Side by side install with Windows - adjusting assigned space after installation possible?

Ask Fedora
1

I want to setup a side-by-side install with Windows 11. My plan is to transition away from Windows as much as possible though. Is it possible to adjust the space assigned for each operating system as I migrate more of my activity, and thus my files, to Fedora Workstation?

2

So first in Windows you can resize its space usage to use only the space you need it to use. Windows Partition manager is horrible haha, but well.

You can repeat this inside windows and decrease the space it uses. This will result in the partition using up less space.

sudo lsblk
sudo umount /path/to/mount/point
sudo btrfs filesystem resize max /
sudo mount -a

This is theoretically the way to resize it. Maybe it is possible from within a running system, maybe you can also just use GParted on a Fedora live USB, or KDE Partitionmanager on a live Fedora KDE USB and do it graphically here.

As you need to unmount the partition to do that, it doesnt seem it is possible from a running system.

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3

You would first reduce the file system size within windows and reduce the partition size as well. Windows can manage that from within the running system. Leave the space unallocated.

Then simply install fedora in the newly freed up space and allow fedora to share the efi partition with windows. If you already have the free space then you can do the automatic partitioning install which will use the free space and not overwrite anything else. This is the way it has been done for many years.

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4

Thanks for your response. When you wrote, ‘You can repeat this inside windows’, I guess you meant Fedora, right?

5

Thank you. I do have the free space available. Is there a particular moment in the Fedora install where it asks to share the efi partition with Windows?

6

Not really, it is in the disk setup screens for custom and advanced but there you are expected to know the layout required. If the efi partition is too small you may silently fail install. But other than that, selecting the unformatted unallocated partition for the install should work fine.

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7

it is also important to note that the install will automatically use an existing efi partition as long as the installation is being allowed to write to the drive that contains the ESP. If it cannot write to that drive it will create its own efi partition on the drive it has access to.

It seems you are installing on the same drive that already contains windows so this should not be an issue as long as you select the automatic config for installation.

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8

I am installing on the same drive that already contains windows, yes.