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Gparted screenshot

The entirety of the Ubuntu 20.04 OS is mounted and I need to unmount it, apparently, to have an NTFS partition for Windows.

I'm totally new to Ubuntu and all this tech stuff, I just need some steps to follow, my only problem is the partitioning on Gparted. I'm too scared to press unmount as the OS is running from it and the whole 1TB is there and I need some of it for Windows.

Zanna
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Symasino
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  • Create a Live USB, see mkusb. Boot from the USB and then you can unmount your HDD partitions and alter them. – C.S.Cameron Aug 28 '21 at 13:42
  • If you do not have a USB drive look at posts 2 and 7 on this link. https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2466401&highlight=usb This page shows how to make a Windows install disk using mkusb https://askubuntu.com/a/1359829/43926 – C.S.Cameron Aug 28 '21 at 13:50
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    You show an ESP - efi system partition for UEFI boot. Hopefully drive is gpt partitioned as Ubuntu does not require gpt for UEFI boot. But Windows does require gpt for UEFI and wants multiple partitions. How you boot install media UEFI or BIOS/CSM is then how it installs for both Ubuntu & Windows. https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/dn898510%28v=vs.85%29.aspx#RecommendedPartitionConfigurations – oldfred Aug 28 '21 at 14:26
  • Also it is easier to install Windows first, With Windows second you will need to reinstall GRUB. – C.S.Cameron Aug 28 '21 at 14:51

2 Answers2

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You're right. You can't unmount and resize a partition that is currently in use.

You can easily use Gparted Live. It's a small bootable Linux that you can boot from USB or CD. Then you can easily do whatever you want with your disk and be sure that disk is not in use.

Zanna
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mohammad aghaie
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EDIT: Thanks for the the mistake pointed by C.S. Cameron. I am trying to correct my answer accordingly.

I had not installed windows for a long time through live usb. But there should be an option of partitioning the SSD through the partition manager present in the installer. That way, main OS partition can be resized. If that option is not present in Windows live USB, try to do that through Ubuntu live USB.

In GParted, Right Click on your ext4 partition and select 'Resize/Move' option. Then in the 'Free space following' option of the newly opened box, type the size of partition you want to create for Windows in Megabytes. Then click 'Resize'. Select 'Green Tick' icon in GParted and complete the resize task before exiting it. Now boot from Windows Live USB and continue the installation as normal

Mumuzab
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