HT4929 I am unable to install OS XLion and get a message that it can't be installed on Disk Mackintosh HD because a recovery system can't be created. I am then referred to apple support but am unable to find anything which can help. Can someone help pleas

Question

Unable to install OS X Lion as "...it can't be installed on Disk Mackintosh HD because recovery system can't be created. Visit www.apple......"
Visiting the web pages does not help me can someone please point me in the right direction ?

Answer 1

OK. You have a Boot Camp partition which is why the issue. See the following:
It seems the issue is that the space at the "bottom" of your available space when Lion installs it's partition is already occupied by BootCamp. The fix was to go into Disk Utility; Select your Hard Drive; Select Partition; Move the bottom of your main partition "up" a bit to create a space for Lion; close Disk Utility; Install Lion; once Lion is successfully installed, go back into Disk Partition and drag the bottom of your main partition back "down" to the bottom of the window.
In your case use Disk Utility to "shrink" your OS X partition a little more than 1 GB.
To resize the drive do the following:
1. Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
After the main menu appears select Disk Utility and click on the Continue button. Select the hard drive's main entry then click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
2. You should see the graphical sizing window showing the existing partitions. A portion may appear as a blue rectangle representing the used space on a partition.
3. In the lower right corner of the sizing rectangle for each partition is a resizing gadget. Select it with the mouse and move the bottom of the rectangle upwards until you have reduced the existing partition enough to create the desired empty space. The space below the resized partition will appear gray. Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed. 
Remember that you only need to shrink the OS X partition a little more than 1 GB. Now, when you try the Mountain Lion installation the installer will be able to make the Recovery HD.