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GParted screenshot with partitions and error message "Could not unmount"

I want to reduce the size of the /home partition, so I need to unmount it. How can I do it using GParted?

What type of file system is better for accessing both Windows and Linux?

Matthias Braun
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Md. Mony
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  • Welcome to Ask Ubuntu. Please use one question at a time. Your second question is primarily opinion based, and likely to be closed if asked as a separate question. – user68186 May 24 '18 at 15:50
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    I think you would have to enable root then login as root... if you are logged in as a user your home folder will always be in use. or you can boot from live USB and use gparted there maybe? – Joshua Besneatte May 24 '18 at 16:02
  • You can access NTFS on Ubuntu, just run: sudo apt install ntfs-3g – user8292439 May 24 '18 at 17:42
  • what will be the better option using ntfs or fat32 – Md. Mony May 24 '18 at 18:00
  • Obvious, but you cannot use NTFS or Fat32 for /home. Use Live USB to reduce /home. P.S. I never use extended for /home or swap, so I have never reduced them with Live USB. ExFAT is dangerous with Linux! If you intentionally or accidentally do a filesystem check, you could lose all your data, I have done it once... – vasilis74 May 25 '18 at 01:29

3 Answers3

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Basically, you cannot modify the structure of a mounted partition (which you are using).

Home, boot, data partition

So a home partition can typically be unmounted using another user logged in, umount it and modify its structure.

Slash or extended partition when slash mounted on

You have to do this from a live UFD/DVD as you cannot unmount a Linux system partition on an hdd/ssd while it is directly or potentially in use.

As far as file systems are concerned, with Windows use NTFS and with Ubuntu system devices, stay with ext4. If you plan to stay with Windows keep data files on an NTFS system or use extufsd for example.

Philippe Gachoud
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Paul Benson
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if you want to reduce home partition size means it definitely affects the whole working Linux operating system. while Linux machine is running it is not possible to edit the home partition. it can be done by using bootable Linux USB/cd (any Linux os, ex Ubuntu, Kali Linux) and gparted is installed on it. in this way also you may destroy your running Ubuntu os. but I tried this it workes for me. Hope that this s work for you also.

Gokul Gokul
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    Reducing the Home partition can't damage the Ubuntu installation if there really is a home partition, and a separate OS partition. Even if there is only one partition, I don't see how shrinking it will cause damage, especially if it is just about 10% full, as the picture shows. – user8292439 May 24 '18 at 17:40
  • ok I solve it by using a live CD. Thank you so much. – Md. Mony May 24 '18 at 17:58
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  1. Log in as another user; typically Ctrl+alt+F1 username -> enter -> pwd (Instructions to create another if you don't have one yet; that other user must be added to the group sudoer)
  2. Shutdown graphical interface sudo service sddm stop
  3. Unmount home sudo umount /home
  4. resize2fs /dev/sda6 6000M or the size you want
  5. Remount all partitions defined into /etc/fstab which include /home sudo mount -a
  6. Restart you graphical interface sudo service sddm start
K7AAY
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Philippe Gachoud
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    Logging in as another user will not solve the problem, unless the user is root. All other users have their Home folder under /home/user1, /home/user2 etc. The /home partition is mounted and locked whether user1 is logged in or user2 is logged in. Create another user, user3 and she gets /home/user3 as her home. So, you cannot unmount /home unless you enable root login or boot from another drive, such as a Live USB or DVD. – user68186 May 24 '18 at 19:14
  • @user68186 Users without home directory are possible, so in theory this method should work. – knoftrix Mar 12 '20 at 14:34
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    @SaurabhSingh though it is possible to create an user without a home directory, it is not the default behavior. More importantly this answer does not explain that one needs to create an user without associating the user with the corresponding home directory. Even more importantly the answer does not describe how to create such an user. To be specific, it is not sufficient to have an existing user and adding her to the sudoer group. The answer as it stands should not work. – user68186 Mar 12 '20 at 15:00