How To Move Windows Recovery Partition To The End Of The Drive Using GParted

Sometimes,  when you clone a hard drive to a larger hard drive,  there is an unused partition after the Windows Recovery Partition.  You won’t be able to increase the size of the C drive without moving the Windows Recovery Partition to the end of the drive.  In this article,  we will give you a detailed, step-by-step guide to move a Windows Recovery Partition to the end of the drive using GParted from a Linux Live USB. Moving a recovery partition is less risky than moving the main Windows partition, but it can still break recovery features if done improperly. Back up important data before proceeding.  You will need a Linux Live USB like Ubuntu with GParted ( which is included in most Linux live sessions ).  If you don’t have one and need to create it,  the instructions are available here.  Also,  the recovery partition should not be encrypted or BitLocker protected.

Step 1: Boot into Linux Live USB

1. Insert the Linux Live USB and boot into it (via BIOS/UEFI boot menu).
2. Choose “Try Ubuntu” (or similar option to enter live session without installing).

Step 2: Open GParted

1. Press Ctrl + Alt + T to open a terminal.

Launch GParted:
sudo gparted

2. Choose the correct disk from the dropdown (e.g., /dev/sda or /dev/nvme0n1).

Step 3: Identify the Recovery Partition

The recovery partition is usually:

• Small (~500 MB – 1 GB)
• NTFS or FAT32
• May be labeled as “Recovery”, “Basic data partition”, or “winre”
• Located after or before the main Windows partition

Example layout:

/dev/sda1    EFI System Partition   100 MB

/dev/sda2    Microsoft Reserved     16 MB

/dev/sda3    Windows C: (NTFS)     100 GB

/dev/sda4    Recovery Partition     600 MB

Step 4: Create Unallocated Space at the End

If the recovery partition is not already at the end, you’ll need to make room.

A. If the end of the disk is already unallocated

• Great! Skip to Step 5.

B. If not, you must move other partitions to make room:

1. Identify the partition after the recovery partition.
2. Right-click it → choose Resize/Move
3. Drag it left, creating unallocated space after the recovery partition
4. Click OK (but don’t apply yet)

Step 5: Move the Recovery Partition to the End

1. Right-click the recovery partition → choose Resize/Move
2. In the dialog:
   
   • Drag the partition to the right (into the unallocated space at the end)
   • Do not resize it
3. Click OK

You now have one or more operations queued in GParted.

Step 6: Apply Changes

1. Click the green checkmark button (“Apply All Operations”)
2. Confirm and wait — this can take some time depending on how many moves are required.
   
3. Don’t power off or close GParted during this. Interrupting a partition move can corrupt data.

Step 7: Confirm the Partition Layout

Once the operations complete:

• Ensure the recovery partition is now at the end of the disk
• Check that the filesystem is still NTFS or FAT32 as before
• Confirm all partitions are still intact

Step 8: Test Windows Boot and Recovery

Reboot into Windows and:

1. Press Win + R, type reagentc /info, press Enter.

If recovery is working, you’ll see:
Windows RE status: Enabled

Windows RE location: \\?\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk0\partitionX\Recovery\WindowsRE

If Windows RE is disabled or broken, re-enable it:
reagentc /enable

If that fails, point it manually:

reagentc /setreimage /path X:\Recovery\WindowsRE

Replace X: with the actual drive letter assigned to the recovery partition (you can check via diskpart or diskmgmt.msc).

Windows Recovery still works after being moved if the path is updated and the partition type stays the same.  Windows 10/11 expects the recovery partition to be at the end by default, so this may actually help with future updates.

You can set the recovery partition ID manually in Windows using diskpart:
diskpart

select disk 0

select partition X

set id=de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac

gpt attributes=0x8000000000000001