Win8.1 OS (C:) partition refuses to shrink!

[m654321]

Yes, you're right Dave about taking notes - I try and do that as I go along - so easily forgotten if you don't record or use it regularly...
I learnt something yesterday I didn't know before: it's impossible to install win7 on a fresh drive in UEFI (only possible with CMS) on on a laptop that has had the original drive (preinstalled with win8.1) removed...  So UEFI means that secure boot is not backwardly compatible - that's a shame and a real nuisance as secure boot appears to make a very significant difference to speed as I've noticed with the LL/win8.1 dual-boot with UEFI fully enabled (fast boot & secure boot on).

Mike

[N4RPS]

Rob, I've succeeded.
I downloaded the free version of Minitool Partition Wizard and it worked a treat in shrinking the drive by 50% & healthy rebooting.
EaseUS Partition was another option but after the free demo, you had to pay $39 to get the key to apply the changes.  Fingers crossed
that the free one doesn't come with malware...
Regards
Mike

Hello!

You're welcome. I'm glad you were able to resize your partition. As Dave said, you will have to turn off hiberfil.sys in Windows 8, as it causes problem when trying to access thye Windows 8 partition from Linux. From a Win8 command prompt (Windows key > X > A), type

Code:

powercfg -h off

This will both disable the hibernation file and should gain you some free space on your Windows partition.
I have used EaseUS before, but it's been a whille. I don't remember that they want you to buy it to apply the changes, so perhaps that's something new for them...

[gold_finger]

I'm a bit late to the party here  ??? , but going to offer a few thoughts.

I have to copies of my original win8.1 OS, thankfully, as the original one doesn't work.
On the 250GB SSD is the following:
900MB recovery partition
100MB EFI System Partition
231.78GB OS (C NTFS

I need to shrink C: so that I have some space for an LL2.4 reinstall. The shrink tool under Disk Management doesn't seem to work, or at least is indicating that no space is available for shrinking.

As N4RPS and Wirezfree pointed out, if Fast Startup is not disabled then Win 8 is likely hibernated when "off" and that would cause problems when trying to use GParted.

I don't know anything about Win 8, but if it also uses a paging file like Win 7, that could have played a role too.  (More so when trying to shrink from Win disk management, because I don't think GParted is affected by it.  Although I could be wrong on that.)  5 years ago (when I last dual-booted with Windows), I had to disable the paging file in order to shrink the Win partition in disk management.  After shrink, just enabled it again and it got put in a new spot on the newly shrunk partition.

Rob, I've succeeded.
I downloaded the free version of Minitool Partition Wizard and it worked a treat in shrinking the drive by 50% & healthy rebooting.

Best guess is that since the tool is designed for use with Windows, it knows how to get around the hiberfil.sys file and/or the paging file problem.

I learnt something yesterday I didn't know before: it's impossible to install win7 on a fresh drive in UEFI (only possible with CMS) on on a laptop that has had the original drive (preinstalled with win8.1) removed...

From what I've read, Win 7 should be installable in UEFI mode, but under a few conditions:

• It must be a 64-bit version
  
• It must be a full "Retail" version of Windows; or an OEM version that was already installed to that particular computer in UEFI mode.  If it's an OEM version that was installed to computer in CSM/Legacy mode, it must be installed as it was originally.  If from a different machine, it won't work either (maybe not in any mode).
  
• The hard drive needs to have a GPT partition table on it before you attempt to install to it.  Windows (7 and above) will install to the drive based on the type of partition table it detects on the hard drive.  Windows will only install in Legacy mode if it detects and MBR drive.  And it will only install in UEFI mode if it detects GPT partitions.
  

[m654321]

"Invalid signature detected.

Goldfinger said: Check Secure boot Policy in setup".From what I've read, Win 7 should be installable in UEFI mode, but under a few conditions:

• It must be a 64-bit version
  
• It must be a full "Retail" version of Windows; or an OEM version that was already installed to that particular computer in UEFI mode.  If it's an OEM version that was installed to computer in CSM/Legacy mode, it must be installed as it was originally.  If from a different machine, it won't work either (maybe not in any mode).
  
• The hard drive needs to have a GPT partition table on it before you attempt to install to it.  Windows (7 and above) will install to the drive based on the type of partition table it detects on the hard drive.  Windows will only install in Legacy mode if it detects and MBR drive.  And it will only install in UEFI mode if it detects GPT partitions
  

My reply: yes, sorry, I explained poorly in the last post. Win7 was installed from a virgin OEM DVD, laptop booted from DVD in 'UEFI mode' though the firmware was set with fast boot and secure boot both disabled. In booted fine in legacy mode. However when I put the firmware settings back to fast boot & secure boot enabled, when it rebooted it got stuck at a red screen with the message. Yes the disk was GPT etc... 
"Invalid signature detected. Check Secure boot Policy in setup".  That led me to thnk that UEFI is not backwardly compatible with an OS that's earlier than the one the laptop came preinstalled with, though of course I might be completely wrong here.  Anyway, enough of my brief flirting with win7.
I've now returned to the problem of binding in the dual boot UEFI set-up I have for LL2.4/win8.1 - see latest in that thread.  Under Gparted, I notice that sdb (GPT, ntfs formatted), for the DATA partition, has a msftdata flag - maybe  protected by windows from any other OS trying to get at it??? In the good fully functioning copy that I have of the UEFI dual boot (fast boot & secure boot enabled), that I didn't attempt to install binding on, it works amazingly: the grub screen comes up almost immediately and both LL and win8.1 load from the grub menu in less than 6 seconds!  It's the binding problem that's driving me absolutely crazy...  I am still going to work on this but await further feedback from you on next steps...  I wondered if you could reply on that thread for the binding, so that everything is kept together in one place.  Many thanks
Regards
Mike

[gold_finger]

In the good fully functioning copy that I have of the UEFI dual boot (fast boot & secure boot enabled), that I didn't attempt to install binding on, it works amazingly: the grub screen comes up almost immediately and both LL and win8.1 load from the grub menu in less than 6 seconds!  It's the binding problem that's driving me absolutely crazy...  I am still going to work on this but await further feedback from you on next steps...  I wondered if you could reply on that thread for the binding, so that everything is kept together in one place.

I already did reply on that thread.  Guess you just didn't see that yet.

I'm going to add an edit to that last post of mine and ask further questions about the "good fully functioning copy" to appear to still have.

Win7 was installed from a virgin OEM DVD, laptop booted from DVD in 'UEFI mode' though the firmware was set with fast boot and secure boot both disabled. In booted fine in legacy mode. However when I put the firmware settings back to fast boot & secure boot enabled, when it rebooted it got stuck at a red screen with the message. Yes the disk was GPT etc... 
"Invalid signature detected. Check Secure boot Policy in setup".

Just a few quick thoughts on this although I know you're not experimenting with it anymore.  If it was an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) DVD meant specifically for that laptop, OK.  (Where did you get the disk?  Did you order it from your laptop's manufacturer?)  If not, then it won't work.  The error message sounds like it came from Secure Boot checking to see if it's an approved OS to load on the laptop.  That will reject any OS (Windows or Linux) that does not have a valid certificate to allow installation in UEFI mode.  It's my understanding that retail versions of Win 7 bought at a store will have a valid certificate for that (on 64-bit versions).  But, I'm only going from memory of what I've read and could be wrong.