If a partition is shrunk down to give more space in a different partition, if the unallocated space is to the “left” of the partition you want to expand, it won't work with the built-in partition programs on Windows or Ubuntu. The process will also need the use with an external program that can clone partitions to move the positioning of the partitions.

In the instance of wanting to shrink a Windows partition to expand Ubuntu, but Windows was installed on the drive first, here is how the process can resolved using the disk partition applications of the operating systems and the program CloneZilla

The safest way to resized a partition is in the individual operating systems

1. Log into Windows, and go to Disk Management
2. Once in Disk Management, select the Windows partition (default name C:)
3. Right click the partition and select Shrink Volume…
4. Input the amount of space you want to remove from the partition, and complete the prompts.
5. Once the partition has been shrunk, and the unallocated space has been created, restart the computer and boot into Ubuntu
6. Once in Ubuntu, go to either Disk or GParted (whichever you have installed or prefer)
7. Select the unallocated space and create a new ext4 partition using all of the available space.

Note: If your Ubuntu partition is larger than the new partition, you will want to shrink Ubuntu to be smaller. Ubuntu partition must be smaller than the new partition for the cloning process to work

• Once completed, shut down the computer.

To run CloneZilla, you will need the program installed on a USB thumb drive. It can be easily done by anyone using Rufus and the .iso file type install of Clonezilla. There is also a currently working CloneZilla thumb drive in IT, but we request that anyone who needs to use it stays in IT while running it.