I'm installing Kubuntu 26.04 on an existing Windows 11 PC with three drives: the main SSD contains Windows and most applications, a large 11TB hard drive stores my files and Steam library on NTFS, and a mostly empty 222GB SSD is also currently formatted as NTFS. I want to install Kubuntu on that smaller SSD without changing the Windows or data drives. I booted the Kubuntu installer from a USB drive, but when I select the 222GB SSD, the installer only offers manual partitioning. What's the safest way to prepare that drive and create Linux-compatible partitions such as ext4 or Btrfs?
1 Answer
Since the 222GB SSD is the target and doesn’t contain anything you need, use a live-session partitioning tool such as KDE Partition Manager or GParted. First make absolutely sure you’ve selected the correct drive, then unmount it if necessary and delete its existing NTFS partitions. Create a new partition table and leave the drive unallocated. After that, restart the installer and let it automatically create the Linux partitions. This will erase everything on that SSD, so back up anything important first.
I used KDE Partition Manager and had to unmount the partition before changing it. The installation is running now—thanks for the guidance!