fast Search first; if it doesn't work, try Full Search.

Step 5. After that, the software will list all deleted or lost partitions. Select the deleted boot partition > Proceed.

This way, you could fix everything after accidentally deleting the Windows 10 boot partition. 

▶ Fix 3. Rebuild system partition with CMD

How to fix the Windows 10 boot partition? CMD could also be of help if you already have installation media.

Step 1. Use the prepared Windows installation media to boot the computer > press the SHIFT + F10 keys > enter the Command Prompt window.

Step 2. Input diskpart> list disk> select disk 0. Replace the "0" here with the actual drive number on which Windows was installed.

Step 3. Input list partition > select partition 1. Replace the "1" here with the Windows OS partition's number.

Step 4. Input active > exit > bootrec /fixboot > bootrec /rebuildbcd.

After the processing, you can shut down the computer and boot as usual.

FAQ about partition recovery issues

Suppose you have a Windows 10 boot partition deleted accidentally. In that case, you need to make bootable media to boot the PC and restore the deleted boot partition to get everything back to normal.

In addition, if you need more info, an FAQ about partition recovery issues has been offered.