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Dual-boot partitioning: Where to place manufacturer recovery partition?

in flag

I own a Dell XPS Developer Edition which is shipped with Ubuntu. I would like to dual-boot with Windows 10 and am unsure about the correct partitioning.

Currently, I have three partitions on my SD:

p1 vfat 818MB EFI System
p2 vfat 5.4GB Microsoft Reserved
p3 ext4 506GB Linux filesystem

As 5.4GB is rather large for a Microsoft Reserved Partition, could it be that this partition contains the Dell factory image recovery partition?

My question is, can I just free up 100GB from the the Linux filesystem partition and install Windows 10 there, or do I need to change anything regarding the partitions due to the presence of the Microsoft Reserved partition?

Thanks!

Nmath avatar
ng flag
It doesn't make any sense to me why there would be a MSR partition if Windows was never installed on the device. This question is probably better suited for SuperUser.
Pentaquark avatar
in flag
Yeah, I am a little bit confused as well. Thanks for your input, though.
oldfred avatar
cn flag
I bet it is the Ubuntu ISO. Not sure why it would have the GUID for Microsoft's Reserved, other than to in effect hide it from users. A few have posted Boot-Repair's report and they have a custom grub entry to boot the ISO to restore the system. It may not be the standard Ubuntu ISO but include some customized Dell features. I would back it up.
Pentaquark avatar
in flag
Yes, that seems very plausible. If I were to dual-boot with Windows and at a later point use this Dell-Ubuntu ISO to make a factory reset, would this delete the Windows partition?
oldfred avatar
cn flag
I do not trust any automatic process unless I really know what it is doing. Normal Ubuntu ISO has options to totally erase drive, or Something Else to reinstall into existing ext4 partition. Not sure what customization Dell may have done. They may have one mode or other as only option. Always best to have good backups and know how to repair or reinstall any system.
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