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I have Windows 10 systems installed on 60GB SSD. There is Reboot Restore installed. I'm unable to update Windows. Too small disc. I tried with an external disc, but it looks like Windows don't know about external disc space while rebooting (weird). I tried to save disc image using Clonezilla and then copy it on 120 GB disc. There I have the Boot partition and C partition and some free space (50 GB~). Now I want to resize system partition using free space. I'm unable to do this by Windows 10 disc management (happy blue screen).

I used GParted to resize C. In GParted I see resized C partition. In Disc Management View I also see resized C partition. My Computer partition is still not changed.

GParted shows resized partition, same Windows 10 Disc Management, but this partition remains unchanged. What can I do in that case to extend my system partition?

Right now Reboot Restore is disabled. I just mention if it makes some mess on the system partition.

I have administrative rights.

Here is the Disc Management view

Whole disc is just a fresh, new copy of disc image (not affected by any other software). After I try resize C partition I get blue screen: UNEXPECTED STORE EXCEPTION or blue screen: CRITICAL PROCESS DIED. Defragmentation is done.

Ahmed Ashour
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Pochmurnik
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  • Let us continue this discussion in chat. – Pochmurnik Oct 26 '18 at 12:40
  • Questions: (1) Why are you using GParted and not a product that works better with Windows? (2) Why are you trying to change your boot drive size when Reboot Restore is supposed to undo all changes? – harrymc Oct 26 '18 at 16:42
  • I tried Disc Management, Mini Tool Partition Wizard, AOMEI, EaseUs, I tried create D partition during Windows installation process. And nothing. Then someone suggested me GParted and GParted did something. Reboot Restore is disabled for system partition resizing (I mentioned about it in Edit1). – Pochmurnik Oct 27 '18 at 05:34

3 Answers3

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Windows has the bad habit of placing essential Windows files at the end and the middle of the system disk. These files are unmovable, probably because Windows addresses them directly by sector-number. The Windows Disk Management knows not to move them, but Linux applications will move them in order to resize the disk, in effect breaking Windows.

If that has already happened to your Windows partition, then no amount of resizing and no application can restore Windows to a working order. The only solution will be to reinstall Windows from a boot media. The best case will be if the installation will detect the disk partition as a Windows installation and just do an upgrade to itself. In all cases, backup first all your files from the Windows partition when booting in Linux.

If in the future you would like to shrink the Windows partition, you should first disable the page-file and swap space, then defragment the disk to move all sectors to its begining, and resize only using Disk Management. Return the above after the resize.

harrymc
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  • I have whole disc image on external disc. I will try defragmentation on Monday. My bad... I should write "make C partition bigger" instead of "resize using free space". In Disc Management I see that C has 120 GB (this is what I want), but in My Computer I see C has only 55 (not what I want). But, I will try defragmentation first. – Pochmurnik Oct 27 '18 at 10:08
  • How have you taken the disk image? If it wasn't taken with a utility that can restore to a different partition size, then I suggest returning the partitioning to the old order, restoring the image to its place, then resizing it as indicated above. – harrymc Oct 27 '18 at 10:10
  • I copied 60GB disk using Clonezilla and then moved image (also using Clonezilla) to 120 GB disc. And now I want make C partition bigger using that free space. – Pochmurnik Oct 27 '18 at 10:16
  • Don't use Linux utilities to resize Windows - you're playing with fire. Resize the partition to what it was before, leaving the following space unallocated, return the image, verify it boots, and resize from within Windows. – harrymc Oct 27 '18 at 11:39
  • So, copy image from 60 GB disc to 120 GB (using Clonezilla) and then resize C partition (make it bigger) using Disc Management? – Pochmurnik Oct 27 '18 at 12:12
  • Copy image from 60 GB disc to 60 GB followed by unallocated 60 GB, boot Windows, resize. – harrymc Oct 27 '18 at 12:22
  • Yes, I copied to 60 GB disc with another 60 GB unallocated. And after booting Windows I can't resize C partition to 120 GB (using Disc Management) or even create new D partition. – Pochmurnik Oct 27 '18 at 12:32
  • What errors are you getting? – harrymc Oct 27 '18 at 14:21
  • Blue screen: UNEXPECTED STORE EXCEPTION – Pochmurnik Oct 29 '18 at 07:47
  • I don't see another solution than to use a Windows 10 boot media to re-install Windows. If you are lucky, the installation will detect the existing Windows partition and just do and "upgrade" to itself, also re-creating the essential files that GParted has destroyed. – harrymc Oct 29 '18 at 09:46
  • Using Clonezilla I again restored to clean image. So disc is not touched by GParted or any other soft. Just defragmentation and Disc Management. – Pochmurnik Oct 29 '18 at 09:52
  • Any other idea how to update Windows 10 on too small disc? – Pochmurnik Oct 29 '18 at 11:55
  • I have no idea what went wrong with your image of the system disk. I do have an idea how GParted could destroy the disk, but this doesn't help. I think the way for you to advance is to save your data and re-install Windows from scratch on a 120 GB partition created by GParted, or delete and let Windows installation create it. Some destruction cannot be fixed. – harrymc Oct 29 '18 at 17:17
  • I copied 60 GB disc image on external disc, then moved image from external disc on 120 GB and THEN used GParted (and many other things). Everytime system partition C completely crashed I restored system image from external disc to 120 GB. I still have original image (not touched by anything) on external disc. Right now I don't even need this to work (would be of course great, but not necessary), but I'm just curious. – Pochmurnik Oct 29 '18 at 17:32
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    I'm curious too, but in all the years I have been answering on this site, when Windows is destroyed there is almost never a clear reason or a clear fix. Windows is quite fragile in that sense, as you can easily see on our site. – harrymc Oct 29 '18 at 17:36
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You can use Gparted tool for solve the problem. The problem and the solution is here: https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/working-around-windows-vistas-shrink-volume-inadequacy-problems/

and the steps using Gparted here: https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/using-gparted-to-resize-your-windows-vista-partition/

I had the same problem with my Windows 10 installation and I was able to solve it with Gparted. Previously I've tried with PerfectDisk and UltraDefrag (boot time defrag) without succesful.

Rogelio Prieto
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  • I don't remember how I solved this problem, later I had similar problem with resizing. It took me a lot of time and a lot of tries. At the end (before reinstalling Windows) I uninstalled Reboot Restore. And that was it, resizing worked like a charm. So my advice, ALWAYS uninstall Reboot Restore (not only disable) before mixing with partitions. – Pochmurnik Mar 15 '21 at 06:23
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In case of resizing windows partition disabling Reboot Restore is not enough. It must be uninstalled. After that there is no problem with resizing partition even if it is followed by any other partition.

Programs that help in resizing windows partitions (I restored system 3 times and tested them one after another):

  • MiniTool Partition Wizard 11 (12 has less free options so consider to download 11 as quick as possible)
  • EaseUs Partition Master (has only couple free options)
  • AOMEI Partition Assistant 7

A lot of people recommend GParted, but before uninstalling Reboot Restore it was the cause of blue screens.

But I will listen to this opinion by harrymc: "Don't use Linux utilities to resize Windows - you're playing with fire."

Pochmurnik
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