How to move partition on Windows 10 using Gparted

GParted is a Linux-based tool designed to create, delete, copy, resize, move, or label partitions with different file systems, such as ntfs, btrfs, ext2/3/4, f2fs, FAT16/32, hfs/hfs+, linux-swap, luks, lvm2 pv, nilfs2, reiserfs/4, udf, ufs, and xfs.

Although Windows 10 includes its own partition manager that should be enough for most users, it lacks of some essential features, such as the ability to move partitions, which can come in handy when managing multiple partitions on a single drive. For instance, when you’re deleting one of the partition on the drive, and you need to move another partition to be able to extend the Windows 10 or another partition.

In this guide, you’ll learn the steps to move partitions within a drive on a Windows 10 device using GParted.

How to create a USB bootable media with GParted
How to resize drive partition using GParted

Warning: Modifying the partitions on a hard drive can cause data loss if you don’t do it correctly or an error should happen during the process. It’s recommended to make a backup of your files before proceeding. Use these instructions at you own risk.

How to create a USB bootable media with GParted

To create a GParted bootable media, connect a USB flash drive with at least 2GB of space to your device, and use these steps:

Download tuxboot from SourceForge. (Select the latest stable version available.)
Double-click the tuxboot-x.x.x.exe file.
Click the Yes button to bypass the “unknown publisher” warning.
Select the On-Line Distribution option.
Use the drop-down menu and select the gparted-live-stable option.
Use the “Type” drop-down menu and select the USB Drive option.
Use the “Drive” drop-down menu and select the flash drive.

Tuxbox tool creating a GParted bootable drive
Click the OK button.

Once you’ve completed the steps, tuxboot will create a bootable media with the GParted files, which you can use to boot your computer to use GParted.

However, before you start with the tool, you need to make sure that your device can boot from USB. Typically, you’ll need to access your device Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) or Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) hitting one of the function keys (F1, F2, F3, F10, or F12), the ESC, or the Delete key during boot.

Once inside the firmware, look for the Boot section and make sure the boot order is set to the drive that contains the Windows 10 installation files, and do not forget to save the configuration.

The BIOS/UEFI can be different depending on the manufacturer and even per computer model, as such make sure to check your manufacturer support website for more specific instructions.

How to move drive partition using GParted

To use GParted to move a partition to the beginning of the drive or next to first partition, connect the USB flash drive with GParted to your device, and then use these steps:

Start your computer with the GParted USB drive.
Select the GParted Live (Default settings) option and press Enter.

Start GParted
Select the Don’t touch keymap option and press Enter.

GParted keymap settings
Select your language and press Enter.

Select a language to start GParted
Select 0 and press Enter.

Start GParted with graphical UI
Use the drop-down menu in the top-right corner to select the drive containing the partition.
Select the partition you want to move, and click the Resize/Move button.

Gparted move partition option
In the Free space preceding option specify 0 as the maximum size and press Enter. (You can also slide the partition to beginning of the unallocated space.)

Gparted Resize/Move settings
Click the Resize/Move button.
Click the OK button.
Click the Apply button.

Gparted apply partition changes option
Click the Apply again button to confirm and commit the changes.
Click the Close button.

Once you complete the steps, the Linux-based tool will move the partition to be beginning of the unallocated space on the drive you selected.