Resizing bounding box without scaling image

Convert it to a clipping mask. Object > clipping mask

Hi. I'm sure there's still somebody out there struggling with this. I've only just found the solution for InDesign users. 
If you are working in InDesign: (1) Select the image; (2) Right click on the bounding box; (3) you will get a pop up menu; (4) in the pop up menu go to FITTING; (5) a submenu will pop up when you hover on FITTING; (6) in the submenu slect "Clear Frame Fitting Options" (However for me that was a temporary fix).

For a more permanent fix, in the same sub menu select "FRAME FITTING OPTIONS". (7) a 'dialog box' will pop-up for you to adjust the settings as you wish.  I recommend you uncheck the AUTOFIT option and select NONE as the CONET FITTING OPTION

Hi, I've found a workaround that works for me. I wanted to resize the bounding box of a couple of paths that were embedded in a larger figure:

Select the images & paths of which you want to resize the bounding box

Copy those into a new drawing

Resize the artboard to match the desired bounding box size using "edit artboards"

Save the file

"place" the file into the original larger figure

presto: the bounding box has the size of the artboard you edited earlier.

Use the Layers panel to temporarily 'move' the image(s) you don't want resized so their layers are not children/descendents of the bounding box (or path) you want to resize.  Then resize the box as desired.  Finally, restore the original layers structure (so the image is once again cropped/clipped to the box you just resized).  The layers temporarily moved out of the Clip Group will retain their original size and placement.

There ought to be an option to resize the Clip Group without repositioning or resizing its content, but if that is genuinely lacking, the above workaround also allows some but not all of the content to be resized and/or moved.

I am not so sure if it's the same problem you had. But my issue was I wanted to place an artwork inside another artwork but its bounding box was bigger than I wanted but I couldn't crop it after placing. Later on I came to find out that you can crop the image/artwork just before placing as shown in the image below.

Yes you can. No need to group with any other rectangle on the top of it. Select the box with the image, and then make a cliping mask of it (menu or command/ctrl+7). The bounding box will clip the image when resizing by the handles.

In case anyone still wants to do this, I was able to in Illustrator 2020 CC. I had placed image files from Photoshop into Illustrator (on the same layer) and most of them had huge bounding boxes surrounding a smaller image. It was awkward to try and select a particular image with another image's bounding box getting in the way. So, I first placed each seperate image on its own layer, then locked and hid all the layers except the top one. Working on the top layer, I placed a rectangle over the image at the size I wanted the bounding box to be. I then Selected All on the Active Artboard, right-clicked and chose Make a Clipping Mask. This resulted in a way smaller bounding box with the image inside of it, good enough for my needs. I then locked and hid this layer, and proceeded to follow the same steps with each layer down the stack. I did it this way so I wouldn't inadvertently change something or get distracted by everything else going on in the document. 

PinnacleGame,

You can use the solution by Ray just above this post (larger nostroke/nofill rectangle).

Maybe group a no fill/stroke rectangle with your artwork. Make the rectangle the desired size of the bounding box.

If you mean that the content image resizes as you drag the outer bounding box - uncheck 'Autofit' in the top tools ribbon