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May 13th, 2022 11:00
Dell Files in EFI partition
I think it is time for me to do a clean install to reinstall Windows 11. In looking at the EFI partition, I see a directory named Dell with a number of files there. If I reformat the drive when dong the clean install, how do I avoid losing, or reload, the dell files after the drive is reformatted?
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speedstep
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May 13th, 2022 11:00
@LenGoodwin
You don't lose that by doing Fresh Start instead of scorched earth reinstall.
Windows Key R to RUN
C:\windows\system32\systemreset.exe -cleanpc
LenGoodwin
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May 13th, 2022 11:00
But I want to do scorched earth. My EFI petition is only 100 MB and is too small (only 14MB free).. That hampered the most recent system update
Vic384
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May 13th, 2022 13:00
@LenGoodwin I looked at my EFI partition and I don't see any directories other than the root directory. I also looked at the procedure for restoring a deleted EFI partition and don't see how a Dell directory would be placed in the EFI partition. I guess it is possible that Dell made changes to the EFI partition to facilitate some sort of Dell recovery.
speedstep
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May 13th, 2022 14:00
@Vic384
EFI is not used for updates. What he's looking at is the DELL recovery partition. 100megs is standard SYSTEM Reserved. MSR is even smaller 16 megs.
Dells have OEM Partitions that will go away FOREVER if you scorched earth.
Vic384
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May 13th, 2022 15:00
@speedstep I did not say the EFI partition is used for updates. I have no reason to doubt @LenGoodwin when he says he sees a Dell directory in the EFI partition. I am just trying to understand why a Dell directory is there.
LenGoodwin
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May 13th, 2022 17:00
There seems to be a lot of confusion about what is, or is not in an EFI partition. I expanded mine from 100 MB to 226MB, which is similar to what my other systems have. Here is a clip of what is in it now. It seems the partition has about 77 MB space used.
Vic384
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May 13th, 2022 19:00
@LenGoodwin It appears you are seeing the EFI partition. My EFI partition has the same directory structure as yours. The Dell directory has two sub-directories, bios and logs. The bios directory has a recovery sub-directory that contains the BIOS recovery files (.rcv files) for the current and previous BIOS. So if you reformat the drive you will lose the BIOS recovery files useless you save them to be restored later. I believe these BIOS recovery files are created when the BIOS is updated. You can create a BIOS recovery file for a BIOS version by downloading the BIOS.exe file and renaming it BIOS_IMG.rcv.
speedstep
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May 13th, 2022 21:00
@Vic384
@LenGoodwin
My partitions look like this NOTE 100 meg EFI. Microsoft and Dell OEM partitions have RECOVERY label.
Press Windows key + R > Type: diskmgmt.msc > Hit Enter
On GPT Drives the ESP or System partition is 100 megs.
This partition is managed by the operating system, and should not contain any other files, including Windows RE tools.
ESP MAX EFI size