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Ok so here is the problem, last night i burned a ubuntu 12.10 on a disc, GREAT! bootable ubuntu disc, however i am aware that i need to make some partitions in my HD to accomidate this in order to dual boot, however in my disc manager on both windows and ubuntu I have 4 partitions already on my disc Drive they are labeled as follows 

Windows7_OS(c:) NTFS (system boot,page file,ACtive,CrASH dump, Primary partition) 262.81 gb capacity , 174.29 gb free space
LENOVO (D:) NTFS (Primary Partition) 25.47 gb capactity, 21.79 gb free space
(E:) NTFS  ( primary partition) 200mb capactity, 165 mb free space
unlabeled  (OEM partition ) 19.53gb capactity, 9.53 gb free space

Lastnight i made an error and tried partitioning my harddrive in ububntu and windows would not boot so i had to go and undo my partition(s) that i made off the windows 7 parition and everything worked fine again, now i boot windows go into disc management and shrunk my windows partiton to the size it is now in windows and i now have 363.05 gb Unallocated disc space available, how do i use this space when i already have 4 partitions and how do i partition properly so i dont loose windows in the process, my ubuntu will not give me the install option alongside windows, just the advanced option and completely errasing windows and installing ubuntu, any help please, i am a noob in this dept and dont want to wreck my rather new computer.... thank you anyone who can help!!

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  • Four primary partition is usually the limit. You can't create more without deleting one, which night be a clever way to prevent users with messing around. You may want to try your Windows installer.
    – mikewhatever
    Jan 13, 2013 at 16:43
  • So, what is my unlabeled OEM partition doing then? it has no disc space used and is just empty so to speak, also since i shrunk my windows7 drive in windows disc manager i have that 363.05 gb unallocated disc space that now cannot be made into a partition because i already got 4 on the go right? Now what do i do, oh god this turned out to be alot more complicated then i would like, but i still want to dual boot ubuntu and windows without the disc..
    – Travis
    Jan 13, 2013 at 16:47
  • According to the data you've posted above, the OEM partition takes ap 19.53GB, of which about 10GB is not free. Why do you think "it has no disc space used and is just empty"?
    – mikewhatever
    Jan 13, 2013 at 17:00

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first important step:

USE WINDOWS 7 to resize the partition smaller from which you will take a "bite" to install ubuntu on. so like I had reduced my Windows C partition for 20 GB (unformatted).

Then boot into Ubuntu and it will automatically take this space to install it into. I had not to choose.

While you can of course use the manual way to have extra partition for /home or so, it is not necessary.

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I've also found that reducing the size of Windows 7 partition by using its own Disk Management tool to make room for Ubuntu prevents possible booting problems for Windows 7.

After having a smaller Windows 7 partition that boots without any problem, you have to (at least temporarily) delete one of you existing primary partitions and create a new EXTENDED partition under which you can then create many more LOGICAl partitions. For example, you can MOVE your existing DATA in drive D: (LENOVO) to somewhere else for this purpose.

You can then create a 20GB partition for Ubuntu installation, a 4GB partition for Linux-Swap, and use the rest of the space for the previous drive D.

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  • ok so in ubuntu GparteD i have my 4 partitions labeled /ddev/sda1, dev/sda2, dev/sda3. and of course dev/sda4. 3 and 4 are labeled Lenovo and Lenovo_PART respectivly, now would i combine them? or delete one all together, i dont want to do something i will regret later, and when i try and move one in general in GParteD i dont have the option to combine them it seems, i just dont want to loose any thing important
    – Travis
    Jan 13, 2013 at 17:32
  • I think it might be risky to touch this: "unlabeled (OEM partition ) 19.53gb capactity, 9.53 gb free space" as it might perhaps include important image files from the PC manufacturer. I also think it might be risky to touch this as well: "(E:) NTFS ( primary partition) 200mb capacity, 165 mb free space" as it might include Windows 7 bootloader. That's why my suggestion would be to start Windows and see what you've got in this: "LENOVO (D:) NTFS (Primary Partition) 25.47 gb capacity, 21.79 gb free space". It probably includes user folders and files which can be safely moved somewhere else.
    – Sadi
    Jan 13, 2013 at 19:07

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