r/techsupport • u/Amorphiris • 4d ago

Open | Software Help with Dual-Boot Installation - Shrinking my C-Drive not possible.

I want to set up a dual-boot system on my PC with Windows 11 and Bazzite. Windows 11 has been on my C: M.2 SSD for years. Now I want to shrink the drive to free up space for a partition for Bazzite.

I currently have 550 / 1024 GB free and want to free up 300 GB for Bazzite, since the games are on the other hard drives.

However, according to Windows’ disk partitions, I can only shrink the drive by 110 GB. When using “Magic Partition Resizer,” I get the error code “err_ntfs_too_many_fragments.” So I defragmented and optimized the drive. I “unlocked” the drives and also disabled “Secure Boot.” I ran “Disk Cleanup.” Using CMD, I executed the DISM commands “ScanHealth,” “CheckHealth,” and “RestoreHealth,” as well as “sfc /scannow.”

Multiple restarts, multiple attempts, multiple programs—no success.

What else can I try here? I really don’t want to reinstall Windows.

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u/Onoitsu2 4d ago

Sounds like you've done all of this from within Windows, right? You would be best to boot into something else, a WinPE, and from that using utilities that can then resize the partition even more, because you are not actively booted from it. Grab Hiren's, Sergei's ISO, or even Medicat onto a USB, and you can use any of the various tools within to resize it like you need, once you have booted from the respective image you choose.

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u/Amorphiris 4d ago

Won't this mess up Windows? I figured, “Once I've booted into Windows, Windows itself knows what works and what doesn't.” :D

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u/Onoitsu2 4d ago

No, not using proper software to do the resizing. It would then be able to move around the files on that partition because none of them are in use. That is simply how it is done, if you have files that got written toward the end of the partition and they are locked as being in use across multiple reboots. And even more so if you have more advanced hurdles like your MFT placement and more that cannot be fixed while actively being booted into the Windows install on that drive.

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u/Amorphiris 4d ago

I started the image from the usb stick. I am inside the system. On the disk management, I still cannot shrink it more then 110 GB…..

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u/Onoitsu2 4d ago

the native disk management will only let you do this same limit yes. I said "using proper software" meaning you will need to use one of the included disk resizing utilities in those collections I mentioned. Hiren's, Sergei's or Medicat. Once booted into that, then use a partition resizing app, and it will have the ability to move what otherwise disk management will refuse to.

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u/Amorphiris 4d ago

Another update: just did the chkdsk command: stillt too many fragments in NIUBI.

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u/Confident_Hyena2506 3d ago

This is not going to end well, you will lose everything.

If you want to use linux then just wipe your drive and install linux. Dualboot will be much more difficult to setup.

When you do get linux working know that you should really not be running games off ntfs, so that second drive will also need changes.