Can't see Windows SSD from USB-booted linux

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I have a a bootable USB stick with Ubuntu Mate 18.04.3 on it. It boots fine, but I can’t see my Windows disk from it.  Windows is set to UEFI boot, Secure Boot is disabled, and the disk is not encrypted with Bitlocker. My machine is a Dell Latitude 7390 running Win 10 Pro.  Can anyone tell me what to do to be able to see my Windows disk from within the USB-booted linux?

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Start by looking in Settings\Network & Internet\Sharing Options
Be sure Network Discovery and file and Printer sahring are turned on.

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bmeacham wrote:

Can anyone tell me what to do to be able to see my Windows disk from within the USB-booted linux?

… just to clarify, this is the same hardware and not a

PKCano wrote:

Network

shared disk over network?

Well, do you see *any* block devices? There’s something that can trip people up, NVMe disks are /dev/nvme* … not /dev/sd*.

Also according to https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=dell-xps7390-ubuntu1910&num=1 that model may need a newer Linux kernel than baseline on Ubuntu 18.04:

For those on older Linux distributions you may need to blacklist intel_lpss_pci and jump through a few other hoops, but for those planning to run Ubuntu 19.10 that will be officially released next week, the experience is largely trouble-free. Ubuntu 19.10 features the Linux 5.3 kernel that is largely in great shape for Ice Lake with the main caveat being the Thunderbolt support… Only with Linux 5.4 will there be Ice Lake Thunderbolt support in order,

You can get a 5.3 kernel on 18.04 Ubuntu already, after the base OS has been installed… as in the -hwe-18.04-edge packages… if it’s a real installation on disk and not a casper-based liveusb. So, you might have a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem right now.

5.3 is supposed to get to the “less risky” non-Edge HWE branches in February, for Ubuntu 18.04.4, so the 18.04.4 liveusb should work better for you once it’s available.

With that hardware, I expect you’ll keep an eye on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS…

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BTW, other resources with that Dell model:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Dell/XPS/XPS-13-7390-2-in-1

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dell_XPS_13_2-in-1_(7390)

… apparently this is another of those that default to RAID mode for disks.

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[bmeacham]

mn– wrote:

… just to clarify, this is the same hardware and not a shared disk over network?

Yes, same hardware, not on a network. The USB stick is in one of the ports on the laptop.

Also according to https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=dell-xps7390-ubuntu1910&num=1 that model may need a newer Linux kernel than baseline on Ubuntu 18.04. … Ubuntu 19.10 features the Linux 5.3 kernel that is largely in great shape for Ice Lake with the main caveat being the Thunderbolt support.

That sounds plausible.

You can get a 5.3 kernel on 18.04 Ubuntu already, after the base OS has been installed… as in the -hwe-18.04-edge packages… if it’s a real installation on disk and not a casper-based liveusb. So, you might have a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem right now.

It’s a casper-based liveusb, so I guess I’ll try Ubuntu 19.10. Thanks.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 5 months ago by bmeacham.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 5 months ago by bmeacham.

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Also might need to either install mdadm and friends, or do the RAID->AHCI boot mode juggle.

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Well, rats, Ubuntu 19.10 doesn’t see my disk either. I run Disks, and all I see is the USB stick I installed Ubuntu on. I presume that if Ubuntu could see my host Windows disk, I could mount it, but Ubuntu doesn’t see it at all. Does anyone have any more ideas?

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Did you check if the disk mode is set to RAID in the firmware (“BIOS”, even it’s an incorrect term with UEFI) settings?

If it is, apparently it may need to be changed to AHCI. There’s a long-standing issue with some Intel RAID types with NVMe on Linux, see https://www.spinics.net/lists/raid/msg62396.html … and it appears that Intel made it that way on purpose.

The explanation on why this isn’t supported on Linux is rather technical but I would have to agree with the reasoning… as well as with the opinion that a device that behaves as described, is by definition broken.

