Windows Extend Partition Command Line
Applies To: Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows Server (Semi-Annual Channel), Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012
Extending a hard drive partition sounds like a difficult task, but luckily it's not. Here's how you can easily extend a hard drive partition in Windows 10.
You can add more space to existing primary partitions and logical drives by extending them into adjacent unallocated space on the same disk. To extend a basic volume, it must be raw (not formatted with a file system) or formatted with the NTFS file system. You can extend a logical drive within contiguous free space in the extended partition that contains it. If you extend a logical drive beyond the free space available in the extended partition, the extended partition grows to contain the logical drive.
For logical drives, and boot or system volumes, you can extend the volume only into contiguous space and only if the disk can be upgraded to a dynamic disk. For other volumes, you can extend the volume into non-contiguous space, but you will be prompted to convert the disk to dynamic.
Extending a basic volume
To extend a basic volume using the Windows interface
In Disk Manager, right-click the basic volume you want to extend.
Click Extend Volume.
Follow the on-screen instructions.
To extend a basic volume using a command line
Open a command prompt and type
diskpart.At the DISKPART prompt, type
list volume. Make note of the basic volume you want to extend.At the DISKPART prompt, type
select volume <volumenumber>. This selects the basic volume volumenumber that you want to extend into contiguous, empty space on the same disk.At the DISKPART prompt, type
extend [size=<size>]. This extends the selected volume by size in megabytes (MB).
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
| list volume | Displays a list of basic and dynamic volumes on all disks. |
| select volume | Selects the specified volume, where volumenumber is the volume number, and gives it focus. If no volume is specified, the select command lists the current volume with focus. You can specify the volume by number, drive letter, or mount point path. On a basic disk, selecting a volume also gives the corresponding partition focus. |
| extend |
|
| size=size | The amount of space, in megabytes (MB), to add to the current partition. If you do not specify a size, the disk is extended to take up all the contiguous unallocated space. |
Additional considerations
- If the disk does not contain boot or system partitions, you can extend the volume into other non-boot or non-system disks, but the disk will be converted to a dynamic disk (if it can be upgraded).
See Also
Hard drive partitions sound pretty intimidating. Just say the phrase, “Extending a Hard Drive Partition”, and you get visions of heavy-duty, under-the-hood work that requires a blowtorch and welding visor.
But it’s really not that scary and actually extremely useful. It means you can take chunks of memory out of hard drive partitions you’re not using much and put them where you really need that memory to go. I did this recently when the Windows OS partition on a computer I was working on was so full that I couldn’t install updates, and it fixed things up straight away!
Here’s how to do it.
Utilising Unallocated Space
First of all, you’ll want to assess your disk space situation by having a look in “Windows Disk Management.” To do this, click the Start button, type disk, then click “Create and format hard disk partitions.”
In the Disk Management window, you’ll see information about all your hard drives, their partitions, and how much space you have on each.
The picture shows you my Disk Management situation (and reminds me that I really need to get another hard drive). We’ll be focusing on Disk 1 where you can see that I have a large partition (F:) along with a smaller one (D:) and about 3GB of unallocated space.
We’re going to extend volume “D” from around 2GB to 20GB.
If the partition you want to extend isn’t the one on which you’ve installed Windows, then the process is simple. First, let’s pour all that unallocated space into “D.” To do this, right-click the volume you want to extend – “New Volume (D:)” in my case – and click “Extend Volume.”
Windows Extend Partition
Click through the wizard until you get to the “Select Disks” screen, then in the “Select the amount of space in MB” box, type how much space you want to add to the partition, bearing in mind the maximum available. Seeing as I have about 3GB of unallocated space on that hard drive, I’m going to put it all into the partition I want to extend.
Click “Next,” then “Finish”, and after a moment you should be back in the Disk Management window, now showing your newly expanded partition.
Moving Space from One Partition to Another
But what if you don’t have unallocated space and need to steal some storage space from another partition? No problem. You just need to shrink the volume where you want to grab some storage space, then put the newly unallocated memory into the partition you’re extending.
Right-click the volume you want to shrink (for me, that’s the sizeable “F:” volume), and click “Shrink Volume.” Enter the amount of space you want to add to your partition (15GB in my case), then click “Shrink.” You’ll return to the Disk Management screen and see a big black block of unallocated space.
Next, follow the steps under my previous heading (Utilising Unallocated Space) to add that unallocated space to the partition you’re extending.
Option to “Extend Volume” Greyed Out
If the volume you want to extend is the one on where you installed Windows, there’s a chance that you won’t be able to extend it using Disk Management because the volume is busy.
To help you through this, try the free version of MiniTool Partition Wizard. If the volume you want to extend is busy, it’ll reboot your PC, then extend it before Windows boots up.
It’s pretty simple to use. Once you’ve installed Partition Wizard and opened it, right-click the volume you want to extend, click “Extend,” choose how much space you want to add, then click “Apply” at the top left. It’ll either do it straight away or prompt you to reboot your PC so it can extend it outside of Windows.
Conclusion
It’s surprisingly easy to tinker around with hard drive partitions and reallocate space from one to another. Don’t be afraid to do it, but also don’t go overboard. Creating too many partitions could change your hard drive (with your permission) from a basic disk to a dynamic disk which will cause problems if the hard drive in question is the one on where Windows is installed.
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