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I used to be able to choose between booting Ubuntu(default) or using the arrow keys to go down to and pick Windows 10. At some stage, the Windows 10 option simply disappeared - but Ubuntu continued to work fine.

I'd like to recover my Windows 10 partition and use it.

What I've tried so far is:

boot-repair - strangely, in the report, I have mentions of a Windows partition:

sda2: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows 7/2008: NTFS
    Boot sector info:  According to the info in the boot sector, sda2 has 
                       3130845183 sectors, but according to the info from 
                       fdisk, it has 11720779775 sectors.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:

So far so good. Looking into the partitions, however, sda2 doesn't seem quite right:

sudo lsblk -o NAME,FSTYPE,SIZE,MOUNTPOINT,LABEL

sda              5.5T                                    
├─sda1 ext4      128M                                    external-drive
└─sda2 ntfs      5.5T /mnt/usb-Seagate_Expansion_Desk_NA Seagate Expansion Drive
sdb            238.5G                                    
├─sdb1 vfat      512M /boot/efi                          
└─sdb2 ext4      238G /                                  
sdc            931.5G                                    
└─sdc1 ext4    931.5G                                    
sdd            223.6G                                    
├─sdd1 ext4    215.6G /mnt/boot-sav/sdd1                 
├─sdd2             1K                                    
└─sdd5 swap        8G

sda2 appears to be my external hard drive I use to share data between Ubuntu and Windows(for running Plex, amongst other things).

Any suggestions as to how I recover it? Boot-repair doesn't seem to have much of an effect, unfortunately.

cbll
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    Many systems seem to promote an external drive to sda on reboot. My systems do that and I have to pay attention to drive order. As sdf becomes sda if still plugged in on reboot and then every other drive changes. Windows probably did an update and turned fast start up back on. Boot Windows directly from UEFI boot menu. http://askubuntu.com/questions/843153/ubuntu-16-showing-windows-10-partitions & https://askubuntu.com/questions/145902/unable-to-mount-windows-ntfs-filesystem-due-to-hibernation – oldfred Mar 14 '20 at 15:13
  • Thanks - but, I can't access Windows at all - and both those answers suggest changing settings in the Windows control panel. How would you boot Windows from UEFI boot menu when it isn't there? – cbll Mar 19 '20 at 09:39
  • The NTFS partition on the external drive is a data partition. Windows does not boot from USB external drives. Are you showing a Windows boot partition or /EFi/Microsoft in ESP? If not you may have overwritten Windows and need to restore from backup. – oldfred Mar 19 '20 at 11:04
  • Huh, my windows partition was pre-installed on one of the 256GB SSD's when I bought the desktop. Definitely haven't installed it on the external drive! – cbll Mar 19 '20 at 13:48
  • May be best to see details, use ppa version with your live installer (2nd option) or any working install, not older Boot-Repair ISO: Please copy & paste link to the Boot-info summary report ( do not post report), the auto fix sometimes can create more issues. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair & https://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair/home/Home/ – oldfred Mar 19 '20 at 17:29
  • Thanks for helping, here's the report http://paste.ubuntu.com/p/WGzkCkwycD/ – cbll Mar 19 '20 at 19:53
  • You show no Windows. And some drives as gpt and some as MBR(msdos). Best to have all drives as gpt once you convert or are UEFI booting with UEFI hardware. The only evidence of Windows is an UEFI boot entry, but it now says VenHW which is typical of a disconnected (or erased?) drive. I think you overwrote Windows. With multiple drives, you must use Something Else. And often better to partition in advance, understand difference with gpt & MBR and only boot installers in UEFI boot mode. Reinstall Windows & restore from backups. Best to convert all drives to gpt, you have to backup data & restore – oldfred Mar 19 '20 at 21:35

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