Shrink Volume or Partition in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Help Forums (2025)

How to Shrink a Volume or Partition in Windows 10

In Windows, you can decrease the space used by primary partitions and logical drives by shrinking them into adjacent, contiguous unallocated space on the same disk. This unallocated space could then be used to create a new simple volume (partition) on the disk.

This tutorial will show you different ways on how to shrink a volume or partition on a basic disk in Windows 10.

You must be signed in as an administrator to shrink a volume or partition.

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Contents

Option One: Shrink Volume or Partition on Disk in Disk Management
Option Two: Shrink Volume or Partition on Disk in Command Prompt
Option Three: Shrink Volume or Partition on Disk in PowerShell
Option Four: Shrink Volume or Partition on Disk in Settings

OPTION ONE

Shrink Volume or Partition on Disk in Disk Management

1 Open the Win+X menu, and click/tap on Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc).

2 Right click or press and hold on the partition/volume (ex: "D") you want to shrink, and click/tap on Shrink Volume. (see screenshot below)

If Shrink Volume is grayed out, then it is not supported for the partition/volume.

3 Type in how many MB you want to shrink the partition/volume by, and click/tap on Shrink. (see screenshot below)

You can compare the given Size of available shrink and Total size after shrink to help determine the amount of space you want to shrink this partition/volume by.

You can only shrink a partition/volume if it has enough free space.

1024 MB = 1 Gb
1024 GB = 1 TB

4 If successful, you can now create a New Simple Volume with the Unallocated space if you like. (see screenshot below)

OPTION TWO

Shrink Volume or Partition on Disk in Command Prompt

1 Open an elevated command prompt or command prompt at boot.

2 Type the commands below one at a time into the command prompt, and press Enter after each command. Make note of the volume number (ex: "4") of the drive letter (ex: "D") you want to shrink. (see screenshot below)

diskpart

list volume

3 Type the commands below one at a time into the command prompt, and press Enter after each command. Make note of the maximum number of reclaimable bytes (ex: "1427659" MB) that you can shrink by. (see screenshot below)

select volume <number>

shrink querymax

Substitute <number> in the top command above with the actual volume number (ex: "4") you want to shrink from step 2 above.

For example: select volume 4

4 Type the command below you want to use into the command prompt, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

(To shrink by maximum size allowed)
shrink

(To shrink by specified size)
shrink desired=<size in MB>

Substitute <size in MB> in the command above with the actual size in MB (ex: "71680") you want to shrink the partition/volume (ex: "D") by. You will not be able to shrink the partition/volume more than the maximum number of reclaimable bytes given from step 3 above.

1024 MB = 1 Gb
1024 GB = 1 TB

For example: shrink desired=71680

5 When finished, you can close the elevated command prompt, or create a New Simple Volume with the unallocated space if you like.

OPTION THREE

Shrink Volume or Partition on Disk in PowerShell

To see more usage options for the Resize-Partition command, see: Resize-Partition - Microsoft Docs

1 Open an elevated PowerShell.

2 Type the Get-Partition command into the elevated PowerShell, press Enter, and make note of the drive letter (ex: "D") of the partition/volume you want to shrink on a disk. (see screenshot below)

3 Type the command below into the elevated PowerShell, and press Enter. Make note of the supported SizeMin (minimum size) and SizeMax (maximum size) in bytes to resize the partition/volume. (see screenshot below)

Get-PartitionSupportedSize -DriveLetter <Drive Letter>

Substitute <Drive Letter> in the command above with the actual drive letter (ex: "D") you want to resize from step 2 above.

For example: Get-PartitionSupportedSize -DriveLetter D

4 Type the command below you want to use into the elevated PowerShell, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

(To shrink by size in Bytes)
Resize-Partition -DriveLetter "<Drive Letter>" -Size <Size>

(To shrink by size in KB)
Resize-Partition -DriveLetter "<Drive Letter>" -Size <Size>KB

(To shrink by size in MB)
Resize-Partition -DriveLetter "<Drive Letter>" -Size <Size>MB

(To shrink by size in GB)
Resize-Partition -DriveLetter "<Drive Letter>" -Size <Size>GB

(To shrink by size in TB)
Resize-Partition -DriveLetter "<Drive Letter>" -Size <Size>TB

Substitute <Drive Letter> in the command above with the actual drive letter (ex: "D") you want to resize from step 2 above.

Substitute

<Size> in the command above with the actual size (ex: "1327" in GB) you want to resize the partition/volume (ex: "D") by. You will not be able to resize the partition/volume more than the supported SizeMin (minimum size) and SizeMax (maximum size) given from step 3 above.

The left over space (SizeMax-resize) after resizing the partition/volume will be how much you shrink the partition/volume by for the unallocated space.

1000 Bytes = 1 KB
1024 KB = 1 MB
1024 MB = 1 Gb
1024 GB = 1 TB

For example: Resize-Partition -DriveLetter "D" -Size 1327GB

5 When finished, you can close the elevated PowerShell, or create a New Simple Volume with the unallocated space if you like.

OPTION FOUR

Shrink Volume or Partition on Disk in Settings

This option is only available starting with Windows 10 build 20197.

1 Open Settings, and click/tap on the System icon.

2 Click/tap on Storage on the left side, and click/tap on the Manage Disks and Volumes link on the right side. (see screenshot below)

3 Expand open the disk (ex: "Disk 2") that contains the volume or partition you want to shrink the size of. (see screenshot below)

4 Click/tap on the volume or partition (ex: drive "F") you want to shrink the size of of, and click/tap on Properties. (see screenshot below)

5 Click/tap on the Change size button under the Size section. (see screenshot below)

6 Type in a New size in MB (ex: 512) you want for this volume or partition (ex: drive "F") that is lower than the Current size (ex: 1025 MB), and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

You must enter a New size in MB at least the same size as the Min size to as much as the Max size shown for this volume or partition (ex: drive "F").

The New size (ex: 512 MB) you enter here will be deducted from the Current size (ex: 1025 MB).

7 You can now create a New Simple Volume with the Unallocated space (ex: 513 MB) on the disk if you like. (see screenshot below)

This unallocated space (ex: 513 MB) on the disk (ex: "Disk 2") includes the left over space after deducting the New size (ex: 512 MB) from the Current size (ex: 1025 MB).

8 You can now close Settings if you like.

That's it,
Shawn Brink