What do you mean by “40GB free space” … do you mean
a) 40GB of unpartitioned space
or
b) 40GB of unused space left in the Windows partition
?
40GB left in the windows partition
What’s the total size of your hard drive ?
120 GB
if your drive is 120gb and there’s only 40gb left then Windows is taking up a huge chunk of that drive
Is there any way you can reduce the Windows size ie is there any programs you no longer need that can be un-installed or unnecessary files you can delete (disk cleanup)
I would say you have enough space to install Peppermint 4 but it would be better if you could afford it a little more space if possible
I also believe it’s a good idea to defrag the Windows partition prior to installing Linux alongside, but don’t take my word for this, better to wait untill Mark or someone more savvy than me to advise you
Good luck
Graeme
Like Emegra said, clean up and defrag Windows before you shrink your partition (and backup any important data first)
Windows and program files could take up around 20 GiB the rest is personal data.
As for the partitioning (on my 40 GiB) HDD I got it set as:
sda1 Root = 15.62 GiB
sda2 Swap = 3.91 GiB
sda3 Home = 17.72 GiB
I would say that if you can’t free up any space then you would have to leave Windows with some space to work with (say 10gb) which leaves 30gb for the Linux partition
That would be more than enough for Peppermint 4
Remember to back up any important data and defrag Windows first then you’re good to go
So during the installation process when to get to the partition sizer give 90gb to Windows and 30gb to Linux, the installer will set up the home and swap partitions as needed
Good luck
Graeme
Thanks for your replies and your patience, I have defrag get and backed up, I am sure I can reduce some of the “clutter” and get rid of some old stuff that I have probably not used in ages, once that is done I will follow your advice and get on with the installation.
Thanks again,
Degsy
Managed to “get rid of” 15GB of stuff so much more room now, thanks for the advice.
One last question, do I install after running the Live DVD or go straight to Install Peppermint from the first screen?
Degsy
I would say it’s best to run from the live session 
Good luck
Graeme
Boot to the LiveCD desktop … then select the “Install Peppermint” icon on the desktop.
A few people said they had issues when installing from the menu’s … AFAIK it was only in a virtual machine that the problem arose, but the desktop icon worked fine … you should be OK either way, but just to be sure, do it from the Live session desktop.
Thank you, about to do the install in the next couple of hours.
Cheers everyone,
Degsy
Right I have a question,
My screen now shows under the heading “installation type”
/dev/sda1 fat16. 90mb. 33mb used. Dell utility partition
/dev/sda/2 NTSC. 112801mb. Unknown used. Windows xp media centre edition
/dev/sda5 fat32. 2146 mb. 815 mb used Microsoft windows xp embedded
/dev/sda4 fat32 4984mb 3255mb.
What do I change from here please.
Degsy
I’m not sure exactly where you are
I’m trying to do this from memory but it looks like you’re in the partition manager.
Did you reach a point where you were given 3 options,
(1) Install alongside Windows
(2) Use Entire Disc
(3) Something else
I could be wrong but it looks like you chose option 3 if so go back and choose option 1 (Install alongside Windows) otherwise I’m reluctant to give you any further advice at this point as I don’t want to screw things up for you and there are other people on here better qualified than me to advise you
Graeme
I didn’t get the option to install alongside windows so I did choose option 3 as you mentioned it. I was expecting to get the option to install alongside windows but as I said it didn’t happen, hence I’m stuck.
Ok so you are in the partition manager,
I’m sure you can install from there but I wouldn’t dare try to advise you how to do it, I’ve never understood that partition table
So the best advice I can give you is sit tight and I’m sure someone smarter than me will pick this up and talk you through it
Sorry i can’t be much more help at this point but I’d rather back down now than screw this up for you and I’d like to see you get this right
Good luck
Graeme
Thanks Graeme, I will sit tight and wait for an expert.
Degsy
Looking at the partition table you posted I would suggest to ABORT the installation.
Whilst in the LiveCD enviroment can you open up the Terminal with CTRL+ALT+T
and post the output from this command (that is lowercase L):
sudo fdisk -l
I did abort the installation, will run your suggestion tomorrow.
Many thanks,
Degsy
as requested the output:
Disk /dev/sda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders, total 234441648 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xe686f016
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 63 176714 88326 de Dell Utility
/dev/sda2 * 176715 220492124 110157705 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 220508190 224701154 2096482+ f W95 Ext’d (LBA)
/dev/sda4 224701155 234436544 4867695 db CP/M / CTOS / …
/dev/sda5 220508253 224701154 2096451 dd Unknown
Hope this is OK
Degsy