How to Shrink a Volume in Windows 2012

This might seem a bit easy for most readers, but some of you may have noticed that the new File and Storage Manager in the Widows 2012 Server Manager is missing something.

Notice that there is a option to extend a volume, but none to shrink on. Not a problem. You can still you the Diskpart to shrink a via command line. The Disk Manager graphical tool from Windows Server 2008 is also still available. Just press the Windows key. Type Disk and click Settings. Now, click Create and format hard disk partitions.

Right click the volume that you want to shrink and click Shrink Volume

Enter the amount of space that you want to shrink.

You may or may not get the amount that you want. For best results, defrag the volume before attempting to shrink it.

Comments

ravin said…

Thank you use full post.

June 6, 2013 at 3:00 AM

Unknown said…

After attempting the steps you mentioned, I'm getting an error message stating that there isn't enough free space to complete the process. I have only 164Gb used and was attempting to shrink to 230GB. What might cause this error?

June 13, 2014 at 9:08 AM

Jason Yoder, MCT said…

Do a defrag on the disk first. If data is in the area to be shrunk, it will not work.

March 17, 2015 at 2:59 PM

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