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Usual Windows stuff, which is why Partion Magic has worked so well for myself on Windows 10 etc. (not server)
FYI:
there are basically 3 situations that “Extend Volume” does not work:
- The partition the users want to extend is not a NTFS partition. Microsoft says extending volume feature in Disk Management only works to a raw or NTFS partition.
- There is no unallocated or free space on hard disk or the space is not contiguous and after the partition which needs extending.
- Users want to extend a primary partition/logical partition, but there is just a free space/unallocated space right after the target partition.
So you are in the situation 3 I think. in this case, you need to move the free space out of extended partition. In Disk Management, you can delete all the logical partitions and then the free space will become unallocated space, which can be used to extend primary partition.
Problem: as you have said.
The option to extend “is only available when there is contiguous unallocated space behind (next to)the volume which you want to extend.
Solution: the long version
‘Why need to move unallocated space outside extended partition?’
An extended partition exists on master boot record (MBR) disks. On an MBR disk, you can have 4 primary partitions or 3 primary partitions and 1 extended partition. Within the extended partition, you can create many logical partitions as you need. The only limit to the number of logical partitions is the available drive letters that you can use. If there is unallocated space within the extended partition as shown in the screenshot below, you cannot use it to extend or create a primary partition with Windows built-in utility Disk Management, though you only have 1 or 2 primary partitions.
Actually, free space is different from unallocated space. When you delete a logical drive, you will get free space while you will get unallocated space after deleting a primary partition. The unallocated can only be used to extend an adjacent primary partition on its left side while the free space can only be used to extend the adjacent logical drive on its left side. Namely, even if there is free space adjacent to a primary partition, you cannot add it into the primary partition, not to mention that they are not neighboring just like the above pic. In such a case, you need to move unallocated outside extended partition in order to extend or create a primary partition.
How to move unallocated space from extended partition?
However, Disk Management doesn’t have the ability to move partition, so you need to delete all the extended partitions, namely all the logical partitions before you can extend or create a primary partition. If you don’t want to delete any partitions or drives, you can try third-party partition software: AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard etc. It allows you to move free space outside extended partition without data loss. If you want to create a new primary partition, just use the Move Partition feature.
For some reason, windows server 2022 and others creates a 4th partition named recovery partition after the primary partition, making it hard to extend the primary partition.
Keep it Simple: (KIS)
Easiest option to keep recovery partition is to find a ‘free’ tool to do the job and as I understand it, if you delete the recovery partition, this could impact / stop future updates
In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom (J.G.Ballard).
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I use minitool partition wizard to do such jobs on Windows PC.
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