Partitions created with mkfs.ntfs not recognised by Windows 7

**vishwap** · 2nd February 2010, 08:53 PM

Hi all

I have been using fedora 12 for quite some time. When i first installed Fedora on my new system i created 2 ntfs partitions on the hard disk using mkfs.ntfs and in the space at the end of the disk i have Fedora. recently i tried installing Win7 but it didnt recognise the partitions even tho they are NTFS!! I had to format 1st partition from setup to install Win7. After boot i find that Win7 doesn't recognise the 2nd partition as welL!!

The partitions are working fine in Fedora... Please help.

Thanks,
Vishwa

**jpollard** · 2nd February 2010, 09:31 PM

Welcome to windows, where nothing is standard.

The best way I know of to do that is to always create the partition and filesystem
on Windows.

**avatarsmith** · 3rd February 2010, 08:26 AM

search for an update for your extfs connector for windows, F12 defaults to ext4. you could reinstall F12 on an ext3/ext2 partition instead.

**Dies** · 3rd February 2010, 03:16 PM

Originally Posted by avatarsmith

search for an update for your extfs connector for windows, F12 defaults to ext4. you could reinstall F12 on an ext3/ext2 partition instead.

It's almost like you didn't even read the post....

@ vishwap

For what it's worth, Windows 7 picks up all my ntfs partitions without issue and they were all created with gparted. I would suggest trying a different version of ntfsprogs to see if it's a regression or maybe even something introduced in Fedora?

**vishwap** · 3rd February 2010, 05:45 PM

Keeping "trying-new-things" aside, the 2nd partition is 400+GB!

and it's almost full... i cant access that data from windows

i was hoping for a solution that can make the drive "NTFS-Windows" compatible

Was wondering what the problem might be! After all fedora reads NTFS partitions perfectly why cant it create one?

**Dies** · 3rd February 2010, 07:56 PM

Originally Posted by vishwap

Keeping "trying-new-things" aside, the 2nd partition is 400+GB!

and it's almost full... i cant access that data from windows

i was hoping for a solution that can make the drive "NTFS-Windows" compatible

Fair enough, but I didn't say that you needed to use that partition to test.

If you don't have a USB drive or partition you can spare to test with then not sure what to tell you.

Originally Posted by vishwap

Was wondering what the problem might be!

Who knows? You haven't given us enough information...

A screenshot from Windows "Disk Management" utility, and maybe the output from Linux 'fdisk -ls', would be a start.

Originally Posted by vishwap

After all fedora reads NTFS partitions perfectly why cant it create one?

I already told you it does. If you choose not to believe me then that's on you.

Without knowing what version of ntfsprogs / options you used to create these partitions it's impossible for anyone to even try to duplicate your issue.

**vishwap** · 3rd February 2010, 09:12 PM

Here is the output of fdisk -ls

Code:

[root@localhost vishwa]# fdisk -ls

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000e60d0

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1        3917    31461376    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2            3918       56918   425730532+  83  Linux
/dev/sda3           56919       56944      204800   83  Linux
/dev/sda4           56945       60801    30981352+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5           56945       60320    27111424   83  Linux
/dev/sda6           60320       60801     3866623+  82  Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 2124 MB, 2124283904 bytes
66 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1013 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 4092 * 512 = 2095104 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0001d85f

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               1        1013     2072567    b  W95 FAT32

Well what the hell! I created those partitions usig mkfs.ntfs but the partition type shown by fdisk is Linux!
Mount command output shows that the type of partition is ext4! I'm sure i used mkfs.ntfs and not mkfs.ext4

Anyways is there a way to convert ext4 to ntfs?

And thanks for the reply Dies

I created the partitions as follows:

1) Boot from fedora 12 live-usb.
2) Make partitions on new disk using fdisk.
3) Format partitions 1 & 2 using mkfs.ntfs -f /dev/sda1 and mkfs.ntfs -f /dev/sda2

Fdisk shows partition 1 to be NTFS because i re-formatted it using WIn7.

**Dies** · 3rd February 2010, 09:41 PM

Originally Posted by vishwap

Well what the hell! I created those partitions usig mkfs.ntfs but the partition type shown by fdisk is Linux!
Mount command output shows that the type of partition is ext4! I'm sure i used mkfs.ntfs and not mkfs.ext4

LMAO...

