Notes: This install was done on MSI GL62M 7REX, ASUS FX503v, and Lenovo Y540 laptops and doesn't implement a secured partition for simplicity and ease of use. Use at your own discretion.
Since the laptop has an SSD, I'd like to install Arch Linux on the SSD as well. Unfortunately, Windows' installation has the whole drive occupied so it needs to be shrunk
- Boot into Windows and go into "Create and format hard disk partitions" in Control Panel.
- Free up some space in the SSD.
At this point we now have an unallocated disk space. We need to make this space usable by making it of file system type RAW
- While still in the Disk Management window, select the unallocated space and create a simple volume in it. Don't assign a path/letter to it, use the whole space, and don't format the drive.