I entered an incorrect response on installing ubuntu 14.04 and it wiped out the windows 8.1 installation and put ubuntu in a 700 gb partition with all 700 gb used (no free space)

GParted (loaded from an install/try ubuntu disk) will not let me reduce the used space or reduce the partition size. I want to reduce the ubuntu partition so I can re-install windows 8.1.

Can I do better than wiping out the whole disk and loading windows 8.1 and then re-installing ubuntu?

marvinjean

Did you actually boot from the install disk and run gparted from there? You can't shrink a mounted filesystem, so loading gparted into your installed system and running it from there isn't going to work. If you did boot the install disk and run gparted from there, I'm surprised that it wouldn't let you shrink the filesystem. What type of filesystem is it (output from "df -T" would be helpful)?

Do you want the Windows 8.1 installation back? If so, it's probably best to delete the current partitions and start over.

Tricks I use to make installations easier.

-Always partition your drive from a O.S that is already installed. Never use the installer to partition a drive.

-Always use the 'Custom' option when choosing a partition to install on. It's actually easier and less confusing. I don't even understand the non-custom choices. If it seams stupid it is stupid.

Make the partitions funky sizes so this will aid you in identifying it. Example; 55 gigs is windows and 65 is linux, etcetera. You not only have the hd?,? or sd?? to id it , but also the size as well in case you are having a bad day. It also helps if you left in a usb by mistake ,not just places but size as well.

That's interesting since a complete initial install of Ubuntu 14.04 is about 6.3GB. When you open GParted from the install disk, do you see other partitions including windows? Have you clicked the Ubuntu partition in the main window to highlight it and then unmounted it from the Partition tab before trying this. A few details on what you tried would help.

I suggest that you re-install windows 8. Update it and add in any security patches.

Then install a free virtual machine to run linux at the same time as windows.

In any event, it is usually easier to load windows first and then linux.