Expand and shrink volumes with Disk Management

This article shows you how to expand or shrink a disk volume by using Disk Management on Windows® servers.

Access Disk Management

1. Log in to the server connected to the disk of the volume you want to expand.

2. Click Start > Run.

3. Enter diskmgmt.msc in the box and click OK or use Windows search to search for Disk Management.

Expand a volume

Note: The additional disk space must be adjacent to the volume you want to expand.

1. Locate the volume you want to expand in the list. Alternatively, use the graphical version at the bottom of the window.

2. Right-click the volume and choose Extend Volume to open the Extend Volume Wizard.

3. On the Welcome screen, click Next.

4. Select the disk that contains the additional space you’d like to add to the volume in the Available column and click Add.

5. Select the amount of space, in megabytes, you would like to add to the volume. You can choose an amount of space to add up to the amount listed next to Maximum available space in MB.

6. Click Next to proceed.

7. Click Finish to finalize the changes shown on the confirmation page.

Shrink a volume

1. Locate the volume you want to shrink in the list. Alternatively, use the graphical version at the bottom of the window.

2. Right-click the volume and choose Shrink Volume.

3. Select the amount of space, in megabytes, you’d like to remove from the volume. You can choose an amount of space up to the amount listed next to Size of available shrink space in MB.

4. Click Shrink to finalize the changes shown. The total size of the disk after the shrink completes is listed next to Total size after shrink in MB.