Linux Community,

I am a newbie who is running a dual boot laptop, and was wondering if there was anyway I could read my Linux file system from Windows. Presently, I can read my FAT32 from Linux.

Is there any program I can install under Windows that would allow me to read and write to my /, safely -- and is free of charge?

My "/" file system is ext3.

Suggestions and/or installation help would be wonderful!

Thanks for the help.

http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/explore2fs.htm

first result when you google it

Yeah, Explore2fs is a great program, I use it all the time. It can't write to ext3 though. I think there's an ext3 Windows driver project that can do that, but I haven't had much luck with it.

There is...

http://www.tuningsoft.com/projects/projects.htm#ext2fsd

Download from...

http://osdn.dl.sourceforge.net/sourc...t2fsd-0.10.zip

But really - why would you want to: isn't windows crap?

Nevermind, wrong thread

Because if you have to use it, you want to be able to access your files on Linux, perhaps.

It seems that this ext2fsd is not present on sourceforge server or it gives a very strange error. Can anyone send it to me on thenasko@gmail.com he/she has it.

Go to www.sourceforge.net and search for ext2fsd - this will get you the latest version and lots of documentation.

I've sent the package off - so noone else need do so.

correction: I tried to send the package - but failed. Transcript of the session is as follows: It says it couldn't virus scan the attachment. Sorry, you'll have to go get this yourself.

Hello,

I am also trying to read/write to my Ext3 partition from Windows XP SP2.

I need to read AND write to my Ext3, which only ext2fsd can do. However, i've not had much luck with it.

From my understanding, ext2fsd is started using the "net start ext2fsd" command. That works fine for me. Then, according mount.exe, I type in "mount 0 6 l:" which mounts the first hard drive's 6th partition to the L: (for Linux :) drive. It claims success, but Windows can't read/write to it.

Any ideas?

- Flyashi


P.S. The only reason I use windows is because there's more programs written for it. And, i'm not very experienced with linux yet; i'm just more comfortable with Windows. Also, under KDE, the best driver for my video chipset (SiS) still isn't as smooth as the Windows driver for it. So it's easier on the eyes. I hate to say it, but Windows is more user-friendly, and better for "simple" tasks, if not more reliable.
P.P.S. Let's not make this a big windows vs linux debate. I'm sure there are other threads for that.

Haha, nevermind, i got it.

Although, in linux, it's /dev/hda6, it mounts perfectly (I haven't tested write yet) as mount 0 3 l: . Who would've guessed?

- me

Lemme guess - it's the fourth ext3 partition?

hda1=WinXP (ntfs)
hda2=boot
hda3=swap
hda3=root (ext3 0)
hda4= (ext3 1)
hda5= (ext3 2)
hda6= (ext3 3) !bingo!

.. i don't think so....

from what I gather:

/dev/hda1 is WinXP
/dev/hda2 begins extended
/dev/hda3 is (going to be ntfs, currently) unformatted
/dev/hda4 is i have no clue
/dev/hda5 beats me
/dev/hda6 is ext3
/dev/hda7 is linux swap
/dev/hda8 is an ntfs intermediary i set up after i got captive-ntfs working, so that I don't have to mount windows as writeable (just in case **it happens)

My first idea was: if hard drives are zero-indexed, maybe partitions are too. So I did mount 0 5 and I got /dev/hda8. I tried all the others, and mount 0 3 got /dev/hda6. I guess it is the third real partition ( 1 is winxp, 2 is unformatted, 3 is ext3), so I guess it kinda makes sense....

A lot of (not very computer-literate) people complain that "computer are so hard to use..." I never thought that way, but if you get into the nitty-gritty details (like hard drive partitions) then I guess they have a point. But... how many non-computer literate people would actually bother with hard drive partitions? Just me

/dev/hda1 is WinXP................................0
/dev/hda2 begins extended..................n/a (virtual - no fs)
/dev/hda3 is unformatted.......................n/a (no fs)
/dev/hda4 is i have no clue...................1
/dev/hda5 beats me................................2
/dev/hda6 is ext3.....................................3
/dev/hda7 is linux swap.........................4
/dev/hda8 is an ntfs ...............................5

everything with a fs written to it gets a number starting at zero? Mounting the swap partition would be fun <nudge nudge> or recursively mounting winXP (0 0)?

It starts at one ( 1 ) btw.

Im searching too atm, got 30 mins.. in the german magazine called c't there was recently a review of a driver & config that should mount it r/w easily.. but not much luck finding it online.

Then, put all your shared files in the FAT32 partition. Save EXT3 for the programs and kernel. Save NTFS for the programs and Windows system. All files shared between OSes should be in FAT32.