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DiskPartShrinkVolume

While attempting to shrink a volume using diskpart in Windows you receive an error stating: The specified shrink size is too big and will cause the volume to be smaller than the minimum volume size. This is what you should do in this scenario.

Make sure ...

  • That the partition you are shrinking is (for lack of better words) the last partition on the disk. Open diskmgmt.msc and observe your target disk from left to right. Is there anything to the right of your target partition that isn't unallocated space?
  • You've explicitly told Windows not to use pagefile.sys.
    • This can be accomplished via: → sysdm.cpl → Advanced → Performance [Settings] → Advanced → Change → No paging file → Don't forget to click 'Set'!
  • You have the correct volume selected? SELECT VOLUME 0
  • Can the volume reasonably accommodate the shrink operation?
    • To be specific, here is an example. Let's say I want to shink my current volume by 20GB (20480MB). If the following PowerShell command evaluates to True, then you're "not crazy": (((Get-Partition -DriveLetter C | % Size) - (Get-PSDrive -Name C | % Used)) / 1MB) -gt 20480
  • Building on the example above, the correct diskpart command would be: SHRINK DESIRED=20480 (shrink the currently selected volume by 20GB)
  • You observe the shrink operation's progress by launching %windir%\system32\dfrgui.exe

Still seeing errors?

Specifically, if you are seeing this error,

The specified shrink size is too big and will cause the volume to be smaller than the minimum volume size

then you can view relevant event logs using the Windows PowerShell script below (Run As Admin).

@((Get-WinEvent -FilterXml "`n<QueryList>`n  <Query Id=`"0`" Path=`"Application`">`n    <Select Path=`"Application`">*[System[(EventID=259 or EventID=260 or EventID=261)]]</Select>`n  </Query>`n</QueryList>") | Sort TimeCreated -Descending)

If you're certain that the most recent event that the script returns is relevant, then the script below will tell you the exact file or folder path that is causing problems (Run As Admin).

@((Get-WinEvent -FilterXml "`n<QueryList>`n  <Query Id=`"0`" Path=`"Application`">`n    <Select Path=`"Application`">*[System[(EventID=259 or EventID=260 or EventID=261)]]</Select>`n  </Query>`n</QueryList>") | Sort TimeCreated -Descending)[0].Properties[2].Value

Personally, I simply deleted the problem files/folders and then proceeded to successfully shrink the volume.