How to Delete EFI System Partition in Windows 10/8.1/8/7/XP/Vista

Usually, you can easily delete a partition in Disk Management. But sometimes, you can't remove EFI system partition in Windows 10/8.1/8/7/XP/Vista because "Delete Volume" feature is grayed out.

And you may encounter a similar situation when you trying to delete OEM partition, recovery partitions, system reserved partition. This page will talk about what is an EFI system partition and how to remove, deleted or format EFI system partition in Windows 10/8.1/8/7/XP/Vista. 

What is an EFI system partition and why you cannot delete it

Usually, when you successfully install Windows OS on a GPT disk of your computer, an EFI system partition (ESP for short) will be created. But what is an EFI system partition? 

According to Wikipedia, "EFI system partition (ESP) is a partition on a data storage device which is used computers. When a computer is booted, UEFI firmware loads files stored on the ESP(EFI system partition) to start installed the operating system and various utilities."

Deleting EFI system partition will cause installed systems unbootable. So, EFI system partition is usually protected and locked by the Windows operating systems to prevent and avoid accidental deletion of these partitions. That's why you can't delete EFI partition using the Disk Management tool.

But in some special situation, for example, you've installed two Windows systems on your PC, you might want to remove EFI system partition to free up some disk space and just keep one OS. At this moment, how can you delete EFI system partition? Actually, there are two ways to do this job. 

If you just want to remove EFI system partition and install a new Windows OS, you can directly reinstall Windows OS and EFI system partition will be removed automatically. You don't have to any extra operation.

Method 1. Delete EFI system partition with Diskpart

As a command line utility, DiskPart is a little bit harder for average users to understand due to its non-graphical interface. So please be very careful when you want to delete EFI partition with Diskpart command line:

Step 1. Open DiskPart

1. 1. Hit "Windows Key + R" to open the run dialogue box.
2. 2. Enter diskpart and click "OK" to open a black command prompt window.

Step 2. Change EFI system partition ID and set it as a data partition

Type the below command lines and hit Enter each time:

• "list disk"  (It displays all the disks of your computer. )
• "sel disk 0" (It identifies which disk you need to work with. Here 0 stands for the disk letter.)
• "list partition" (It displays all partitions and EFI system partitions on the selected disk.)
• "sel partition 1" (Select the EFI partition that you want to delete. Here, 1 stands for the volume number of EFI.)
• "SET ID=ebd0a0a2-b9e5-4433-87c0-68b6b72699c7"

Step 3. Delete EFI partition with command line

Type the below command lines and hit Enter each time:

• "list partition"  (It displays all the volumes on the hard drive.) 
• "select partition 1" (It identifies which partition you want to remove. Here 1 stands for the volume letter.)
• "delete partition override" (It removes the EFI partition from Windows disk.) 

Step 4. Complete EFI deleting process

Finally, type "exit" to close the windows when you receive the message says, 'DiskPart successfully deleted the selected partition'.

Method 2. How to delete EFI partition with EaseUS free partition manager

DiskPart does help you remove EFI partition in Windows, but is it the best choice? Of course not. As a command line utility, DiskPart is a little bit harder for average users to understand due to its non-graphical interface.

So we recommend you try EaseUS free partition manager. This program makes EFI partition deleting the job in Windows 10/8.1/8/7/XP/Vista as easy as 1-2-3. Now you can learn the detailed guide.

Note: Before you take actions, create a bootable disk first.

 

Step 1: Install and launch EaseUS Partition Master on PC

On the main window, right-click on the hard drive partition which you want to delete and select "Delete".

Step 2: Confirm the deletion

Click "OK" to confirm that you want to delete the selected partition.

Step 3: Execute to delete the partition

Click the "Execute Operation" button at the top corner and keep all changes by clicking "Apply".

Final Word

When you've successfully deleted EFI partition on your PC, you can create a new partition and use it as a data partition to save data again.