1 Rookie
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8 Posts
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3925
May 28th, 2022 18:00
Partitions on Dell laptop
The Dell laptop came with Windows 10 installed and the following partitions:
| 1. EFI | ~680MB |
| 2. Microsoft reserved | ~128MB |
| 3. OS | large |
| 4. WINRETOOLS | ~1GB |
| 5. Image | ~13GB |
| 6. DELLSUPPORT | ~1GB |
I want to remove Windows and install Linux.
Should I keep the DELLSUPPORT partition?
I have not been able to find a clear explanation of what is does or how it is used.
Is it used only by Windows, or is it used by the BIOS?
If I delete it, what functionality do I lose?
Thanks
XPS_Man
5 Practitioner
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2.4K Posts
1
May 31st, 2022 07:00
EFI : Its required for the UEFI BIOS to recognize that drive is bootable
Microsoft reserved : Reserved by windows for it's own dirty tasks
WINRETOOLS : It has windows recovery tools , RESET/REFRESH/Advanced boot options
Image : Dell's OEM image, without this you wont be able to factory RESET machine. You can still use windows RESET though
DELLSUPPORT : This is for SupportAssist OS recovery which is Dell's own recovery environment can be access from F12 menu
Yes you should do a clean Format on HDD for Installing Linux at any point of time you wanna come back to Windows you can download a copy on a USB from Microsoft or Dell
Error2020
1 Rookie
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8 Posts
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May 28th, 2022 22:00
Also, what is the image in partition 5, what made it, and when?
RachelGomez
2 Intern
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162 Posts
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August 18th, 2022 22:00
Create a partition from unpartitioned space with these steps:
Right-click This PC and select Manage.
Open Disk Management.
Select the disk from which you want to make a partition.
Right-click the Unpartitioned space in the bottom pane and select New Simple Volume.
Enter the size and click next, and you are done.
This may help you,
Rachel Gomez