Originally Posted by vishwap

Anyways is there a way to convert ext4 to ntfs?

No, I'm sorry.

Well, I guess you need to start moving stuff around and then re-format and move it back, assuming you have enough space to do it.

**SlowJet** · 3rd February 2010, 10:42 PM

Originally Posted by vishwap

Here is the output of fdisk -ls

Code:

[root@localhost vishwa]# fdisk -ls

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000e60d0

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1        3917    31461376    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2            3918       56918   425730532+  83  Linux
/dev/sda3           56919       56944      204800   83  Linux
/dev/sda4           56945       60801    30981352+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5           56945       60320    27111424   83  Linux
/dev/sda6           60320       60801     3866623+  82  Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 2124 MB, 2124283904 bytes
66 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1013 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 4092 * 512 = 2095104 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0001d85f

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               1        1013     2072567    b  W95 FAT32

Well what the hell! I created those partitions usig mkfs.ntfs but the partition type shown by fdisk is Linux!
Mount command output shows that the type of partition is ext4! I'm sure i used mkfs.ntfs and not mkfs.ext4

Anyways is there a way to convert ext4 to ntfs?

And thanks for the reply Dies

I created the partitions as follows:

1) Boot from fedora 12 live-usb.
2) Make partitions on new disk using fdisk.
3) Format partitions 1 & 2 using mkfs.ntfs -f /dev/sda1 and mkfs.ntfs -f /dev/sda2

Fdisk shows partition 1 to be NTFS because i re-formatted it using WIn7.

Formatting does not set the partition type, that is an extra step in fdisk.
If the partition was created in Linux the default is 83 linux.

SJ

**live11** · 3rd February 2010, 11:18 PM

Originally Posted by vishwap

Keeping "trying-new-things" aside . . .

Was wondering what the problem might be! After all fedora reads NTFS partitions perfectly why cant it create one?

I have been really surprised just how different the handful of different partition utilities really are sometimes . . .
they are not all created equally -
and especially in the eyes of Windows which doesn't see beyond the end of it's (msdos or ntfs) nose anyway, as you all know.

But, at the risk of trying new things . . .

try parted

I have made ntfs partitioons before - though not for Windows 7 purposes ( either yet or expected ever) -
and can't recall exactly which utility I used, but thought of parted.

I do recall that parted has done some amazing resizing of FAT32 and then even keeping data for me . . .
I had to show a co-worker and we didn't believe such a thing was really possible.

ok I understand not the same situation, but then I just checked the man parted pages to verify
it does work for ntfs partitions as well.

Code:

PARTED(8)                      GNU Parted Manual                     PARTED(8)

NAME
       GNU Parted - a partition manipulation program

. . .
[command [options]]
. . .
mkpart part-type [fs-type] start end
                     Make  a  part-type  partition with filesystem fs-type (if
                     specified), beginning at start  and  ending  at  end  (by
                     default  in  megabytes).   fs-type can be one of "fat16",
                     "fat32", "ext2", "HFS", "linux-swap", "NTFS", "reiserfs",
                     or  "ufs".   part-type should be one of "primary", "logi-
                     cal", or "extended".

I say it could be worth a "try".

Happy partitioning in Fedora.

**Dies** · 3rd February 2010, 11:44 PM

@ live11

It doesn't matter what partitioning tool you use on Linux, as far as I know they will all have to make use of ntfsprogs.

Originally Posted by SlowJet

Formatting does not set the partition type, that is an extra step in fdisk.
If the partition was created in Linux the default is 83 linux.

SJ

Would the 'mount' command still report it as ext though? I would expect it to show it as fuse if it was actually formatted as ntfs and successfully mounted somewhere.

Hmm, now I'm curious about that, I'll have to test in a virtual machine later...

**live11** · 4th February 2010, 12:57 AM

Originally Posted by Dies

It doesn't matter what partitioning tool you use on Linux . . .

. . . not with me or some of the machines/drives I've partitioned at least

Originally Posted by SlowJet

Formatting does not set the partition type, that is an extra step . . .

