How to Mount a Linux LVM2 Partition in Windows

10Chris • 10th Feb 2008 • CentOS, Linux, Microsoft, Microsoft, Windows • , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I have a dual boot Windows Vista / Linux Laptop and recently I needed to access the Linux partitions from within Windows to copy data between the operating systems.

So I did a bit of searching on the net and had trouble finding a tool/page describing how to do it with an LVM (Logical Volume Manager) partition, all tools seemed to just work with plain old ext2 or ext3 file systems with no mention of others.

This is a problem with at least CentOS 5.1 (Red Hat Enterprise) and probably all modern Linux distributions as there seems to be a move towards the LVM methodology for all operating systems - understandably so when you read what it's all about from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_volume_management

But then I noticed that Explore2FS from chrysocome.net actually also supports LVM2 as well as ext2 / ext3, and it works great!

All I had to do was download (at the time of writing) explore2fs 1.08beta9 extract it from the archive and run it - job done! I can get to my standard Linux files (and more actually) with ease from within windows through an explorer style interface. Just what I needed!

The guy(s) who developed Explore2FS are also working on another tool called Virtual Volumes but this really is a beta (at the time of writing) and I couldn't get this to work in a useful way what so ever BUT this should be a winner when it works too!

So now it just remains for me to setup ntfs support in CentOS 5.1 and I can go both ways - woohoo!





Related posts on coderchris.com:

  1. Installing Flash Media Server 2 On Linux (CentOS 4.4)
    Recently I was asked by a client to look at purchasing and installing FMS2 on...
  2. Using Linux Saves Money And Helps Save The Planet
    Recently I bought a new cheap Toshiba laptop which came preinstalled with windows vista home...
  3. Running on Tomato
    At home I have Linksys WRT54GL router which I've had for 4/5 years now. It's...
  4. Windows Live Writer Is Cool
    Recently when using my new laptop I noticed a small icon in Internet explorer that...
  5. Installing Redmine and SVN on CentOS
    Getting Redmine installed on CentOS can be a bit of a minefield given the various...

10 Comments Comments Feed

  1. AlexM (August 12, 2008, 7:38 pm).

    I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you down the road!

  2. Chơi Cùng Bé (November 20, 2008, 5:15 am).

    I found this via google. Thank for your nice post. :)

  3. alcachi (December 6, 2008, 5:44 pm).

    Great tip!

  4. Drupal Theme Lab (December 10, 2008, 2:15 am).

    It shows nothing on my PC. I am running Windows XP SP2 and Ubuntu 8.10 (LVM). Still looking for a solution.

  5. Steve M (December 10, 2008, 1:18 pm).

    Thanks for the tip. Here is one to help you: NTFS-3g driver for NTFS under Centos 5.2. Great driver. Works well

  6. Navaneethan (March 6, 2009, 12:41 pm).

    Thanks a lot…! It worked well for me too.
    After searching a long way on Google, it is finally you who have really helped.

    Thanx Lol…!

  7. CBudz (October 8, 2009, 8:39 pm).

    I’m running CentOS 5.1 and Vista and I see nothing… Still looking as well.

  8. someone (October 31, 2009, 8:44 pm).

    I had to use “Run as Administrator” to see anything, and even then, only the boot volume, not the LVM LVs (or PVs) were visible.

  9. SheeEttin (November 17, 2009, 12:56 am).

    My LVM partition refuses to be recognized. The non-LVM ext2 boot partition shows up fine, but no software I’ve used (ext2fsd, Virtual Volumes, and some others) can recognize it. :(

  10. Cornelius (July 2, 2010, 5:21 pm).

    No way. I have Windows XP SP2 and explore2fs 1.08beta9 does not work for me. Same with Virtual Volumes. I have dual boot with CentOS 5.3.

Add a Comment