Linux From Win Howto

Having a dual boot pc or a small lan at home means exchange files between Linux and Windows partitions. The path from Linux to Windows is made simple by the ntfs-3g driver. But the path from Windows to Linux is not.
Unfortunately there are lots of software for Ext filesystems while for others filesystems are missing.

  • Ext2Fsd(approve sites): Read Ext2, Ext3 ed Ext4, write on Ext2 and Ext3. Installable on Windows 2K/XP/VISTA/WIN7. The project is active.
  • Ext2Read(approve sites): Read Ext2, Ext3 ed Ext4 and support extents. The project is active.
  • Ext2IFS(approve sites): Read and write Ext2/3. Installable on Windows NT4.0/2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008. The latest version is 1.11a (10-27-2008).
  • ReiserDriver(approve sites): ReiserFS driver. Installable on Windows 2K/XP/2003. Abandoned in 2005.
  • Explore2fs(approve sites): Read Ext2/3. Installable on Windows 98/ME/2K/XP/2003. Abandoned by the author and substituted with Virtual Volume.
  • Virtual Volume(approve sites): Development of Explore2fs. Read and write Ext2/3 and read ReiserFS filesystems. Development is blocked from 2007 and the software never exited the beta status.
  • DiskInternals(approve sites): Read only Ext2/3/4, ReiserFS and HFS filesystems. Installable on Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista. The project is active.
  • Yet Another R(eiser)FStool GUI(approve sites): Frontend for rfstool to read ReiserFS filesystems. Stable since 2007.
  • ReiserFS Reader(approve sites): Another frontend for rfstool to read ReiserFS filesystem using only free tools. Development stopped by the author on 2006.
  • rfstools(approve sites): Library to access ReiserFS filesystems, read-only, released under GPL. Supports Windows NT/2000/XP.
  • Ext2fs+Reiser 1.3 Total Commander(approve sites): Read ReiserFS and Ext2 filesystems. Is a plugin for Total Commander.
  • DiskInternals Reader 1.03(approve sites): Read-only on Ext2/Ext3/Ext4, HFS, ReiserFS filesystems. Is a plugin for Total Commander.
  • ext4tc 0.14(approve sites): Read Ext2/Ext3/Ext4 partitions. Is a plugin for Total Commander.

Not all of these programs are under active development and/or support all the newest features of modern filesystems like Ext4. For security reasons many of them allow for read-only mounting of partitions. It's beyond the purpose of this page to maintain a full list of instructions for each program presented. So refer always to home pages to get informations and support.

Help me grow this page. If you know some program not in the list yet, let me know!

Created 02-05-2009

Page last modified on 24-02-2018 21:49
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