Gparted Can't Unmount Partition Fixes [Windows/Linux]

Why Gparted cannot unmount disk partition?

What is mount and unmount a partition?

In Linux, "mount" is the process of attaching a filesystem to a directory, making its contents accessible, while "unmount" is the act of detaching it, ensuring data integrity.

In Windows, "mount" is "online" that means attaching a disk to access its contents, often by assigning a drive letter. "Unmount" means "Offline", which is safely disconnecting or dismounting a disk to prevent data corruption. (There is no 'unmount partition' or 'mount partition' in Windows since this function (online/offline) only works with disks.)

Gparted Live USB/CD is required when Gparted cannot unmount a partition when the OS is running. Here are several scenarios when Gparted cannot unmount a disk or partition.

• 1, You cannot unmount a disk when the OS is running. For example, if the disk contains boot partition, you cannot unmount any partition on this disk using Gparted. If it's a Windows OS, there is only one disk with c e f on the computer, you cannot unmount neither c, e, nor f drive since the OS is already running. You need to use Gparted Live USB/CD (To burn the iso of Gparted on a bootable USB/CD) and run it from bootable usb/cd to unmount a partition or disk.
• 2, You can't unmount a disk partition when it's encrypted or locked. You need the key to unlock it at first. (If it's a locked disk or partition in Windows, you need to unlock it at first, and then use Gparted in bootable mode or use other free Windows disk management tools such as IM-Magic Partition Resizer to replace the work of Gparted in Windows.)

How to unmount a partition when the OS is running?

For Windows users, you may directly use free tool IM-Magic Partition Resizer to resize/shrink/extend/move partitions without unmounting a disk or partition when the OS is still running. What's more, you can also convert disk mbr to gpt, clone disk etc. without unmounting it using IM-Magic Partition Resizer.

Here are some useful tutorials:

How to move partition without losing data

How to expand c drive without losing data

How to clone disk to migrate OS

How to move recovery partition Windows 11/10

 

For Linux users, you need to run Gparted in a bootable mode, ie before entering the OS to unmount the disk.

Video: how to use Gparted Live USB/CD

How to move recovery partition using gparted

Cannot delete partition using Gparted fixes

How to resize partition gparted

Gparted convert mbr to gpt

Gparted clone to smaller disk

Here is a table shows Gparted VS Partition Resizer (2 free tools)

	Gparted (Windows/Linux)	Partition Resizer (Windows)
Move/delete/shrink/extend partition when running Windows OS	NO
Convert disk when running OS	NO
Migrate OS when running OS	NO
Windows
Linux		NO
Price	FREE	FREE
		Download Windows 11-7 (Free) Download Windows Server (Trial)

Case#1, how do I force unmount a disk partition?

How to unmount partition using Gparted Linux/Swap partition?

• 1, Boot Gparted from a LiveCD/USB, and then run Gparted
• 2, To unmount the extend partition, turn off the swap partition by right clicking on swap and select 'swapoff'

Solution: Unmount partition through Gparted LIVE USB/CD in bootable mode, or use the following cmd in Linux.

To unmount a partition in Linux using a command, you can use the umount command followed by the target partition or mount point. Here's the basic syntax:

  umount /path/to/mount/point
                        

Replace /path/to/mount/point with the actual path to the mounted partition or its mount point. For example, if you want to unmount a partition mounted at /mnt/mydrive, you would run:

  umount /mnt/mydrive  
                        

Make sure you have the necessary permissions (usually root or sudo) to unmount partitions.

Source: https://askubuntu.com/questions/217571/cant-format-delete-locked-partition-from-gparted