Windows 10: Multiple Partition Window Volumes Appear prior to logging onto Windows.

Preface by saying that I am not a tech person, i.e., I will try to describe the problem, but I will likely not use the correct technical terms . . . When I turn on my mini PC Reatan Alloy 9, it immediately goes to a blue screen, with multiple partition volumes, all identified as "Volume 3." This occurred after the most recent Windows operating system update a couple of days ago. Fast forward this morning, a 4th partition volume appeared. How can I get rid of these Volume partitions? More important, how can I immediately go to the "Start up" screen where I log on with my password versus this

:)

 

Sudden automatic appearance of disk partition on Windows 10

Hi,

Please let us know, if you have made any changes prior to this issue.

I suggest you to remove the partition and check.

To delete an existing partition from Windows 10:

• Follow the instructions from step 1 to 5 from the above section.
• From the right pane of the Disk Management section, right-click the volume (partition) that you want to delete.
• From the context menu that appears, click Delete Volume.

Hope this information helps.

Regards,

Guru Kiran

 

Installing Windows Vista/7 on a GUID Partition Table

Background

GUID Partition Table (GPT) is a boot sector technology poised to replace the venerable Master Boot Record (MBR) principally because MBR has a maximum capacity of 2 TB for a single partition (some single disks have reached 3 TB). Installing Windows on a GPT is a bit tricky because Windows wants to default back to MBR. In order to force Windows on to a GPT, we have to pre-format the drive prior to Windows installation. You can do that during Windows setup using the console.

Requirements

• Windows Vista or 7 (must be 64-bit no matter which OS is used)
• A motherboard with EFI BIOS
• A means to EFI boot the Windows setup (I had to use a USB DVD drive on MSI Z77A-G65, the internal SATA Bluray drives didn't have an EFI option)

Instructions

• Boot into Windows setup using EFI. On the MSI Z77A-G65, it showed up as UEFI:USB-ATAPI DVD ... This will change according to your motherboard and how you are attempting to enter setup. This step is critical. Without booting into setup via EFI, only MBR is available to the setup. There's no easy way to tell from within setup if it is running via EFI or not.
• Once you have booted into setup, continue through the process as you would normally until you reach the dialog which shows you the available drives. Load a driver, if necessary, then press SHIFT+F10 to open the command prompt.
• In the command prompt, enter the following lines, pressing enter after each one. Note that the <id> field below is the disk ID that you want to format as GPT from the "list disk" command. If there's only one drive, <id> will likely be 1. Note: All data on the drive will be lost during this process. Make sure to select the correct drive.
  • diskpart
  • list disk
  • select disk <id>
  • online disk
  • attributes disk clear readonly
  • clean
  • convert gpt
  • create partition efi size=102
  • create partition msr size=32
  • create partition primary
  • format fs=ntfs label="Operating System"
  • assign letter=C
  • exit
  "online disk" and "attributes disk clear readonly" are likely to fail. Don't worry, they are only precautionary. Change the drive letter and label to whatever you want. Also, the above command (specifically "create partition primary") will consume all remaining space on the drive. If you want multiple partitions with fixed sizes, substitute what you want in place of "create partition primary."
• You may now close the command prompt and click on "Refresh" back in the dialog to choose where to install Windows. You should now see at least 2 partitions (I think Microsoft Reserved is hidden) and it will only let you install on a non EFI/MSR partition. Click on the primary partition and proceed with the installation as normal.
• Note that in the EFI BIOS after installing Windows via EFI, you can no longer directly boot the volume Windows is installed on. Instead, you must boot via "Windows Boot Manager" (on MSI Z77A-G65, it was "UEFI: Windows Boot Manager"). Keep that in mind if you wish to tweak the boot order.

Conclusion

That should do it. You should be in Windows with >2 TB of hard drive capacity available if you had more than 2 TB on the Windows partition. Congratulations being on the bleeding edge of technology! *Rockout :rockout:

 

Extend Volume in disk managment not working

Hi,



Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community. Let me help you.

• 
  Since when did the issue started appearing?
  
• 
  Have you made any changes in settings prior to the issue?
  
• 
  Do you receive any error code or error message on the screen?
  

I suggest you to follow the exact steps mentioned below and check if you are able to perform the action.

• 
  Run Disk Management. Open Run Command (Windows button +R) a dialog box will open and type "diskmgmt.msc".
  
• 
  In the Disk Management screen, just right-click on the partition that you want to shrink, and select “Extend Volume” from the menu
  
• 
  Locate your system partition — that’s probably the C: partition. Right-click on it and select “Shrink Volume.” If you have multiple partitions on your hard drive, you could also choose to resize a different partition to free up
  space.
  

Check if it helps.



Please reply with the details and updated status of the issue. We will be happy to assist you further.