Latest Working Fix for Cannot Shrink a Volume Beyond the Point Where Any Unmovable Files Are Located
On my portable notebook, I'm attempting to reduce C so that I can install Windows 11 Preview. Due to the issue in the title, Disk Management won't shrink at all. I tried to disable Hibernation, System Restore, Virtual Paging File, and Disk Cleanup. Then, I used Partition Wizard, which was previously able to accomplish this with a boot disk. Is there any method that can resolve it?
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Roxanne· Answered on Dec 20, 2023
Before taking any action to fix this "cannot shrink the volume in the Disk Management" problem, I will explain why it will happen. Windows system will not allow users to shrink the C drive since essential system files are stored at the end of the partition. The most common solution is to disable Hibernation, the Virtual Paging file and the System Restore features in Windows.
Since this method does not work, I recommend you use the partition management expert - EaseUS Partition Master. This software can break Windows restrictions and safely shrink your C drive with its "Resize/Move" feature.
Step 1. Enter the "Partition Manager" section of EaseUS Partition Master, right-click on the C drive, and select "Resize/Move."
Step 2. Control the shrink size with your mouse, or set the partition size in the box and click "OK" to confirm.
Step 3. Click the "Execute Task" > "Apply" to save all changes.
Or, your hard drive uses the incorrect file system, like FAT32, that the Windows system won't support. In this case, you can use EaseUS Partition Master to convert FAT32 to NTFS effortlessly. Here are the quick steps:
Step 1. In the Partition Manager, right-click the C drive of the FAT32 file system and click "Advanced" to choose "NTFS to FAT."
Step 2. Click "Proceed" in the pop-up windows and click "Apply" to wait for the end of the shrink process.
Then, your C drive will be changed to the NTFS file system, and you can reshrink in the Windows Disk Management tool. You may also like the related article as follows:
Read More: Fix Unable to Shrink C Drive on Windows 11/10/8/7
