How to expand boot partition

Q: How to expand boot partition (How to expand system partition)

A: The official answer from MS is that it is not supported, and normally you would need to purchase a third party utility like partition magic to perform this action

The problem is that Diskpart.exe utility does not allow expansion of the System or Boot partition. This is because the OS is using this partition and is therefore not considered a safe action

More info in this KB article:

How to use Diskpart.exe to extend a data volume in Windows Server 2003, in Windows XP, and in Windows 2000

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/325590

The article states:

You cannot extend the partition if the system page file is located on the partition. Move the page file to a partition that you do not wish to extend.

The real-life answer is somewhat different, because it is possible to use the diskpart utility to perform this action.

What you can do is:

1. Create a NTFS boot disk
2. Add diskpart.exe to the disk
3. Add SCSI/Raid controller driver to the boot disk (if necessary)
4. Boot the server on the boot disk
5. Load the driver
6. Run diskpart
7. Use the normal diskpart commands

   As an alternative you can use the ERD Commander boot disk (now called “Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset” The procedure will look like this:

8. Create ERD commander disk
9. Add diskpart.exe to a floppy disk (must be the Windows Server 2003 version)
10. Add SCSI/Raid controller driver to the boot disk (if necessary)
11. Boot the server on the boot disk
12. Press F6 to add additional driver during boot
13. Load the driver from the boot disk
14. Run diskpart from the floppy disk
15. Use the normal diskpart commands

    Heres a link to the Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset evaluation version:

    http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=5D600369-0554-4595-8AB4-C34B2860E087&displaylang=en

    This has only been tested with ERD commander, but it should work with the new MS version as well-