How to Mount ext4 Linux Drives in Windows 11

Windows 11 allows you to natively attach and read physical Linux-formatted drives—including ext4 file systems—without using third-party commercial software. By leveraging the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL 2), you can mount an entire physical disk or a specific partition directly to your Windows environment and browse your Linux files through both the command line and Windows File Explorer.

Prerequisites

• Windows 11 Build 22000 or higher.
• WSL 2 installed and updated to the latest version (wsl --update in PowerShell).
• Administrator access on your Windows 11 machine.
• A physical drive formatted with an ext4 file system connected via SATA, NVMe, or USB.

Step 1: Identify the Disk Path

Before mounting, you need to find the unique device ID that Windows assigns to your physical Linux drive.

1. Right-click the Start Menu and select Terminal (Admin) or PowerShell (Admin).

2. Run the following command to list all physical drives connected to your system:

   GET-CimInstance -query "SELECT * from Win32_DiskDrive" | Select-Object DeviceID, Model, Size

3. Locate your Linux disk in the output and note its DeviceID path (for example, \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE1 or \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE2).

Step 2: Mount the Physical Drive

You can mount the entire disk or a specific partition depending on how the drive is structured.

Option A: Mount an Entire Disk

If the entire drive is a single ext4 file system, run:

wsl --mount \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE1

(Replace \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE1 with your actual device ID.)

Option B: Mount a Specific Partition

If the drive contains multiple partitions, specify the partition number:

wsl --mount \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE1 --partition 1

Option C: Mount with a Specific File System Type

If WSL fails to detect the ext4 format automatically, explicitly specify the file system:

wsl --mount \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE1 --type ext4

Step 3: Access Your Linux Files

Once mounted, you can interact with the files through two methods:

• File Explorer: Open Windows File Explorer and navigate to \\wsl$\ in the address bar. Open your active Linux distribution folder and go to /mnt/wsl/ to find your mounted drive.
• Linux Terminal: Launch your WSL terminal (such as Ubuntu). The drive contents will be accessible under the /mnt/wsl/PHYSICALDRIVE1 directory (or corresponding mount name).

Step 4: Safely Unmount the Drive

To prevent data corruption, you must safely unmount the drive before disconnecting it or shutting down.

1. Open PowerShell (Admin).

2. Run the unmount command using the same device ID:

   wsl --unmount \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE1

3. Once the command completes, you can safely disconnect the drive from your system.