Fix: We Couldn’t Update The System Reserved Partition

While trying to update the computers to Windows 10 on a clean formatted disk, numerous users have experienced ‘we couldn’t update the system reserved partition’ on their system. As there is a partition, this is created usually at the beginning of the hard disk.

This partition is known as System Reserved Partition (SRP). This issue occurs when the SRP is being full. Also, third-party- software can lead to this error.

Easy Solutions to Fix Windows 10 We Couldn’t Update the System Reserved Partition Issue

Have a look at the effective solutions to fix this ‘we couldn’t update the system reserved partition’ issue.

Solution 1: Free Up Some Storage Space

Free Up Some Storage Space

To apply this solution, follow the given steps.

Step 1

At first, press and hold the Windows and R keys together to open the Run dialog box. Then, enter ‘diskmgmt.msc’ in the Run box and hit the Enter key.

Then, proceed to the Disk Management partition map window.

Here you will see the first partition named System Reserved or data. Right-click on it and tap on the ‘Change drive letters and paths’ button.

Step 2

Next, click on the Add button. Furthermore, open the drop-down menu located at the front of the “Assign the following drive letter” option. Choose’ Y’ as the drive letter and tap on OK.

Then, move to the Command Prompt by using the Start menu. Right-click on it and select Run as Administrator.

Step 3

Enter the following command within the Command Prompt. Don’t forget to press the Enter key after every command.

Y:

takeown /f  . /r /d y

icacls . /grant administrator:F /t

attrib -h -s -r bootmgr

Keep in mind within the ‘icacls’ commands, change the Administrator’s name with your username. 

Step 4

Launch the Windows Explorer window and switch to the Y drive. Ensure that both the ‘Don’t show hidden files’ and the Hide protected ‘Operating System files’ options are disabled.

Now, move on to the Y folder and select the Boot folder. Here, delete all the languages except for en-Us and any other language that you actually use and need for your computer.

Empty the Recycle bin to ensure that the languages have been deleted permanently. 

Step 5

After that, open a new elevated Command Prompt. Here, enter the given command and press the Enter key.

‘chkdsk Y: /F /X /sdcleanup /L:5000’. Once the command runs successfully, almost 50Megabytes spaces will be free.

After completion, you can again try to update the computer. Hope that this task can be done successfully. 

Step 6

Once done, again open the Disk Management utility and remove the ‘Y’ letter from the SRP.

However, if this solution does not work for you, check out the next one.

Solution 2: Use the Disk Management and Expand the System Reserved Partition

Use the Disk Management and Expand the System Reserved Partition

Open the Run dialog box and type ‘diskmgmt.msc’ in the input field. Also, press the Enter key. Next, right-click on the C: drive and select the Shrink Volume. 

You need to shrink C: drive by 300 -350 Megabytes. Hence, right-click on the System Reserved partition and tap on Expand Volume so that you can free up 300-350 Megabytes.

Once done, then reboot the device and once the computer boots up, then again try to update.

Solution 3: Turn the Local Disk C into the Active Partition

Turn the Local Disk C into the Active Partition

This is quite a simple solution. To perform the task, enter ‘diskmgmt.msc’ in the Run dialog box and hit the Enter key. Under the partition map present at the bottom of the Disk Management window, right-click on the ‘C:’.

To turn the C: drive into the active hard disk partition, click on the ‘Mark Partition as Active’ option. Reboot the system and check whether any change has been made or not.

Hope if you attempt the above three solutions successfully, then the error message ‘we couldn’t update the system reserved partition’ will not appear on the screen anymore.

Maria Colombo
Maria Colombo
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