Unusable disk partition

[Doug]

On 10/04/2014 05:13 AM, 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.
> 
Microsoft gets manufacturers to set up the disk like that so that you can't install Linux. It's that simple. What you have to do is to move some of the stuff
off partition 4 into one of the other three, or just delete it. (I forget what I did when I got the Dell laptop with that setup, but it seemed logical to me
at the time, and I'm pretty sure it will seem logical to you when you get there.) Make partition 4 into an _extended_ partition, in which you will create
_logical_ partitions for / /home, /swap, and whatever. They will be called /dev/sda5, /dev/sda6, and so on. Then when you install Ubuntu, it should find those partitions (with your guidance) and use them.