Many Windows 2012 servers have been running for a long time, and one or more partitions may become full. For the system and other special partitions, this problem cannot be solved by simply moving files. The ideal solution is to shrink another partition that has plenty of free space and allocate it to the partitions that are getting full. In some situations, you may need to shrink a large volume to create more partitions for different purposes. This article introduces how to shrink a volume in Windows Server 2012/2016/2019/2022 without losing data.
Shrink Volume Function in Windows Server
Windows Server 2012 and all subsequent versions have a built-in "Shrink Volume" function in Disk Management. It can shrink the system partition and data volumes formatted with NTFS without losing data.
How to shrink a volume in Windows Server 2012/2016/2019/2022:
Step 1: Press Windows and X together on the keyboard, then click Disk Management in the list.
Step 2: Right-click an NTFS partition and select "Shrink Volume".
Step 3: Enter an amount of space and click "Shrink" in the pop-up window.
In a short while, partition D is shrunk from 50GB to 31.04GB.
It is very easy to shrink a partition in server Disk Management; you just need several clicks. However, due to its limitations, it cannot shrink a partition in certain situations.
Cases Where You Cannot Shrink a Volume in Windows Server 2012
The D drive in the example below is blank, but in the shrinking window, Disk Management shows only 19417MB (18.96GB) of available shrink space, meaning the D drive can only be shrunk to 31.04GB.
On some servers or PCs, you cannot shrink a volume by even 1MB, which is a common issue across various Windows versions.
There is a notice in the middle of this shrinking window - "You cannot shrink a volume beyond the point where any unmovable files are located". This is the reason why the D drive cannot be shrunk to a smaller size, because there is a Page File located in it.
Unmovable files include Paging files, Hibernation files, and other large files. If any type of unmovable files are located in block 3, you cannot shrink this partition to block 2 or 1, although there is free space there.
Disk Management Cannot Shrink a Volume to Expand Another
Windows Server 2012's Shrink Volume function can only help you decrease a drive to create unallocated space for a new one. If you want to extend another drive with this unallocated space, it is impossible, although there is an Extend Volume function.
When shrinking a volume in Server 2012 Disk Management, the only option for you is entering an amount of space; you cannot specify which side to shrink from.
Disk Management can only shrink a partition to the left and generate unallocated space on the right.
As shown in the screenshot, Extend Volume is disabled for both the C and E drives after shrinking D, because Extend Volume can only merge unallocated space into the left adjacent partition. All other partitions cannot be extended.
With NIUBI Partition Editor, you can shrink a volume from either side and merge unallocated space into other partitions on the same disk.
Better Way to Shrink a Volume With Disk Partition Software
Download NIUBI Partition Editor and you'll see all disk partitions with structure and other information in the main window.
You just need to drag and drop on the disk map, and unallocated space can be created on either side.
How to shrink a partition in Windows Server 2012 using NIUBI Partition Editor:
Right-click drive D (or another one) and select "Resize/Move Volume".
Option 1: If you drag the left border to the right in the pop-up window:
Unallocated space will be created on the left side of D.
Option 2: If you drag the right border to the left in the pop-up window:
Unallocated space will be created on the right side of D.
Watch the video on how to shrink and extend a partition on Windows Server 2012 R2:
Compared with Windows Server's built-in "Shrink Volume" function, NIUBI Partition Editor has advantages such as:
- It supports both NTFS and FAT32 partitions.
- Unallocated space can be created on either side.
- It can move "unmovable" files, so it can shrink a volume to the minimum size if you want.
- Unallocated space can be merged into any contiguous or nonadjacent partitions on the same disk.
Compared with other disk partition software, NIUBI Partition Editor features unique 1-Second Rollback, Virtual Mode, Cancel-at-will, and Hot Clone technologies to protect your system and data. Besides shrinking partitions in Windows Server 2012/2016/2019/2022/2025, it helps you perform many other disk partition management operations.
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