Shrink space needed to dual boot? picture of my partitions attached.

tuneum · 02-01-2021, 04:23 PM

I'm trying to dual boot linux mint with windows 10, and the tutorials I'm reading recommend a minimum partition shrink space of 20,000 is needed. this is a new laptop, and I have dual-booted on a much crappier laptop in the past, so I can't imagine I really am unable to dual boot

picture of my partitions:

https://imgur.com/gallery/12wHE6S

syg00 · 02-01-2021, 04:40 PM

It's nothing to do with the specs of the machine - Windows has files it designates as unmoveable as the message says. These can be allocated more or less randomly. If one is in the section you want to shrink, Windows will refuse to allow it - again, as the message says.
Some times you can convince Windows to re-arrange its files - defrag, disk cleanup - in the past you could delete the swap file which was a big problem, then reallocate it later; don't know if that is still applicable.
gparted will generally do a better job, but some don't like to risk potentially upsetting Windows. I've even used the Windows backup tool to create a system image, and re-installed Windows with a preallocated (smaller) C: partition. All this because Microsoft are being bloody-minded.

Emerson · 02-01-2021, 04:58 PM

Off topic somewhat. Haven't used Windows in 18 years, got curious. What file is so important for Windows it cannot be moved? In Linux when you use Lilo then kernel image cannot be moved or Lilo will lose it. But nowadays in particular with UEFI everything can be moved around. What happens when Windows filesystem (and partition) has been shrunk using external tools? It will refuse to boot?

tuneum · 02-01-2021, 05:27 PM

Could someone help me dual boot? how do i proceed?

tuneum · 02-01-2021, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by syg00

It's nothing to do with the specs of the machine - Windows has files it designates as unmoveable as the message says. These can be allocated more or less randomly. If one is in the section you want to shrink, Windows will refuse to allow it - again, as the message says.
Some times you can convince Windows to re-arrange its files - defrag, disk cleanup - in the past you could delete the swap file which was a big problem, then reallocate it later; don't know if that is still applicable.
gparted will generally do a better job, but some don't like to risk potentially upsetting Windows. I've even used the Windows backup tool to create a system image, and re-installed Windows with a preallocated (smaller) C: partition. All this because Microsoft are being bloody-minded.

Thank you for your comment. Is there anything I can do in order to successfully dual boot with Windows 10? I'm a real noob, so I'm not really sure how to go about doing this. I did install gparted, and now I see a drive type CDFS with 369 MB space and 0 MB free space; can I use that?

Thanks ,,

Tuneum

syg00 · 02-01-2021, 06:10 PM

In which system did you install gparted ?. It is a graphical partition program that can be used like the Windows one to adjust partitions. You can use text boxes to type sizes into like you did, or use the mouse to move the edge of partitions around to be automatically adjusted.
You should see all your partitions if installed in Linux. A better option might be to download the stand-alone iso and burn it to a USB - that way you are sure nothing is using the partitions.

computersavvy · 02-01-2021, 09:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tuneum

Could someone help me dual boot? how do i proceed?

Start by running the windows disk manager and "optimize" the drive. This will essentially defrag it and move files closer together. Also look at the amount of data actually on the drive to see if it is nearly full or not.
Once the defrag is done then try to shrink it again.

I also would recommend that you try to recover at least 50G of free space if possible. You don't want to run out of space for linux real soon and 20G will do so quickly