Really, looking into this I’d STRONGLY recommend taking that thing to AHCI mode even if you just run Windows on it… “NVMe hotplug is out of scope”, really now, Intel? With NVMe Thunderbolt3 devices sold as “USB-C fast SSD” even, and then the Thunderbolt3-connected full-size PCIe enclosures…

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[TJ]

Isn’t this just a case of mounting the Windows partition in Disks?
(However, since you use a live usb, I don’t know if any change will persist after reboot. If not, you’ll probably have to create a live usb with persistence first: https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/14912/create-a-persistent-bootable-ubuntu-usb-flash-drive/)

I don’t run Linux from a Live cd/pendrive anymore; it is installed on an external drive, but in my case I don’t see any Windows disk or partition by default. In order to see it/load it, I have to trigger it via Disks and then reboot.

In this example (in Linux Mint) I want my Windows 7 partition on the 500GB disk to show up. So I highlight it in the left pane, then I highlight the Windows 7 partition.

And click on the gear icon and choose “Edit Mount Options”.

Which triggers this menu

When I switch it to “OFF” I can activate “Mount at system startup” and “Show in user interface”, and click OK. (The Windows partition will now be marked with an asterisk: *.)

Job done. After reboot it shows up on my desktop and is fully accessible.

Hope it works for you.

LMDE is my daily driver now. Old friend Win10 keeps spinning in the background

• This reply was modified 5 years, 5 months ago by TJ.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 5 months ago by TJ.

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TJ wrote:

Isn’t this just a case of mounting the Windows partition in Disks?

By now would expect that it’s more complicated, given:

bmeacham wrote:

I run Disks, and all I see is the USB stick I installed Ubuntu on. I presume that if Ubuntu could see my host Windows disk, I could mount it, but Ubuntu doesn’t see it at all.

So. I’d look into the RAID mode / AHCI mode setting.

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Right, but given the “could” in that sentence, I’m not sure whether bmeacham actually did and if so, did the change persist after reboot – given the live usb situation?
(Check Disks after reboot to see if there’s still an asterisk on the Windows partition)

Just my 2 cents

LMDE is my daily driver now. Old friend Win10 keeps spinning in the background

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TJ wrote:

I’m not sure whether bmeacham actually did

I ran Disks and saw no Windows partition. Same whether the session was persistent or not (I tried various flavors of Ubuntu, some persistent, some not.)

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My money would be on a lack of disk controller drivers in Ubuntu.
Run it up in Windows and get the exact details of the disk controller, including the Device ID numbers, then look up Linux drivers for said controller.

cheers, Paul

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Note, no released Linux drivers exist for that Intel chipset in RAID mode, because of a specific design feature that Linux kernel developers disagree with Intel on.

Yes, apparently the discussion went approximately so as,
Kernel guy: We need to have device identifier x exposed in RAID mode too to prevent accidental overwriting of data when condition y happens.
Intel: The chipset doesn’t expose that identifier at all.
Kernel guy: Well that means we’re not taking that risk.

Apparently the Windows driver just goes ahead and…

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PaulT

My money would be on a lack of disk controller drivers in Ubuntu.

I agree. For example, since Dell introduced new and improved NVMe interface for SSD, I cannot make system images with AcronisTrueImage 2017. It just doesnt see the disk and says, that there is nothing to backup. Additional drivers are required – or a newer version of the program, which can handle this.

Whats your disk interface, @bmeacham?

Dell Latitude 3420, Intel Core i7 @ 2.8 GHz, 16GB RAM, W10 22H2 Enterprise

HAL3000, AMD Athlon 200GE @ 3,4 GHz, 8GB RAM, Fedora 29

PRUSA i3 MK3S+

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Paul T wrote:

get the exact details of the disk controller, including the Device ID numbers

Sorry, how do I do that? In Device Manager I see Intel(R) Chipset SATA/PCIe RST Premium Controller and a bunch of drivers, but where is the device ID?

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bmeacham wrote:

Paul T wrote:

get the exact details of the disk controller, including the Device ID numbers

Sorry, how do I do that? In Device Manager I see Intel(R) Chipset SATA/PCIe RST Premium Controller and a bunch of drivers, but where is the device ID?

In Device Manager, highlight the disk controller, right-click, select Properties, select the Details tab, then select Hardware Ids:

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