Hey everyone, I'm pretty new to Linux and recently installed Linux Mint alongside Windows. I started running out of storage on my Linux partition, so I tried using the Windows partition manager to shrink the Windows storage and allocate more space to Linux. This didn't go as planned, and after a restart, Linux Mint wouldn't connect to the internet. I rebooted again, but this time I ended up at a command line asking for a username and password, without a GUI to log in. I restarted once more and saw some error messages on the screen, but they were a bit hard to understand. I'd really appreciate some help on what to do!
3 Answers
Always super important to provide specifics about your distro and any hardware details when asking for tech help! It just makes it easier for others to provide you with solid advice.
Seems like a bit of a rough patch there. Based on what you described, reinstalling Mint might be the way to go. Don't worry, it shouldn't affect your Windows installation, but it’s always a good idea to back up any important files first. When you power down, just try holding the power button if that helps you shut it down properly. Do you need to recover any files before a reinstall?
It sounds like there might be an issue with how you attempted to resize the partitions. Usually, it's tricky to shrink an active partition, especially if it's in use. Make sure to check for any error messages next time; being specific about what you see can really help others troubleshoot. Have you restarted and tried logging in with your Linux credentials? Sometimes that can refresh the session.
I did manage to shrink the Windows partition successfully, but expanding the Linux one didn't seem to work. I can't remember any specific error messages.