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Read ext3/ext4 Partition from Windows 7

Written on November 1, 2009 by Hendy Irawan

UPDATE: Newest version of Ext2Read open source software can read normal Ext4 filesystems from Windows, even with ‘extents’ feature bit enabled! Please share your experience with this software in the comments.

Ext2Read: Read Ext4 Filesystem from Windows

If you use Windows 7 and want to dual-boot Ubuntu (or another Linux-based operating system), you’ll want to be able to read Ubuntu files from Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2.

The latest Ubuntu Karmic Koala 9.10 uses ext4 filesystem by default, and previous versions use ext3 and ext2 filesystems. There are several good options to read and write ext2 filesystems from Windows systems, but ext3 or ext4 support is an entirely different scenario.

Read Ext4 Filesystem from Windows 7

I tried three different software to read my ext4 partition: Ext2fsd, Ext2IFS, and DiskInternal Linux Reader. Ext2IFS fails to mount my ext4 partition due to unknown feature bit AND because my partition has inode size of 256 (Ext2IFS only supports inode size 128). DiskInternal Linux Reader apparently tries to scan my harddisk forever.

With Ext2fsd, I’ve successfully accessed my ext4 filesystem from Windows 7. Here I’ll show you the steps to make it happen:

  1. When creating/formatting the ext4 filesystem, make sure to add “-O ^extent” which means disabling the “extent” feature bit. The following steps will not work if your ext4 filesystem still has “extent” feature enabled. ext2 and ext3 partitions should be fine.
  2. Download ext2fsd here.
  3. Right-click the downloaded file and click Properties. Set the compatibility mode to “Windows Vista Service Pack 2″ and check “Run as administrator”.
  4. Run the ext2fsd installer. During install, I recommend you uncheck the “enable write access” feature to safeguard against losing data in your Linux partitions.
  5. Restart Windows 7.
  6. Run the Ext2 Volume Manager from Start Menu.

Now you should be able to mount your Linux ext2/ext3/ext4 partitions from Windows 7 and read the files without any trouble.

These steps should also work on Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, and Windows XP, only that you will not need to enable compatibility mode (step 3).

Let me know if this how-to works for you!

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  • Thanks so much for this resource, a true life saver indeed. I'm not not using windows 7, rather use windows xp every now and then just so I still know how to use windows... So I'm surprised that this tool worked for me.

    I had months and months worth of my business data and information on my ubuntu 9.10 partition so you can imagine the panic that set in when it crashed and would not load.

    I was about to see months of hard work go up in smoke. Work that I foolishly had not backed up and could definitely not reproduce.

    I was able to back up my entire ubuntu partition. I'm just counting my lucky blessings.

    Thanks once again for this tool.
  • UPDATE: Newest version of Ext2Read open source software can read normal Ext4 filesystems from Windows, even with 'extents' feature bit enabled! Please share your experience with this software in the comments.
  • Michal Palma
    I used to tryed it on win7, but it did not worked. Thats why im back on XP and everythings working fine with write option too.
    Be carefull on win7 with write access option, i destroyed whole partition there with it!!!
  • Shahab371
    it doesnt work, I have windows 7 and the only thing I get , are empty folders. It is probably because it tries to read my EXT4 filesystems as EXT3 !!
  • Deft
    Nabis Descarguen este programa
    DiskInternals Linux Reader 1.1
    Freeware Linux Ext2/Ext3 Reader for Windows! 0.7 Mb

    http://www.diskinternals.com/download/Linux_Rea...

    Cabe mencionar ke ademas de ver puenden hacer imagen del disko funciona para windows 7 32bits (teoricamente los sistemas 64bits manejan la mayoria de las aplicaciones 32bits)

    Salu2... :)
  • Joecool
    Just a user-space file/directory browser, but take a look at this:

    http://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2read/
    http://ext2read.blogspot.com/
  • pROCKrammer
    dont work for me ((
  • I would not touch it. I installed it on Windows 7, and once restarted, Windows could not recognize my own drives. Rebooted twice to make sure, same problem. I removed it and rebooted and back in Windows operation.

    I have the latest Ubuntu Lucid 10.04 installed but did not even get far enough to try to access it.
  • pitoow
    worked great for me.

    Windows 7 and ubuntu 9.10

    @pitoow
  • koRnolio
    It worked like charm... thanks a lot! :D
  • Geoffrey
    don't work for me :(
  • dr_me
    i tried it, but doesn't work at all!
    the partition appears just like a formattable-only drive...
    but i CAN NOT format it, so...? :(
  • Sebastiaan
    This was a READ only solution. No formatting. Why on earth would you want to format? (You've got Windows Formatting Tools for that)
  • Tory
    Didn't work for me, it asks to format my partition, because it can't read the file system. Of course I already had my Linux installed, so I couldn't do the 'add “-O ^extent”' thing, so that could have something to do with it.
  • zakirasta
    It doesnt work for me....
    Im using Win 7 to load my Ubuntu 9.10 drive.

    It can load all the folder my Ubuntu drive but all the folder are empty.... Nothing in it.
    Can you help me.

    Thanks in advance...
  • Anonymous
    Your Ubuntu filesystem has the extent bit set. There's nothing you can do without reformatting and using different options.
  • zakirasta
    Thanks for the reply... Ive managed to retrieved all the files tht I needed from my Ubuntu partition by booting through the CD. I will do reformat the partition as you suggested..

