Vista Installer Deleted Ubuntu Partition

[s3MA00RRNY]

I'm having a really strange problem. I recently resized my home partition so I could install Windows at the end of the drive. Then I created an NTFS partition in that space, and marked it as bootable. After that I went into the Vista installer and tried to use that partition. I guess Vista doesn't like logical partitions, because it didn't work.

So I got the stupid idea of trying to delete that partition and recreate it from the Vista installer. Now my system partition disappeared. :(

This is what my layout looked like before:



Boot
Extended

Ubuntu
Swap
Linux From Scratch
Home



And this is what it was supposed to look like:


Boot
Extended

Ubuntu
Swap
Linux From Scratch
Home
NTFS



And this is what Vista did:


Boot
Extended

Empty
Swap
Linux From Scratch
Home
Empty



I still have my home, so I can install if I have to, but I really don't want to. Testdisk successfully finds the partition, so we'll see how that works. I'm just wondering why Vista did this, and how I can prevent it from happening again.

[sydbat]

I'm having a really strange problem. I recently resized my home partition so I could install Windows at the end of the drive. Then I created an NTFS partition in that space, and marked it as bootable. After that I went into the Vista installer and tried to use that partition. I guess Vista doesn't like logical partitions, because it didn't work.

So I got the stupid idea of trying to delete that partition and recreate it from the Vista installer. Now my system partition disappeared. :(

This is what my layout looked like before:



Boot
Extended

Ubuntu
Swap
Linux From Scratch
Home



And this is what it was supposed to look like:


Boot
Extended

Ubuntu
Swap
Linux From Scratch
Home
NTFS



And this is what Vista did:


Boot
Extended

Empty
Swap
Linux From Scratch
Home
Empty



I still have my home, so I can install if I have to, but I really don't want to. Testdisk successfully finds the partition, so we'll see how that works. I'm just wondering why Vista did this, and how I can prevent it from happening again.I think your signature answers that question...

Windows likes to be first. I suspect Vista figured the first available partition space rightfully belonged to it. I also believe that Windows needs to be put onto a Primary partition (at least it used to).

[s3MA00RRNY]

Thanks for your answer. I figured it was something like that. I'll try resizing my extended partition and installing Vista again now that I'm back in business. I just hope it doesn't wreck anything else. Even though I have a backup it's a pain to restore.

[oldfred]

Windows does not have to be first, but it just about has to be installed in a primary partition. The only way to install to an extended is to have a windows install in a primary so it can boot thru that primary partition.

To get each MS to have its own boot loader make a primary partition and set its boot flag on, then install the 2nd product in it. Multibooters, Pictures here worth 1000+ words
http://www.multibooters.co.uk/multiboot.html
A user who installed two windows & it worked to boot from grub directly
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1271600

[JK3mp]

Windows 7 works a WHOLE lot better with other partitions/OS installations. I was able to easily install it on an already partitioned drive. Vista was a pain. Gotta love MS.