Install Linux Alongside Windows.. left or right?!

[chronei]

Soo..

How about that invisible label telling me which side is the partition space made for linux mint lol.

I want 30gb allocated. Should the 30gb be on the left or right side? O_o It's funny; even the documentation doesn't show

[phrosztbyte]

If you mean should Linux partition(s) be before or after Windows, always install Linux after (on the right side) of the hard disk. And make sure Windows is already installed. If you install Windows after you install Linux Windows will just erase the Linux partitions =O But as far as where on the HD to put Linux, in my experience it's better to put Linux after Windows (on the right side in the installation partition window) =)

[moosey]

I think that chronei is doing a dual boot installation to add Linux Mint to an existing Windows machine, and has obviously got to the totally unhelpful setup page where you have the slider control to select how much of the hard drive to use for Linux Mint.

This is a very basic problem, and a piece of very poor design or a bug. As chronei says, even the documentation doesn't help. There is no information as to which side is which!

So, for chronei and anyone else in this situation, my experience when installing Linux Mint 13 Maya alongside Windows XP was that the right-hand side of the slider control is the amount to be taken up by linux, and the left hand side is kept by the existing Windows system.

HTH, and good luck,

Moosey

[741cc]

To shrink a Windows partition, it's advised to defrag a few times and then use the resize tools from within Windows.
Leave a following 30GB space then choose "Install alongside" in the Linux installer.