1

I have more than 500GB free on my C: drive but Windows Disk management says that the shrink size is 0. I followed all the steps here, here, here and here but none of these solutions worked:

  • Turn off Virtual memory
  • Turn off System Restore and delete restore points
  • Turn off hibernation
  • Disable kernel memory dump

After having done all these, the shrink size remains 0.

MagTun
  • 1,378
  • 4
  • 23
  • 33
  • This occurs w/ filesystem corruption and/or with a failing drive: to check the filesystem, reboot to WinRE and run `ChkDsk C: /OfflineScanAndFix` _(running `ChkDsk` at next boot from the OS is not ideal since you're unable to immediately see the results)_. To check S.M.A.R.T. data, boot an Ubuntu live USB, install `smartmontools`, and run `smartctl -a /dev/` _(any hardware errors will be listed mid-way down)_, then run a short and long S.M.A.R.T. test: `smartctl -t short /dev/; pause 61; smartctl -t long /dev/` _(to check progress: `smartctl -a /dev/ | grep progress`)_ – JW0914 Apr 29 '21 at 14:41

1 Answers1

0

What worked for me is:

  1. Run in an Admin terminal and reboot when asked: 
    ChkDsk C: /f
  2. When done, log into Windows, wait for Windows to load, then reboot (this second boot is important)
  3. Create a Ubuntu live USB and boot it, choosing to Try Ubuntu
  4. Open Gparted and shrink your partition, which creates unallocated space
    • Don't bother creating a new volume in the unallocated, as Windows won't detect it (it didn't for me, and I had to re-create it in Disk management)
  5. Boot back to Windows and run: 
    ChkDsk C: /f


In my case, I started with Gparted, which said that there was an error and had to reboot to Windows and run chkdsk C: /f, rebooting twice when finished. I tried again to shrink the partition with Disk Management, but the size was still 0, so I rebooted to Ubuntu and Gparted was able to perform the shrink without any error.

  • Gparted is amazing and runs a test before shrinking, providing a solution to fix the detected problems
  • I'm unsure if it is linked or not, but when I tried to make a System Image a day later, there was an error on the disk, with a request to run chkdsk C: /f; after doing so, the error resolved and I could make the system image.
JW0914
  • 7,052
  • 7
  • 27
  • 48
MagTun
  • 1,378
  • 4
  • 23
  • 33
  • It looks like a corruption on your disk blocked the resize, fixed by chkdsk. Kudos to Gparted for detecting it, but at this point Disk Management could have done it as well. – harrymc Apr 28 '21 at 19:36
  • After the two reboot following the `chkdsk C: /f` I tried again to partition with `Disk Management` but the shrink size was still 0. I rebooted in Ubuntu live-USB right after that and Gparted was able to do it. – MagTun Apr 29 '21 at 05:19
  • 3
    You took a risk using a Linux utility on a Windows boot partition to force it, without finding out what was the problem for Disk Management. You got lucky, but there are enough posts here for people that destroyed their disks this way. That's why I cannot recommend your solution. – harrymc Apr 29 '21 at 08:59
  • @MagTun Windows has all the utilities necessary to fix partition issues _(`ChkDsk` and `DiskPart`, as well as `SFC` and `DISM`)_ and using Linux tools is not recommended since they can not only cause data issues, they're simply inefficient and wholly unnecessary. As to creating a system image, use `DISM` to [capture a WIM](https://superuser.com/a/1581804/529800), as the System Image functionality you're referring to _(essentially Windows Backup and Restore)_ is inefficient for a variety of reasons I explain in the first section of [this](https://superuser.com/a/1582279/529800) answer. – JW0914 Apr 29 '21 at 14:21