Safest way to resize windows partition before installing

[Doug McGarrett]

On 12/23/2019 02:23 PM, Chris Green wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 23, 2019 at 07:55:52PM +0100, M. Fioretti wrote:
>> As I mentioned in another email just moments ago, I just got a
>> refurbished Lenovo T430 Thinkpad with Windows 7 installed. I have
>> already tried it with an Ubuntu 19.10 live DVD, and everything seems
>> OK, so it is time to install. Before going for it, I need to be sure
>> about the safest way to resize as much as possible the Windows
>> partition. For several reasons, I have to keep it, but I want it to be
>> as small as possible, with just the space to keep windows running, and
>> install its system updates when needed.
>>
>> I know how to resize partitions during installation, e.g.
>>
>> https://howtoubuntu.org/how-to-resize-partitions-with-the-ubuntu-or-gparted-live-cd
>>
>> But I also found this thread that advises against it:
>>
>> https://askubuntu.com/questions/468508/how-to-shrink-my-current-windows-partition-from-ubuntu
>>
>> This method of resizing from within Windows, before installing: :
>>
>>     "Shrink a drive to free up space for linux"
>>
>> https://scottiestech.info/2016/03/06/windows-linux-dual-boot-how-to-shrink-a-windows-disk-the-easy-way/
>>
>
> I used the 'default' gparted to shrink the W7 paprtition on my T470
> and it worked fine.
>
FWIW: gparted CD worked perfectly for me when I installed OpenSUSE 
Tumbleweed a few months ago. Shrink the Windows partitions, leaving 
about 100 MiB for the actual Windows system. and then make a new large 
partition or two for Linux. (Many Linux distros seem to want only one 
partition, including TW.)

--doug