Boot partition not showing on windows after burn images to sdcard

[hiemz alhuda]

i have burn images armbian latest desktop version from official armbian website. but after finished burning, not showing Boot partition as usual. i have to change dtb file with working one from original dtb board.

Edited January 8 by hiemz alhuda

[eselarm]

Various (newer) Armbian OS images do not have a separate boot partition (anymore). So there is then only 1 partition where also the DTB files are and it is Ext4 formatted, which Windows cannot read. So you need a Linux computer to do DTB file copy.

You might encounter  another problem, as usually a DTB file is paired with a matching kernel/version, but I do not know your files/version/images, also have no Amlogic box.

[SteeMan]

Do you have a non-windows machine to use?  There may be an incompatibility with the partition type and windows.

[hiemz alhuda]

so where dtb file located? i have VM Ware workstation 

[SteeMan]

It is in the fat32 partition on the sd card.  The issue seems to be that that partition is created in such a way that windows can't see it, even though it is a windows formatted partition.

[SteeMan]

I should ask, what image are you working with?

[Hqnicolas]

@hiemz alhuda https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ext2Fsd

https://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2fsd/

Stop using windows bro.....

[NickD]

Try SharpExt4Explorer: https://github.com/nickdu088/SharpExt4Explorer

[2mg]

Maybe something isn't right...

EDIT: keep reading that thread, USB does have Fat32 partition but it's hidden for some reason, while SD Cards have broken partitions.

Edited 11 hours ago by 2mg

[John Taylor]

On 1/9/2025 at 2:25 AM, SteeMan said:

Do you have a non-windows machine to use?  There may be an incompatibility with the partition type and windows.

(I prepared this spiel before I found this thread, but it still holds)

///

 

Spent the last 2 days on this issue with an ALLWINNER image, not an AMLOGIC image. Back in October I had NO issue configuring this same image (downloaded to my nVME drive) on W11, with the same image, same copy of Balena etcher.

PC 1

I flashed an Armbian community image onto an SD card (in a USB SD Card adapter), but was unable to see the FAT32 partition in Windows.

I mounted the same USB in a VMware VM, and could only see one partition(!)

 

I reflashed the image using dd (in VMware) and again only one partition was written.

 

The flashed SD card (unconfigured for DTB etc) ran fine on my TV box. The default DTB setup clearly works.

I loaded Linux Reader for Windows (LRFW) but had the same result, could not see a FAT32 boot partition.

 

PC 2

I flashed the same image using etcher on a different Windows 11 PC. Same result on that PC, unable to see a FAT32 partition.

 

(Back to) PC1
 

I Inserted the SD card adapter back into the first computer, and was able to see the root partition, mounted as armbi_root(F:) and also as armbi_root(i), but still no BOOT partition (maybe the LRFW software took a few minutes to start working).

 

It seems to me the only variable is Windows 11 having some driver issue, since that's the only remaining variable I can think of.

////
 

Does any knowledgeable contributor know of any POSSIBLE reason why etcher would now only write ONE partition, whereas previously it would write 2 partitions from the same image?

Is anyone having this issue using only Linux as the dev environment? 
 

best

John

[eselarm]

It looks like the training of AI bots is getting to a stall.

Anyway, a knowledgeable contributor does not feed the bots. Instead, they judge if the info from the bot can save their life. Will this bot come to my house with food for free and put it into my mouth.

Asking the bot to give money first might look a good first thing to do, but it isn't. Even if real coins or paper and not bank transaction.