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Windows 10 Anniversary Update Borks Dual-Boot Partitions (omgubuntu.co.uk)

Windows 10 Anniversary Update may affect and even delete other partitions on the same disk, OMGUbuntu is reporting, citing several complaints by users. "Broken boot loaders on an update are one thing but losing data, even entire partitions?" asks the author. Microsoft-centric news blog WindowsReport is corroborating on the report, adding that in some cases, the new OS was not able to detect some partitions. It says (edited): Many users are reporting that some of their partitions disappeared after installing the Anniversary Update. Usually, it's the smallest partition that disappears, although we couldn't say for sure whether the partition is deleted or if Windows simply doesn't detect it. Some users are saying that the partition is not allocated, while others can detect it once they install third-party partition management applications.We have reached out to Microsoft for clarification, and will update the post when we hear back from them.

15 of 281 comments (clear)

  1. happened to me today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    lost my primary Linux partition which was my main OS. could not recover partition intact, only 120,000 files recovered with photorec. will use VMs in future if I need windows for anything

    1. Re: happened to me today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      So you don't do regular scheduled backups? Let this be a lesson for you.

    2. Re:happened to me today by psm321 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Try testdisk (generally comes in the same package as photorec). It can find filesystems and fix the partition table

    3. Re: happened to me today by ITRambo · · Score: 4, Informative

      I disagree with your claiming that it's more the users fault than Microsoft's. MS is doing whatever they feel like doing to users computers, these days. Time to find alternatives. I personally researched many Linux distros (tested Live) and found that Mint 18 does everything that I need it to do. LibreOffice, included, opens all my Excel, Word and Publisher files perfectly. It can't save in Publisher's file format, but it can open it. Windows 10 is no longer needed by most computer users, especially those that just surf the web and check their email.

  2. Re:Bork by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No, it's more like "fuck", as in "Microsoft is fucking over anyone who puts another OS on their computer."

    Good ol' Microsoft. Still evil after all these years.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  3. Just wait until Windows has systemd by mpercy · · Score: 4, Funny

    I cannot imagine a worse combination.

  4. pretty sure this has always been the case... by The-Ixian · · Score: 4, Insightful

    As in, installing Windows after installing Linux will mess with the boot loader.

    Everyone running a dual boot system should already be aware of this since the recommendation is always to install Linux second.

    New major updates to Windows 10 are basically entirely new operating systems. They just make the process more transparent these days.

    --
    My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
    1. Re:pretty sure this has always been the case... by RKThoadan · · Score: 4, Informative

      This is more than that... if the reports are true. They are reporting that it's messing with and deleting other partitions on the hard disk. It sounds like it's at lease messing with the partition table.

    2. Re:pretty sure this has always been the case... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      > They are reporting that it's messing with and deleting other partitions on the hard disk. It sounds like it's at lease messing with the partition table.

      The Win10 upgrader (from Win7) did exactly this to my Linux partitions.

      The upgrader needed a few hundred MB of space to create some sort of rescue partition. Rather than resize the 1TB NTFS primary partition at the front of the disk (of which 900GB were free) it decided that (because it didn't recognize the filesystem type in the partition) it was okay to _delete_ the first logical partition, resize the extended partition by a few hundred MB, and move the extended partition down. It then made another primary partition in front of the newly moved extended partition and formatted that primary partition with NTFS.

      I've _never_ had a Windows installer do so much damage. Overwriting the bootloader? Sure! That's shitty, but entirely reasonable. Deleting partitions that aren't FAT* or NTFS because you don't recognize what they are and -thus- assume that they're unused? That's _incredibly_ shitty.

      This is the kinder, more open-source friendly Microsoft, guys.

      I hope to hell that this Win10 update doesn't put me through this shit again. That wasn't a fun day.

  5. Metered Connection is your Friend by Sydin · · Score: 4, Informative

    While I imagine I'll have to bite the bullet on my sole Win 10 machine eventually and download the anniversary edition, I intentionally set it to "Metered Connection" for exactly this reason. I like to let major updates hit and assess the impact for a few days before taking the plunge, and currently telling Windows you're on a metered connection is the only way to get it to not automatically download updates. Looks like I'll be waiting a bit longer than I thought - would not appreciate my Linux partition going up in smoke.

  6. Locked BIOS interface by LichtSpektren · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I wonder how long until some automatic Windows 10 update will disable altering any BIOS settings via some rootkit for "security" reasons. I mean, if they're not going to get hit with antitrust violations or charges of abusing their customers for all of the things they've done already (force Windows 10 updates on Win7/8. 1 users, telemetry that deceptively appears to be able to be turned off but really can't, no unsigned drivers allowed, uploading BitLocker keys to their servers, remove features during routine updates, uninstall programs during routine updates, ever-growing built-in advertisements, etc.), then they can pretty much just do anything they like, including preventing other operating systems from booting (which, I add, is now the case both on Windows RT tablets and Windows 10 phones).

  7. suicidal update by AkumaKuruma · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I actually had the issue of Windows 10 deleting its OWN partitions. computer started running funny, then it BSODed and then would only boot to a flashing cursor. Booted into repair only to find that my system drive was reporting as 100% available. not even the Windows 10 system partitions were present. nothing could read any semblance of a partition table from the drive to recover any of my data.

  8. Also changes privacy settings by gearloos · · Score: 5, Informative

    Also - It installs Cortana and fully enables it, no surprise there, but if you go into all of the privacy settings it has changed the settings for items like writing monitor to "help Microsoft track how you type". Yeah they need to know that all right... as well as several other items I found had been reverted back to the non private settings. One, the diagnostic phone home, is again on and takes a registry hack to turn it back off again.

    --
    "Computers are a lot like Air Conditioners" "They both work great until you start opening Windows"
  9. Re:Bork by Rob+Y. · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Microsoft Loves Linux*

    *as long as Linux isn't running a GUI. From Microsoft's point of view you don't need a Linux partition any more. You can do your Linux script development under their Ubuntu on Windows thingy - and after all, Linux is only a server OS. No need for the GUI stuff. Of course no current Linux desktop users are going to be satisfied with that - but maybe some folks will find it useful as an addon to their current Windows-centric desktop worlds.

    It seems like MS has accepted that they've lost the battle (if not the war) as far as Linux as a cloud-based app server is concerned. But it looks like they're still hoping that's the only place Linux will get traction. Of course, it's already got traction in mobile too, and MS seems resigned to that. But they're still in panic mode where the traditional is concerned. It's bad enough that they can't do anything about this ChromeOS thing. But on desktop PC's that also run Windows, they're still in control...

    --
    Posted from my Android phone. Oh, I can change this? There, that's better...
  10. Typical of MS by melting_clock · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Back in the late 1990's I was dual booting Windows and Linux. A PC magazine had included a CD with an early version Red Hat Linux and ran a series of articles on the strange OS. Linux had no problems dealing with the Windows partitions.

    Move forward a bit to Windows XP and more dual booting.Commercial and free partition managers support Linux partitions. Windows would still screw with Linux partition, particularly when installing Windows, so having keeping each OS on a separate physical HDD became critical. That way you could unplug the Linux drive to protect it from MS incompetence. Amusingly, Linux could mount Windows partitions to transfer files over and I was able to install a driver on Windows that allowed Windows to mount Linux partitions, however, Windows XP had no native support for non-windows partitions. Linux proves to be more capable in key area than Windows but I'm still using WInXP as my main OS.

    Jump forward to Windows 7 and Linux dual booting. The situation has improved a bit because you could technically let Win7 manage booting mulitple OS but it still screws with Linux partitions and has no native support for Linux partition types. Linux still does a better job and I can go months without booting into Windows anyway. More commercial software supports Linux, including games, and the open source applications available have greatly improved to the point of being better than MS products. I really hated the ribbon interface nonsense in MS Office because it reduced my productivity, it was nearly a stupid as having some animated paperclip jumping around on your screen while you're trying to work...

    Windows 8 appears and I decided than if I'm ever forced to replace Win7 I'll just give up on dual booting and just stick with Linux full time. Windows 10 brings spyware and adware built into the OS, setting a new low for MS and having some very surprising side effects; friends, family and people barely know are wanting to know about Linux and how they can get away from Windows 10. There has never been a version of Windows that happily coexists with another OS, why would anyone be surprised that Win10 is breaking Linux dual boots? It is either intentionally evil or supreme incompetence; MS has a history of both.