Server 2003 expand partition

How many Windows Server 2003 expand partitions are there in hard disk for Windows server 2003 system? How to expand boot partition during the upgrading of Windows Server 2003? A disk has at most two partition types, primary partition and logical partition. A disk has at most four primary partitions, of course, if there are four primary partitions, there would be no logical partition on the disk. Logical partition belongs to extended partition. The extended partition can contain several logical partitions. Usually, we set one primary partition C and others as extended partitions. In the extended partition, users can create multiple logical partitions.

How to expand boot partition during the upgrading of Windows Server 2003? This part shall introduce how to extend system partition while upgrading the Windows server 2003 system. The resized partition should have unallocated space by side. The partition can only adopt file system of NTFS, or convert into NTFS file systems.

Key note: Microsoft suggests: you should create a complete backup for your computer before the upgrading to Windows Server 2003 and make sure that the backup can work properly.

Extend system partition
If you want to extend system partition, please do the following by sequences.

Revise the file Unattend. txt.

Store the file drive:\I386\Unattend. txt onto the local disk (of which, drive is the CD - ROM with Windows Server 2003).

Edit the file with the WordPad and store it into the file Unattend. txt.
In the file, Unattend. txt, find the part {unattended} and try to add the following part.

ExtendOempartition=1
Filesystem=convertntfs
Ntupgrade=yes

Do not change other parts of the file.

Boot Windows Server 2003 installer with the revised file Unattend. txt.
Press Win+R, then input CD-ROMDrive:\i386\winnt32. exe /unattend:HardDisk:\unattend. txt (of which, the CD - ROM drive contains the CD _ ROM driver of Windows Server 2003 CD - ROM.
HardDisk is the disk contains the revised file Unattended. txt.

Press Enter.

Difficulty explanation
Before you extend partition, you should note the following things.

First, you should convert the extended partition into NTFS partitions. The convert and extension of partitions can be carried out during the process of upgrading.

If the boot partition is set with image, the partition can not be extended. Before upgrading, you should remove the image.

The extended disk should be basic disk but not dynamic disk.

The extension of partition can not use the space that separated by boot partition and itself. This free space shall contain the unallocated space next to boot partition and the unallocated space in the extended partition.

During the upgrading, the boot partition is required to have at least 650 MB free space to store temporary files. As the boot partition and files shall be extended after the copy process. So the free space is a must during the upgrading process.

ExtendOemPartition option can only extend boot partition but not other type of partitions. The size of ExtendOemPartition shall be input with unit of MB. If the input size is lager than that of the free space, the partition shall not be extended.

Extend Windows server 2003 by hand is more complex and not easy to master. Here a third party software - MiniTool Partition Wizard Server Edition is highly recommended. MiniTool Partition Wizard ServerEdition is a professional server partition software with powerful functions in partition management such as resize partition, move partition. It is easy to use, even if you are not professional users, you can do server partition management with ease.