    Just one question though, how do I change this extent bit set. Im totally new with all Linux stuffs..
  • Vladimir
    still does not mount the linux hdd in my windows 7 - 64 bit
  • The problem is in the inodes!
    I enjoyed this post and plan to subscribe to the feed. You do the same as well fellow reader!
  • Cyber
    THX 4 the guide.
    Really helped me.
  • jeffmuellercpr
    I was unable to get any files, all folders appeared empty. I was running in administrative mode on W7 professional. Ext2Mgr was able to see the drive as Ext3 and that's about all it could do after playing with all the settings for 15 minutes...
  • user
    i can mount it, and see folders. but all folders are empty, what to do?
  • Rich S
    Unfortunately when I installed Mint 8 64 bit(based on Ubnuntu 9.10) there was no option to disable extents when partitioning. I guess it needs to be done from the command line.
    All first level folders show up correctly in XP but all second level folders and files show a single entry of the letter c for the entire folder.
    Time to run XP and 7 as virtual machines or better yet Linux as a VM under Windows 7 since the menuing and options in Ubuntu are very primitive compared to Windows.
  • Andrew Harris
    It doesn't work for me. I am using Windows 7 Home Premium, and it wants to reformat the ext4 volume.
  • dr_me
    the same 4 me!
  • Andrew
    Same here, any known cures?
  • I've been using ext2fsd for about 2 years for an ext3 partition with write support enabled. Everything has been fine.
  • Fatkhul
    It doesn't work..
    I can't open my home directory in ext4..
  • Have you turned off the extent bit ? see my previous response.
  • good article.
  • Mike
    Thx.

    Will try it.
  • cherieston
    I'm was thinking of reinstalling ubuntu cos of some problems... so was just wondering if some1 could clarrify the “-O ^extent” aspect....
    i.e. where do i add it.
    I'm gona install ubuntu 9.10 using live CD and select manual method... got vista already installed and have 50GB unallocated space.
  • I'm not yet aware of a GUI way to do it (not even with gparted).

    The way I did it is before install, I partitioned my drive and format the
    filesystem as regular ext4. then I did this (can use Ubuntu 9.10 live CD for
    this) (WARNING: this will reformat the partition!):

    mkfs.ext4 -j -O '^extent' -L 'YourLabel' /dev/sda2

    Replace /dev/sda2 with your own partition. During install, don't reformat
    the ext4 drive.
  • cherieston
    thanks... that worked like a charm.
  • Glad it works out for you Cherieston.

    I configure my system with "pure" ext4 for '/' partition and "^extent ext4"
    for '/home' partition, because I only need to access my /home partition from
    Windows (7).

    I don't enable write access feature in ext2fsd due to paranoid-ness, but if
    you happen to enable it and having no (corruption?) problems please share
    with us :-)
  • cherieston
    i had the write access feature enabled before when I was using ubuntu 8.04... and it worked fine.... now that I've got 9.10 I've still got it enabled and have not come across any problems yet however I have only coped stuff from the linux partition not pasted anything yet.

    by pasted.... I mean no large file transfers... jus some picture etc.
  • Cool!

    So the ext2fsd ext3 writing feature is more than 1,5 years stable already..

    From what I read just by using ^extent then ext4 is practically compatible
    to ext3, (plus some ext4 features???). However I can't confirm.. hehe..

    My / is ext4 and Ubuntu 9.10 boots very fast and I'm happy (though Windows 7
    also boots quickly so I'm happy with both OSes). The "^extent ext4" /home is
    also alright, not noticing any problems but neither any noticeable
    performance gains, since I use it only for data..
  • flowabcd
    Thank you very much.Thanks to Ext2fsd I've done it in a much easier way.I just installed it without a "Run as Administrator",compatibility mode is no needed too.Then I just ran the program in Administrator Mode,then check the driver enable.Here every thing is fine.The ext4 driver is Mounted.Hope helpful to you!
  • whateva
    That worked perfectly for me, thanks!!!
  • Glad it works for you :)
  • I'm happy to know it's working for you, flowabcd :-)
  • Diogo
    I follow all steps and yes, the ext4 is mounted but I only view root folders and files, if I try to get content inside /home or other nothing appears, is like empty!
  • Diogo, are you sure your ext4 partition doesn't have the 'extent' bit set?

    To check, type (from Ubuntu):

    sudo tune2fs -l /dev/sda2
    (use your partition)

    Make sure it doesn't list 'extent'
  • DimitrisCSD
    Hello there.

    Just a quick question. If an existing ext4 partition has the extent feature, is it possible to somehow get rid of it without formatting?

    Thanks in advance
  • Dimitris,

    I'm not sure yet for now. I'll look for a solution to this. If you'd
    like to check, perhaps starting with the tool tune2fs.
  • name
    Looks like this won't work if you're already setup a normal ext4 partition with extents on :(

    $ sudo tune2fs -O ^extents /dev/sda3
    tune2fs 1.41.9 (22-Aug-2009)
    Clearing filesystem feature 'extent' not supported.
  • having the same problem probably for the extent feature enabled

    till now can't disable it and not intending to format again my /home :P
  • ocidbrass
    Mas Hendy...jika ternyata ext4 kita sudah terlanjur 'extent', apakah ada cara supaya bisa dijadikan tanpa 'extent' ? Soalnya cara yang mas Hendy katakan kan pas awal proses.
    Lha Ubuntu-ku udah terlanjur di-install... Apa harus diulang dari awal ? :(
  • @Ocidbrass:

    Q belum riset tuh..

    Mgkn bs pake tune2fs utk mereset bit extent tsb, tp aq sndr blm prnah coba
  • marvin
    Great, exactly what I'm trying to do.. except... its sounds like it's read only?! Or can you write?
  • Ext2fsd actually allows you to enable ext2 & ext3 write support during
    installation. However, try at your own risk.

    ext4 write access is currently non-existent.
  • Hello, i using ext2fsd for writing onto my USB ext2 harddrive for some time long (several months) and i have no problem with it. Just check sometimes fs in linux and this all will be fine
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