install spacemacs is very simple.
make sure using emacs version >= 24.5

but the keypoint is to remove “.emacs” file.
it will force emacs to load config from “.emacs.d” folder.

in windows, %HOME% must be set to a path for .emacs.d

Linux:
$ git clone https://github.com/syl20bnr/spacemacs ~/.emacs.d

Windows:
> cd %HOME%
> git clone https://github.com/syl20bnr/spacemacs .emacs.d

on mac os, sometime lock file is very annoying.

every time you edit it, emacs will ask you to choose s,p,q,?,

check more details.
https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Interlocking.html

Here is code to make it work.
;; for mac os x
(setq auto-save-default nil)
(setq create-lockfiles nil)