“Extend Volume” Option Grayed Out in Windows? Try These 5 Fixes
Plus why this is happening to you
Do you want to increase the size of a volume or partition on your PC but find the “Extend Volume” option in Windows Disk Management grayed out? Learn why that happens and what you can do to fix the issue.
The Disk Management console in Microsoft Windows allows you to easily extend the size of a volume or partition on your PC. But what if the “Extend Volume” option appears grayed out?
There are a few possible causes as to why that happens. Read on to figure out how to fix the extend volume option grayed-out issue in Windows 10 and 11.
Why the “Extend Volume” Option Appears Grayed Out
The “Extend Volume” option for a hard drive or SSD in the Disk Management tool can appear grayed out due to the following reasons:
Most of the above problems occur due to limitations with Disk Management. If the following troubleshooting tips sound too complicated, you may want to skip to the section that talks about using a third-party partitioning tool to extend the size of a partition instead.
1. Create Contiguous Unallocated Space
The most common reason you see an “Extend Volume” grayed-out option in the Disk Management console on your computer is when there’s no “unallocated space” on your hard disk or SSD. That’s storage you’ve yet to format with a file system.
Even if Disk Management’s graphical representation of the disk indicates unallocated storage, the “Extend Volume” grayed out option will remain grayed out unless the space is immediately to the right of the volume you want to extend.
For example, let’s assume your computer has two partitions with theCandDdrive letters. If you want to extendCdrive, you must deleteDdrive to create unallocated drive space. Using Disk Management’s “Shrink Volume” option onDdrive won’t work becauseDdrive will act as a barrier betweenCdrive and the resulting unallocated space.
To delete a partition and create unallocated space:
The partition will then show up as unallocated space. You can then extend the volume to the left of the unallocated space without issue.
2. Delete the Recovery Partition
The presence of a recovery partition between the volume you want to extend and any unallocated space can be another reason that causes the “Extend Volume” option in Disk Management to appear grayed out.
Since the recovery partition helps you restore your computer in case something goes wrong, we advise against deleting it. But if you want to go ahead, you can delete the partition using the DiskPart command-line tool via Windows PowerShell or the Command Prompt console.
However, make sure tocreate a bootable Windows recovery USB or discinstead to protect your computer against operating system corruption and data loss.
3. Use a Compatible Format
Disk Management only allows you to extend partitions in the NTFS format (or the ReFS format if your Windows edition supports it). That isn’t an issue with the system partition because Windows only runs on NTFS partitions.
However, if you’re extending a logical partition, it could be in an unsupported format like FAT32. You can use Disk Management to format the volume in NTFS, but that will erase all data on it. So, make sure toback up everything within the partitionbefore you ahead.
You should now be able to extend the volume, assuming that there’s unallocated space to the right of the drive.
4. Convert MBR to GPT Disk
If you’re attempting to extend a partition or volume on a disk that uses theMBR (Master Boot Record) partition scheme, you might be dealing with the 2TB threshold associated with MBR disks. To fix the problem, you must convert the HDD or SSD from MBR to GPT.
If the disk is in MBR, we recommend that you follow our guide aboutconverting a disk from MBR to GPT without having to reinstall Windowsfor further instructions.
5. Use Third-Party Partition Manager
Unlike Disk Management,top third-party disk partitioning tools for Windowsare considerably better to use and offer multiple approaches to increasing partition sizes with minimum hassle. For example, theAOMEI Partition Assistant Standardis a free utility that allows you to extend a volume by merging it with other partitions and unallocated storage even if they aren’t contiguous.
AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard also lets you allocate free space from one partition to another, extend drives in formats that Disk Management usually supports, and conveniently convert disks from MBR to GPT if needed. Here are several partition operations in AOMEI that should come in handy.
However, before using a third-party partitioning tool, we recommend youback up the data on your diskbefore going ahead. That allows you to restore your data in case something goes wrong.
It’s Best to Avoid Using Disk Management
As you just saw, if the “Extend Volume” option appears grayed out in Disk Management, fixing that can be a hassle unless you use a third-party partitioning tool. Not only is the latter option better at resizing volumes but you also spend less time deleting and moving partitions.
Dilum Senevirathne is a freelance tech writer and blogger with three years of experience writing for online technology publications. He specializes in topics related to iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and Google web apps. When he isn’t hammering away at his Magic Keyboard, you can catch him binge-watching productivity hacks on YouTube.Read Dilum’s Full Bio
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