Boot to Windows and run a file system check, and defrag … then try Gparted again.
Ok doing that now, I have already defragged it, but I’ll do it agian if you think it will help, I’m not sure how to do a file system check though any ideas ?
OK, I’ve found the problem
/dev/sda1 2048 206847 102400 de Dell Utility
Apparently Gparted doesn’t like that designation:
Just trying to figure out the best way around that now
Have you left gparted running and checked if it gets past it after a while ?
BTW, DO NOT delete the Dell Utility partition, I’m reading it may kill the Windows bootloader.
Have you left gparted running and checked if it gets past it after a while ?
I give probably about 10 mins
BTW, DO NOT delete the Dell Utility partition, I'm reading it may kill the Windows bootloader.
Don’t worry I wont 
I’ve just run disc analysis OS (C:) is showing 3% fragmented Disc (D:) 0% and RECOVERY 0%
OK, up to you, but I probably wouldn’t bother too much with the defrag.
Can you boot to PM4, fire up gprated, and whilst it’s running post the output from:
ps -ef | egrep "dosfsck|ntfs"
peppermint@peppermint ~ $ ps -ef | egrep “dosfsck|ntfs”
root 4275 4232 0 20:55 ? 00:00:00 sh -c dosfsck -n -v /dev/sda1
root 4276 4275 97 20:55 ? 00:03:23 dosfsck -n -v /dev/sda1
999 4442 4396 0 20:59 pts/0 00:00:00 egrep dosfsck|ntfs
peppermint@peppermint ~ $
if gparted is still running, run:
sudo kill 4275 4276
did gparted finish loading ?
Don’t do anything yet … just wanna know.
Yes it’s loaded
OK as we’re not going to be changing that partition I GUESS it would be safe to resize the Windows partition but I have NO way of knowing for sure.
Another problem that MAY pop up is that the Peppermint installer may also stick at the partitioning section.
I suppose we could test that by running the peppermint installer, getting to the part that says install “along side Windows / Something else” … selecting “Something else” and seeing if it sees all the partitions.
then backing out of the install.
Do you wanna try that ?
Do you wanna try that ?
I’m happy to follow your advice, remember I have a full disc image backed up so if we screw up we can get back, I also have a windows 7 Ultimate iso
Nothing ventured
Do you want me to close gparted and run the installer to the partition manager and see if it see’s all the partitions ?
OK then … may as well just go ahead and try shrinking the Win7 partition then.
so shrink it from the right towards the left … so you’re leaving empty space to the right
Remember, after applying the changes gpartted will probably attempt to scan the drives again and get stuck … so you’ll need to run
ps -ef | egrep "dosfsck|ntfs"
again, and kill the PID of the running processes.
If you’re not sure what to kill, leave gparte3d running and post the output from that command
Any questions, ask them NOW
ok mission accomplished the pid numbers changed but I worked it out myself (clever huh )
So I have resized and given Windows 117.31gb and Peppermint 105.71gb which is still unallocated do you want me to partition the unallocated space or leave it as is ?
Create an extended partition in it using all the space, but don’t create any partitions inside the extended partition
remember the PID trick
ok done that the new partition is listed as /dev/sda4 (105.71gb) but still showing as “Unallocated”
does this screenshot look ok
spot on
ok, now remember you can still take screenshots during the installation, as we may need to feel our way through this a bit.
OK, close Gparted and fire up the installer by clicking the “Install Peppermint” icon on the desktop.
Work your way through the installer till you get to the screen that offers “install alongside Windows / Something Else” … select “Something else” … and take a screenshot
as requested