New partitions may appear in File Explorer after installing the Windows 10 April 2018 Update (version 1803)

Anonymous
2018-05-05T00:04:15+00:00

After installing the April 2018 Update to upgrade to Windows 10 version 1803, a new partition appears in File Explorer.  I’m also constantly getting warnings that the partition is low in space, and there are no options to delete this partition.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Files, folders, and storage

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Anonymous
2018-05-05T00:35:03+00:00

Microsoft is aware that previously-hidden partitions are improperly being assigned drive letters after installing the April 2018 Update.  As a result, they now appear in Disk Management and File Explorer.  These partitions are typically recovery partitions used by the Windows Recovery Environment or by the Original Equipment Manufacturer.  It is not recommended that you attempt to delete or reformat these partitions as this may have adverse effects on your ability to recover Windows.  Microsoft is currently working to address the issue in a future Windows Update, and we’ll update this thread when a solution becomes available. 

(Update 5/14/18: The solution that will soon be released via Windows Update will only prevent this issue from occurring for devices that install the April 2018 Update after the solution is released.  If you've already installed the April 2018 Update and are experiencing this issue, you'll need to follow the steps below if you want to hide these partitions.)

(Updated 7/24/18 to provide a simpler solution.)

Although you may safely ignore previously hidden partitions, you can hide them again by removing the partition’s assigned drive letter.

1.  Select the Start  button, type cmd, select and hold (or right-click) Command Prompt in the list of results, and then choose Run as administrator.

2.  In the Administrator: Command Prompt window, type the following command, where [drive letter] is the drive letter you want to remove, then press Enter.

mountvol [drive letter] /d

3.  The drive letter will no longer appear in File Explorer and Disk Management. You may close the command prompt window. 

________________________________

The original solution using diskpart is provided below:

1. Select the Start button, type cmd and then right-click Command Prompt in the search results and select Run as administrator.

2. In the Administrator:  Command Prompt window, type diskpart and press Enter.

3. Type list volume and press Enter.

4. Make note of the volume number for the drive letter you want to remove.  For example, if the drive letter you want to remove is Drive “G”, note the volume number for Drive G.

5. Type the following command, and press Enter

 select volume**<volume number>**

When typing this command, in place of <volume number>, substitute the volume number you made note of in Step 4.   In the example above, if the volume number for drive G is 5, you would type: select volume****5

6. Type the following command and press Enter.

remove letter= <drive letter>

When typing this command, in place of <drive letter>, substitute the drive letter you want to remove.  In this example, you would type: **remove letter=**G

7. Close the Command Prompt window.

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Anonymous
2018-06-13T01:11:00+00:00

The cure is what Tiero Chi posted. It is marked as the answer. For neatness sake...

(a) Insert Step 6.5 - Exit - to leave DiskPart.

(b) If you've got a CD_ROM & its letter was pushed from D: to E:,

     use Disk Management to change it back as I posted on page 8.

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-06-04T03:30:24+00:00

    Well, I seem to have it in C:\Windows\System32\Recovery. It looks smaller in File Explorer, but is the right size & date looking at it in a Command Prompt...

    C:\WINDOWS\system32>dir C:\Windows\System32\Recovery\WinRE.wim

    Volume in drive C is PCR Hard

       Volume Serial Number is F4D4-2928

    Directory of C:\Windows\System32\Recovery

    05/01/2018  02:56 AM       443,658,893 Winre.wim

    1 File(s)    443,658,893 bytes

                   0 Dir(s)  958,746,476,544 bytes free

    Here it is in my Recovery partition (as posted on page 1)...

    Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.17134.1]

    (c) 2018 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

    C:\WINDOWS\system32>DIR R:\ /a /s                      << I put the letter R:\ on it.

     Volume in drive R has no label.

     Volume Serial Number is 9AB3-01BA

    Directory of R:\

    05/01/2018  02:59 AM    <DIR>          Recovery

    05/06/2018  02:58 PM    <DIR>          System Volume Information

                   0 File(s)              0 bytes

    Directory of R:\Recovery

    05/01/2018  02:59 AM    <DIR>          .

    05/01/2018  02:59 AM    <DIR>          ..

    05/06/2018  02:03 PM    <DIR>          Logs

    05/06/2018  06:00 PM    <DIR>          WindowsRE

                   0 File(s)              0 bytes

    Directory of R:\Recovery\Logs

    05/06/2018  02:03 PM    <DIR>          .

    05/06/2018  02:03 PM    <DIR>          ..

    05/06/2018  06:00 PM             1,355 Reload.xml

                   1 File(s)          1,355 bytes

    Directory of R:\Recovery\WindowsRE

    05/06/2018  06:00 PM    <DIR>          .

    05/06/2018  06:00 PM    <DIR>          ..

    04/11/2018  07:34 PM         3,170,304 boot.sdi

    05/06/2018  06:00 PM             1,110 ReAgent.xml

    05/01/2018  02:56 AM       443,658,893 Winre.wim            << That's the date of my upgrade

                   3 File(s)    446,830,307 bytes

    Total Files Listed:

                   4 File(s)    446,831,662 bytes

                  10 Dir(s)     362,561,536 bytes free

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-06-04T00:30:38+00:00

    I cannot readily find the deleted WinRe.wim file in a Recycle Bin.  Possibly I am not looking correctly. How would I find the relevant  Recycle Bin?

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-06-03T23:28:47+00:00

    I was having the same problem as described in the original question here. Before reading that question and answer, I found the content of the new partition on E: using TreeSize Free. Then I deleted WinRe.wim, which solved my problem with low space warnings, but which I now realize was not the correct fix. (I also thought that there was an additional copy of WinRe.wim on my regular C:, but that turned not to be the correct version).

    My question is how do I now recover and reinstall WinRE.wim?

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