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OEM Partition & How to Safely Delete it

Wondershare Recoverit Authors

Jan 27, 2024 • Filed to: Windows Computer Solutions • Proven solutions

Have you ever opened the Disk Manager tool on your laptop? If yes, then you must have come across one or multiple “Healthy OEM Partitions”. In general, these partitions are found on Dell, HP, and Lenovo laptops. Since they are present on the laptop from the beginning, many users don’t know what they mean and whether it’s safe to delete them or not.

If you’ve been getting confused after seeing OEM partitions on your laptop, continue reading. In this article, we’ll share a detailed insight into the purpose of OEM partitions and how you can delete them easily. 

Part 1: What is OEM Partition

First and foremost, let’s address the most important question - what is an OEM partition? These are basically recovery partitions that are created to help users restore their laptops to the original state in case of a system error.  These partitions are created by the manufacturer itself and contain all the essential files that’ll help you restore your laptop to its factory settings without any hassle.

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You can open the Disk Management tool to check if your PC/laptop has an OEM partition or not. In general, a new laptop always comes with a single OEM partition. However, when you update your laptop to the newer Windows OS, the system automatically creates a new OEM partition as well. That’s the reason why some users may notice multiple OEM partitions on their system as well.


Part 2: Why Should we Delete OEM Partition

Since OEM partitions are created by the manufacturer himself, many people want to know why it’s important to delete them. Well, the answer is pretty simple - ‘To expand your laptop’s storage space’. Believe it or not, but OEM partitions occupy a significant amount of space on the user’s hard drive. This means if your PC/laptop has multiple OEM partitions, there won’t be much room to save other important files.

Not to mention, multiple partitions will slow down the overall processing of your Windows OS as well. To avoid such scenarios, it’s always a good strategy to delete the OEM partitions. Apart from helping you expand your PC’s storage space, this will also speed up the entire system and you’ll be able to run multiple applications without getting interrupted.

Even from a security point of view, there’s no harm in deleting an OEM partition. This won’t affect your PC/laptop’s warranty at all. So, even if it experienced physical damage, you’ll be able to claim its warranty easily.

The only downside of deleting the OEM partition is that you won’t be able to restore your PC to the factory settings directly. Instead, you’ll need a bootable Windows USB drive or DVD to do the job. But, since it’s quite easier to find Windows ISO images, it won’t be challenging to create such bootable USB drives.


Part 3: How to Delete OEM Partition Safely

So, now that you know what are the benefits of deleting OEM Partitions, let’s check out how to delete these partitions on a Windows PC. Unlike other partitions, you won’t be able to delete an OEM partition directly. Even if you right-click on the partition, you’ll notice that the “Delete” option doesn’t work. So, what’s the next best thing to delete the unnecessary OEM partitions?

The answer is DISKPART. For people who don’t know, DISKPART is an official system utility that’s tailored to help users manage the partitions on an internal hard drive. You can use DISKPART to add and remove different partitions from your PC.

However, DISKPART can only be accessed via CMD. So, if you don’t have worked with Command Line Interface before, it would be better to stick to a third-party tool to get the job done.

Anyhow, here’s how you can delete an OEM partition via CMD with Diskaprt.

Step 1 - On your Windows laptop/PC, open the Cortana search box and type CMD. Right-click the first search result and select “Run as Administrator” to launch CMD as the admin.

Step 2 - Type “Diskpart” and press enter to launch the Diskpart utility.

Step 3 - Now, type “List Disk” and press enter. Diskpart will list all the disks connected to your system.

Step 4 - Then, type “Select Disk 1” to choose the disk on which you want to delete the partitions.

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Step 5 - Now, type “List Partitions” to list all the partitions on the selected disk.

Step 6 - Again, type “Select partition x” (replace X with the letter of the partition) to select the partition that you want to delete.

Step 7 - Finally, type “Delete Partition Override” to delete the selected partition. Type “Exit” to exit DISKPART.

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That’s it; the selected partition will be deleted permanently. You can now merge it with other partitions to expand the overall storage space on your PC.  

You may also like: Know More About Android Partitions


Conclusion

So, that’s how you can delete OEM Partitions on a Windows laptop. If you’ve been planning to expand your hard drive’s storage, deleting OEM partitions will help. It doesn’t matter if you own an HP, Lenovo, or Dell laptop, the above method will help you delete the OEM partition instantly. 


People Also Ask

What happens if I delete the OEM Partition?

When you delete an OEM partition, it’ll be marked as available and you’ll be able to merge it with other partitions. However, once the OEM partition is deleted, you won’t be able to directly restore your Windows system to factory settings. You’ll need a special bootable WIndows disk to do the job.

Is it safe to Delete OEM Partitions?

Deleting an OEM partition is completely safe. Whether you delete the partition using Command Prompt or a third-party tool, it won’t cause any damage to your PC’s performance. Deleting the partition will only expand your hard drive’s storage space and speed up the overall processing.

Can OEM Partition Delete?

Yes, you can easily delete the OEM partition. If you don’t need to restore your PC, you can easily delete the OEM partition using the DISKPART utility. To do this, all you have to do is launch the command prompt and execute the right DISKPART commands.

Recoverit author

Theo Lucia

chief Editor

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