In general, there is a Recovery partition on the system disk, whether you install Windows Server 2022 yourself or purchase the server from a manufacturer. If the system disk uses GPT, there will also be an EFI partition. When you right-click either the Recovery or EFI partition in Disk Management, options such as Delete, Format, Shrink, Extend, and others are unavailable. In some cases, you may need to move the Recovery or EFI partition in Windows Server 2022. For example, after shrinking or deleting the D: drive, the "Extend Volume" option for the C: drive may be grayed out. By moving these partitions to the right, you can then extend the C: drive. This article explains how to move the EFI/Recovery partition in Windows Server 2022 without losing data.
Windows Server 2022 cannot move EFI/Recovery partition
When you right-click an NTFS partition in the built-in Windows Disk Management tool, several options are available, such as Delete, Format, Shrink Volume, and Extend Volume. However, there is no option to move a volume. This is because Disk Management cannot change the starting position of a partition. It can only shrink a partition from right to left and extend a partition using adjacent unallocated space on the right.
There is another built-in command-line tool called DiskPart, but like Disk Management, it cannot change the starting position of a volume. Therefore, if you want to move a partition in Server 2022, you need to use disk partition software.
There are many software tools available to help move the Recovery/EFI partition in Windows Server 2022, but few are safe enough. When moving a partition, both its starting and ending positions change, and all files within the partition are relocated as well. As a result, there is a potential risk of system damage and data loss. To minimize this risk, it is important to back up your data in advance and use reliable partition management software. Compared with other tools, NIUBI Partition Editor offers features such as Virtual Mode, Cancel-at-Will, 1-Second Rollback, and Hot Clone technology to help protect both your system and data.
How to move Recovery/EFI partition in Server 2022
It is very easy to move the Recovery/EFI partition in Windows Server 2022. You only need to drag and drop on the disk map, and only a few clicks are required. For example, there are C:, Recovery, and D: partitions on the system disk. Follow the steps below to move the partition and extend the C: drive without losing data.
How to move Recovery partition in Windows Server 2022 to extend C drive:
- Download NIUBI Partition Editor, right-click the Recovery partition, and select "Resize/Move Volume". In the pop-up window, drag the middle of the partition to the right.
- Right-click the C: drive and select "Resize/Move Volume". Drag the right border to the right to merge the adjacent unallocated space.
- Click "Apply" in the top-left corner to execute the operation.
If you have shrunk the D: drive and created unallocated space on the right using Disk Management, you should move the D: drive to the right before completing the steps above. You can only extend a partition if there is adjacent unallocated space on either the left or right side of it.
Watch the video to learn how to move the Recovery partition in Windows Server 2022:
How to move EFI partition in Windows Server 2022:
You can also move the EFI partition if there is adjacent unallocated space on either side of it, and the process is the same as moving the Recovery partition. However, it is important to understand that no software can move a partition across another partition. For example, if the EFI partition is located between the C: and D: drives, no software can move it to the left of the C: drive or to the right of the D: drive. With disk partitioning software, you can shrink a partition to create unallocated space, move the partition in the middle, and then merge the unallocated space into another partition.
In addition to moving partitions in Windows Server 2022/2025 and earlier versions, NIUBI Partition Editor provides a wide range of disk partition management features. These include shrinking, extending, cloning, converting, defragmenting, hiding, optimizing, wiping partitions, and scanning for bad sectors.
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