Unusable disk partition

[R Kimber]

On Sat, 04 Oct 2014 19:13:51 +1000
Phil wrote:

> Thank you for reading this.
> 
> I have been given a physically damaged laptop that I've managed to get 
> going. I decided to install Kubuntu alongside Windows 7 using the 
> mini.iso. I've used the 32 bit mini.iso before but not to install 
> alongside Windows.
> 
> I quickly discovered that there isn't an option to install alongside 
> Windows so I shrank the 294 Gb Windows partition to 194 Gb leaving me 
> with 100 Gb for Linux. Now the installer tells me that I have 100 Gb of 
> unusable disk space and won't continue with the installation.
> 
> I thought that I would be able to format the unusable section with 
> Gparted so that I would have a /, /usr/local/, /home and a swap 
> partition but not so.
> 
> Gparted won't allow me to proceed because I already have four primary 
> partitions and I cannot delete the unallocated section. I could possibly 
> extend the Windows partition so that it takes up the unallocated section 
> but I don't want to get myself deeper into the poo.
> 
> So, should I attempt to resize the Windows partition into the 
> unallocated section and if that is successful is it possible to use the 
> mini.iso to install Linux alongside Windows?
> 
> I'm reluctant to download the full 1 Gb iso file because it will bite 
> heavily into my monthly allocation but if I have to then I will.

If there's only one Windows partition, why do you say you have four primary
partitions?  Can't some of them be logical?

I personally wouldn't partition disks during an installation.  I prefer to
use a bootable gparted disk to set the partitions up before starting the
installation. You could have /usr/local and /home as logical partitions in
an extended one.

But I'm not an expert.

- Richard.
-- 
Richard Kimber