Yes, also the partition type . . . primary /extended / logical . . . is asked/prompted for when using cfdisk and also when partitioning with parted -

I wonder why it doesn't come up at all with sfdisk though - very different.

sfdisk does prompt at end for a write to disk (ynq) . . .(yes/no/quit)
as well as does cfdisk which also prompts after you highlight and enter the [write] choice with question like "all data will be lost on partition write to disk ?(yes/no).

But careful with the powerfully different parted - a different utility with powers to resize partitions . . .

So with parted you first select device " parted> select /dev/sda" and then it will prompt first for partition number, then for the partition type

Code:

parted>mkpart
Partition Number[1] >
[primary/extended/logical]>

and then prompts for fs-type and start and end (although you could make all this one line in code as like in man page above or say usb-creator code does

Code:

[ext2] > ntfs
start[x] >[press enter for default x] or enter other
end[y] >[press enter for default y] or enter some other

but with parted you don't get the "back-out of it" choice (ynq) or (yes/no) as with sfdisk or cfdisk respectively . . .
with parted, the last <enter> just does it . . .
actually almost a bit scary the first time to be sure.

Obviously, these partition utilities do seem to make some difference to not only how Windows sees them at least . . .
but sometimes cfdisk doesn't seem to write a partition that even sfdisk can see the same.
(and a windows fat32. fs-type that does show up on sfdisk -l does NOT get seen with cfdisk -l)

The different partition utilities are doing something different from my use of them anyway.
http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=236465

Trying partitioning with virtual machines seems like a really useless endeavor.

Bottom line -
in my experience I'll guess that you should be able to create Windows (fat/vfat or ntfs) partitions with linux parted utility
that even Windows 7 can read - unless M$ has really messed up this time.

**Dies** · 4th February 2010, 02:17 AM

Originally Posted by live11

. . .
Trying partitioning with virtual machines seems like a really useless endeavor.
...

So I guess your suggestion is to use one of my actual hard drives just to run some silly test.

I think I'll pass on that.

As far as the rest of your posts I have no idea where you're going with them...

Just to recap, the OP apparently thought he formatted the partitions using a certain filesystem when in reality he didn't. He could have made that mistake with any partitioning tool you can think of and the end result would be the same, Windows does not understand ext4, period, no matter what tool created it.

---------- Post added at 08:17 PM CST ---------- Previous post was at 07:41 PM CST ----------

Just thought I'd share the results of my "useless endeavor".

Code:

virtual-builder Desktop # fdisk -ls

Disk /dev/sda: 8589 MB, 8589934592 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1044 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000aec37

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1         928     7454128+  83  Linux
/dev/sda2             929         993      522112+  83  Linux
/dev/sda3             994        1044      409657+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5             994        1044      409626   82  Linux swap / Solaris

virtual-builder Desktop # mkfs.ntfs -f /dev/sda2
Cluster size has been automatically set to 4096 bytes.
Creating NTFS volume structures.
mkntfs completed successfully. Have a nice day.

virtual-builder Desktop # fdisk -ls

Disk /dev/sda: 8589 MB, 8589934592 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1044 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000aec37

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1         928     7454128+  83  Linux
/dev/sda2             929         993      522112+  83  Linux
/dev/sda3             994        1044      409657+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5             994        1044      409626   82  Linux swap / Solaris

virtual-builder Desktop # mount
/dev/sda1 on / type ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
none on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620)
none on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
none on /var/run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
none on /var/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /lib/init/rw type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/builder/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=builder)
/dev/sda2 on /media/5AF972B957BF3F75 type fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,default_permissions,blksize=4096)

virtual-builder Desktop #

**live11** · 4th February 2010, 02:42 AM

Originally Posted by Dies

So I guess your suggestion . . .

just another wrong guess of yours in this thread

So just to recap for those that can't read very well yet . . .

Originally Posted by vishwap

Hi all

. . .i created 2 ntfs partitions on the hard disk using mkfs.ntfs and in the space at the end of the disk i have Fedora. recently i tried installing Win7 but it didn't recognize the partitions even tho they are NTFS!! I

Originally Posted by Dies

He could have made that mistake with any partitioning tool you can think of and the end result would be the same, Windows does not understand ext4, period, no matter what tool created it.

