What Does Unallocated Mean in Disk Management? - Windows 11

Disk Management Windows 11 unallocated

Windows 11 is the new Windows system launched by Microsoft in 2021, which provided users with a more refined user interface and a better experience. But since its release, many users have blamed it for various strange bugs. Now, after several updates, many issues have been resolved, and the Windows 11 22H2 update will release.

When using Windows 11 computers, users may find some strange partitions in Disk Management, they have no drive letters and are only marked as unallocated. In the following part, we will discuss what the space in Disk Management on Windows 11 marked unallocated is and how to get it.

What is unallocated space and how to get it in Windows 11?

Unallocated space, as the name suggests, is space on a computer’s hard drive that does not belong to any partition. To make full use of the storage space on the PC, users can add unallocated space to a partition to extend the partition in Windows 11, or use it to create a new partition.

Generally, there are two ways to use Disk Management to get unallocated space: If you delete a partition, there will be an unallocated space; if you shrink a partition, the shrunk part will also become unallocated space.

│Case 1. Shrink the partition to get an unallocated space

First, you can shrink a current partition to generate a new unallocated space.

Step 1. Right-click on the target partition, click "Shrink Volume".

Step 2. In the pop-up window, type in the amount you want as the size of the unallocated space.

Step 3. In the hard drive, you get unallocated space.

│Case 2. Delete the partition to create an unallocated space

Besides, you can also get unallocated space on Disk Management by deleting the partition.

Tip: "Delete Volume" feature will delete everything on the partition, so please back up important data before doing so.

Step 1. Right-click the drive you want to delete and select "Delete Volume".

Step 2. Now you have deleted the D drive and created unallocated space.

How to use unallocated space with Disk Management in Windows 11

How to allocate unallocated space in Windows 11? When we have unallocated space in disk, we can use it to extend another partition, especially the partition that is full. Or, use it to create a new partition to make disk management more granular.

│Method 1. Extend a partition

If the unallocated space is immediately to the right of the partition you want to extend, you can use Windows 11 Disk Management unallocated space to extend the target partition. The detailed steps are as follows:

Warning: "Extend Volume" will be grayed out if the unallocated space is not near the right side of the target disk.

Step 1. Press "Windows + R", enter "diskmgmt.msc" and press "Enter" to open Disk Management. Right-click the target partition (here, take C drive as an example) and select "Extend Volume".

Step 2. Follow the Extend Volume Wizard to complete this operation.

│Method 2. Create a partition

If the space in Disk Management on Windows 11 shows unallocated, you can also create a new partition with unallocated space by following the steps below.

Steps 1. Right-click on the unallocated space and select "New Simple Volume".

Step 2. The New Simple Volume Wizard will pop up, which will guide you to assign drive letters, set the partition size, etc.

Alternative to use Disk Management on Windows 11 to manage unallocated

As you can see from the above, although Windows 11 Disk Management is a good assistant for managing unallocated space, it has some limitations. For example, when the unallocated space is not adjacent to the right of the target partition, you cannot use it to extend the target partition.

In fact, there is an advanced software designed to manage drive- AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard. No matter where the unallocated space is, you can use it to create a new partition or extend the current partitions.

What's more, this all-in-one tool not only manages unallocated space in disks, but also has other features that can help you solve other common disk problems, such as Wipe partition, Format partition and Resize partition.

│Solution 1. Merge partitions

When the unallocated space is not adjacent to the partition you want to extend, you can select the "Merge Partitions" function to merge the unallocated space with the target partition.

Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard, right-click the partition to be merged, and click "Advanced" > "Merge Partitions".

Step 2. Tick all unallocated space that you want to merge with the target partition.

Step 3. Click "Apply" to realize this operation.

│Solution 2. Create a partition

You can also create a new partition with unallocated space directly in the hard drive by the following steps:

Step 1. In the main interface of AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard. Right click the unallocated space on the drive, then click "Create Partition".

Step 2. Drag the double arrow or directly input the amount of the new partition's size, then click "OK".

Step 3. Click "Apply" to perform all the operations.

Final words

When space in Disk Management on Windows 11 shows unallocated, how should we manage it? This article explains how to deal with this unallocated space using Disk Management and another perfect disk management expert.

In addition, advanced functions such as Move Application to another drive, Migrate OS to SSD or HDD, Delete Large Files are waiting for you after upgrading to the AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional.