How do you extend partition with unallocated space in Windows 10

To extend the NTFS-formatted D drive partition in Windows 10, there are usually two ways to try, and here I share my actual experience.

Method 1: Extend the partition using the Windows Disk Management tool
In Windows 10, I have tried to extend the D drive partition using the built-in Disk Management tool. First, open the Disk Management tool (right-click "This PC" > "Manage" > "Disk Management"). I saw some unallocated space next to the D drive, so I just right-clicked the D drive and selected "Extend Volume".

Then, I followed the prompts to complete the wizard to extend the volume, selected the unallocated space, and after clicking "Next", the system automatically completed the partition extension. The whole process was very smooth because the unallocated space was next to the D drive at that time.

The key point is that when extending partition in Windows 10, the unallocated space must be located behind the target partition, otherwise you cannot choose to extend the partition.

Method 2: Use the Disk Management tool to shrink other partitions to create unallocated space
If there is not enough unallocated space, I have created unallocated space by shrinking other partitions. The process was simple:

 I first found a neighboring partition in Disk Management, right-clicked it and selected "Shrink Volume". I entered the desired amount to shrink, thus freeing up the unallocated space.

I was then able to extend the Windows partition with unallocated space, just like the first method, by right-clicking on the D drive and selecting "Extend Volume", selecting the unallocated space I had just freed up.