The poster vishwap did NOT make any mistake by formatting in ext4 - he didn't make an ext4 filesystem type.
So there is no real need to be disingenuous and misleading.

He made the mistake by using a partitioning utiility to make a NTFS filesystem that Windows 7 should - but by his post here - didn't recognize.
It can and unfortunately DOES happens with the different partition utility to be sure.
But it was ntfs he tried to make and yet Windows couldn't pick it up - an unpleasant and unexpected surprise.

He complained it was a Fedora problem - it is NOT.
Not all partition utility in linux are the same - that is what my post says - certain from my experience.
If you don't want to believe that, then try for yourself.

I can offer you a suggestion for practicing partitioning so you can try the different partition utilities,
and then you might be able to comment a little more intelligently than proudly proclaiming
that you'll experiment with a virtual machine and somehow then learn something for us all about how to partition. Uggh.
That will be a whopper failure of your test protocol . . . but go ahead . . . try and try again.
A waste of time, but maybe you'll learn at least that.

But let us know if you really want our suggestion on how to practice usefully with the partition utilities -
and nothing to do with your hard drive - so you can learn from your time on this forum - hopefully.

Originally Posted by Dies

Just thought I'd share the results of my "useless endeavor"

So what does he learn - that it doesn't work . . . ok so it is not totally useless . . . for YOU.

**Dies** · 4th February 2010, 02:48 AM

Originally Posted by live11

just another wrong guess of yours in this thread

So just to recap for those that can't read very well yet . . .

The poster vishwap did NOT make any mistake by formatting in ext4 - he didn't make an ext4 filesystem type.
So there is no real need to be disingenuous and misleading.

He made the mistake by using a partitioning utiility to make a NTFS filesystem that Windows 7 should - but by his post here - didn't recognize.
It can and unfortunately DOES happens with the different partition utility to be sure.
But it was ntfs he tried to make and yet Windows couldn't pick it up - an unpleasant and unexpected surprise.

He complained it was a Fedora problem - it is NOT.
Not all partition utility in linux are the same - that is what my post says - certain from my experience.
If you don't want to believe that, then try for yourself.

I can offer you a suggestion for practicing partitioning so you can try the different partition utilities,
and then you might be able to comment a little more intelligently than proudly proclaiming
that you'll experiment with a virtual machine and somehow then learn something for us all about how to partition. Uggh.
That will be a whopper failure of your test protocol . . . but go ahead . . . try and try again.
A waste of time, but maybe you'll learn at least that.

But let us know if you really want our suggestion on how to practice usefully with the partition utilities -
and nothing to do with your hard drive - so you can learn from your time on this forum - hopefully.

Wow. I guess you missed this post, huh? Let me know if you need me to make the relevant parts bolder so you can follow along.

Originally Posted by vishwap

Here is the output of fdisk -ls

Code:

[root@localhost vishwa]# fdisk -ls

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000e60d0

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1        3917    31461376    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2            3918       56918   425730532+  83  Linux
/dev/sda3           56919       56944      204800   83  Linux
/dev/sda4           56945       60801    30981352+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5           56945       60320    27111424   83  Linux
/dev/sda6           60320       60801     3866623+  82  Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 2124 MB, 2124283904 bytes
66 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1013 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 4092 * 512 = 2095104 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0001d85f

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               1        1013     2072567    b  W95 FAT32

Well what the hell! I created those partitions usig mkfs.ntfs but the partition type shown by fdisk is Linux!
Mount command output shows that the type of partition is ext4! I'm sure i used mkfs.ntfs and not mkfs.ext4

Anyways is there a way to convert ext4 to ntfs?

And thanks for the reply Dies

I created the partitions as follows:

1) Boot from fedora 12 live-usb.
2) Make partitions on new disk using fdisk.
3) Format partitions 1 & 2 using mkfs.ntfs -f /dev/sda1 and mkfs.ntfs -f /dev/sda2

Fdisk shows partition 1 to be NTFS because i re-formatted it using WIn7.

You'll forgive me if I take your opinions even less seriously now then I did after the first time you posted a bunch of nonsense.

Partitions created with mkfs.ntfs not recognised by Windows 7

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