why is the option to extend the volume grayed out course hero

by Dr. Felipe Gaylord V 9 min read

When you see the Extend Volume option grayed out on your computer, it signifies that there is no unallocated space on your hard disk.Jun 22, 2021

Full Answer

Why “extend volume” grayed out and how to fix it?

Why "Extend Volume" grayed out and how to fix it? In fact, "Extend Volume" option under Disk Management tool is only available when there is contiguous unallocated space behind the volume you want to extend. As there is no unallocated space after the C partition drive, so "Extend Volume" option is disabled.

How to fix aomei partition extension volume greyed out issue?

To solve the "extend volume" greyed-out the issue, you can try the "Merge Partitions" feature of AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. ① If the partition has running applications, AOMEI Partition Assistant will suggest you close them or perform the operation under PreOS Mode.

What are the limitations of extending volume in Disk Management?

Microsoft says extending volume feature in Disk Management only works to a raw or NTFS partition. 2.There is no unallocated or free space on hard disk or the space is not contiguous and after the partition which needs extending.

What are the different types of extend volumes?

See also: Here are detailed steps to Extend Different Types of Dynamic Volumes with Screenshots Given, including simple/spanned volume, system volume, mirrored volume, and striped/RAID 5 volume. Is your Windows 10 Extend Volume greyed out? If YES, see the following part to get solutions (also works for Windows 8/7/Vista/XP).

How do I fix extended volume is greyed out?

As here is no unallocated space after the C partition drive, so extend volume greyed out. You need to have an “unallocated disk space” to the right of the Partition\Volume you wish to extend on the same drive. Only when “unallocated disk space” is available “extend” option is highlighted or available.

How do I enable an extension volume button?

After Computer Management opens, go to Storage > Disk Management. Select and hold (or right-click) the volume that you want to extend, and then select Extend Volume. If Extend Volume is grayed out, check the following: Disk Management or Computer Management was opened with administrator permissions.

Why can't I extend the volume of my C drive?

How do I extend my C drive? You can add more space to existing primary partitions and logical drives by extending them into adjacent unallocated space on the same disk. To extend a basic volume, it must be raw or formatted with the NTFS file system.

How do I extend volume with unallocated space?

Step 1: Open Disk Management by right-clicking on Windows icon and select "Disk Management". Step 2: Right-click on the partition that you want to extend and select "Extend Volume". Step 3: Click "Next" to continue, adjust the size of unallocated space to add to the selected partition.

How do I Unallocate a drive?

How do I fix an unallocated partition in Windows 10?Right-click the Start Button and click Disk Management.Right-click the unallocated volume. ... When the New Simple Volume Wizard opens, click Next.Specify a size for the new partition. ... Choose a drive letter, then click Next.More items...•

How do I open disk Manager as administrator?

Press the Windows key + X to open the WinX menu, and then click Command Prompt (Admin).Type diskmgmt and press Enter. Disk Management will launch quickly.

How do I convert unallocated to free space?

Then right click the Free Space now on the left side of the Logical, choose Resize, drag the left border of the Logical to the right to open up Unallocated Space to the right of D, Apply Step. Then in Disk Management, right click D and Extend it into the Unallocated Space.

Why can't I create a new simple volume?

Why does the New Simple Volume option show as greyed out on your computer hard drive. The basic reason is that your disk is MBR disk. Generally, due to the two limitations on MBR disk, it stops you from creating a new volume in Disk Management: There are already 4 primary partitions on the disk.

Can I increase partition size without formatting?

Right click the partition you want to extend (this partition must have unassigned space following immediately after it), and press Extend Volume. Then tune a size for Select the amount of space.

How to merge unallocated space?

On the contrary, you can merge any unallocated space into a partition. Step 1. Install and launch the software. You can see there is an unallocated space next to D drive on the main interface. (If there is no unallocated space, you can use resize the partition to get unallocated free) Step 2.

Can you extend a drive with a spade?

You can use it to extend any drive even though there is no unallocated spade next to the to-be-extended drive. So it is a good partition manager for you. In order to meet the needs of various users, there are different versions for different people.

What happens if you delete a MBR partition?

If the partition style of your hard drive isn’t GPT but MBR, you should consider more conditions. MBR disk may have primary partitions and logical partitions. The space after deleting the primary partition will be marked as “Unallocated”, and the space after delete the logical partition will be labeled as “Free space”.

How to move a partition to the right side of a disk?

Step 1. Install and run the tool and all the disks will be listed. Right-click the partition that separates the partition that’s going to be extended and the unallocated space; then choose “Move Partition”. Step 2. In the pop-up window, drag the partition to the right side and click “OK”. Step 3.

What is extending volume in disk management?

1.The partition users want to extend is not a NTFS partition. Microsoft says extending volume feature in Disk Management only works to a raw or NTFS partition. 2.There is no unallocated or free space on hard disk or the space is not contiguous and after the partition which needs extending.

Does extending volume work on NTFS?

Microsoft says extending volume feature in Disk Management only works to a raw or NTFS partition. 2.There is no unallocated or free space on hard disk or the space is not contiguous and after the partition which needs extending. 3.Users want to extend a primary partition, but, instead of unallocated space, there is just a free space right after ...

Fix Extend Volume Option Greyed Out

There are mainly 2 methods to fix the issue depending on the partition next to C drive, available space and unallocated memory.

Method 1: By Freeing Up Space Next to C Drive

You see, one of the reasons why the extend volume option is greyed out is because there is no free or unallocated space after the C drive partition. You can check this out simply by:

Method 2: Extend C drive Using a Third-Party Software

The problem with Windows disk management is that it does not comes with a lot of features. If you want to fix extend volume option greyed out problem in Windows 10/8.1 and Windows 11, then it’s better to use third-party software.

Closing Phrase

That was all about how you enable the “Extend Volume” option in Windows 10. Using the above methods you cab fix the issue with other disk partitions as well. The basic idea is to create some unallocated space next to the target partition first OR use a third-party partition manager tool.

Why is my volume greyed out?

Reason 2: Unallocated space is not behind. This is the most common reason why Extend Volume greyed out. When shrinking a volume, the only option for you is entering an amount or clicking Shrink to use default maximum available unused space. You cannot choose to make Unallocated space in front of of end of this partition.

How to extend a volume to another disk?

If there is no other volume in the same disk, you have two options to extend this partition: 1. Insert another disk and convert both to dynamic in Disk Management, and then right this partition to run Extend Volume. many software does not support dynamic disk volumes.

Why is my hard drive 250GB?

Reason 1: No usable disk space. Before extending a volume, there must be usable space in the same disk (or RAID array), otherwise, a 250GB hard disk will be increased to 300GB. Of course it is impossible to a physical component. The usable space include unused space in other partitions, or Unallocated space.

Can shrink volume make space on the left side?

If Shrink Volume can make Unallocated space on the left side, there won't be such issue. When right clicking E: drive, Extend Volume is also disabled, because it is on the right side of Unallocated space. If Disk Management can move Unallocated space to the right side, this problem can be solved.

Question

I'm unable to extend the space of my logical volume through disk management. It's F drive & I do have the unallocated space to the right side of the volume. When I right click on F drive, the 'Extend volume' option is grayed out.

All replies

If you want to extend volume, you should make sure there is no partition between the original partition and free space