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Are extended partitions mandatory for resizing partitions?

kr flag
DBG

My HDD is divided into two major partitions which are Windows and Ubuntu.

When I bought the computer, someone did the partitions differently from what I have done.

Firstly, I had used Windows in order to shrink the Windows partition so that I can increase the size of Ubuntu's one. That's the reason for the unallocated partition popping up.

After getting crazy, I thought to use Virtualbox. After having done that, when comparing both images, the main difference relies on the extended partitions.

Grub of the virtualbox's Ubuntu created:

Grub of the virtualbox's Ubuntu created

Besides that, when I've done the partitions at my virtual machine, I've created more directories (home, boot, /) that I have in my host as you can see in the pictures.

Though I'm not sure, because of being able to resize having extended partitions at my virtual machine and not being able to do the same in my host, it seems obvious that extended partitions are key for resizing.

Host's grub:

Host's grub

user535733 avatar
cn flag
"Extended" partitions are a legacy of using MBR. They don't exist in GPT. Most folks inherit MBR from their prior Windows install. The key to resizing partitions is not primary vs. extended -- the key is that *mounted partitions cannot be changed*. The "key" icon means that the partition is mounted. Also, keep in mind that editing partitions is inherently risky; backup your valuable data before starting because one typo or mistake can wipe it.
DBG avatar
kr flag
DBG
@user535733 as have explained, I try to resize the Linux partition so that make it bigger. With that purpose, have resized the W10 partition. Now have 100 GB of unallocated space. I try to add em into the Linux partition but I cannot
user535733 avatar
cn flag
You cannot because that partition is mounted.
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