Is there a way to mount an EXT4 volume image in Windows 7?

Question

Made with ddrescue.

I'm guessing not.

Answer 1

A possible solution, would be to use VMWare to create a virtual machine on W7. Install your favourite linux OS, then mount the image for it to access, or import as a file then mount.

You could then set up a Samba/CIFS share and access from W7.

Answer 2

Ext2read allows for read-only viewing, but not actual mounting, nor writing. (via #37512)

As far as I know there is no driver or application capable of writing to ext4 for Windows.

Answer 3

If you only need to read from it you can use EXT$ Unpacker, which is free and opensource.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/androidicsjbext/

Answer 4

You can install ext2fsd which will install the drivers your Windows machine will need to recognise ext. You an then mount the image with an mounting tool such as Mount Image Pro or FTK Imager.

Answer 5

OSFMount http://www.osforensics.com/tools/mount-disk-images.html

OSFMount allows you to mount local disk image files in Windows with a drive letter.

Works great for mount an Ext4 Image in windows and the download is just 2MB.

About the others:

• Mount Image Pro v6 [https://dailyuploads.net/ewmo7ypfr1m5] (^- could only get it to run by this version with an Anti Dongle patch)
  BUT Mount Image Pro can't mount Ext4 files (it's just good for *.iso, *.dmg, *.vhd and some more forensic images)

• FTK Imager 3.4.3 http://ad-exe.s3.amazonaws.com/AccessData_FTK_Imager_3.4.3_x64.exe Well I kinda same story - all kinds of CD-image support but none for Ext4

OSFMount doesn't have drop'n'drag support - also the use of OSFMount.com is not that simple to easy associate it with *.ext4 or *.img files to mount them. (it required addition parameters) So here is a cmd-script OSFMount.cmd

    @prompt -$G

    @echo OSFMount Script 1.0
    @echo ===================
    @echo.

    @set OSFMount_Exe=OSFMount.com
    @set OSFMount_Path="%programFiles%\OSFMount\%OSFMount_Exe%"

    @set MaxDrivesCount=4
    @set MountPoint=#:

    @set options=ro

    @set g_MuteOutput= ^>nul 2^>^&1


    @Call :CheckNSet_PathToExe

    @Call :MayBe_UnMountAll


    ::if "%2" NEQ "" set MountPoint=%2
    @set File=%1
    @set cmd=%OSFMount% -a -t file -m %MountPoint% -f "%File%" -o %options%

    @%cmd%
    @if Errorlevel 1 @(
        @echo Errorlevel: %Errorlevel%
        @call :UnMountAll
        %cmd%
    )


::  %g_MuteOutput% 

::  @pause

@goto :eof

:CheckNSet_PathToExe
    @call :SetIfExist OSFMount %OSFMount_Path%
    @if not defined OSFMount @(

        @call :SetIfExist OSFMount "%~dp0%OSFMount_Exe%"
        @if not defined OSFMount @(

            @echo ERROR: %OSFMount% not found!
            @echo.
            @echo Please copy %~nx0 into same dir where %OSFMount_Exe% is!
            @exit
        )

    )
@goto :eof

:SetIfExist
    @if exist "%~2" set %1="%~2"
@goto :eof




:MayBe_UnMountAll
    :: GetNumberOf (EXT4) Drives
    :: Well OSFMount can also mount other types but this is some kind of compromise or now  
    @set g_CountLines= ^^^| find /c  "="
    @set g_Drives=wmic logicaldisk where FileSystem^^^="EXT4" get Name /value

    @for /f %%x in ('%g_Drives% %g_CountLines%') do @set Lines=%%x

    @echo   Currently mounted drives %Lines% \ %MaxDrivesCount%

    @if %lines% GEQ %MaxDrivesCount% @call :UnMountAll


@goto :eof


:UnMountAll
    @for /f "tokens=2 delims==" %%d in (
        '%g_Drives%' 
        ) do @(
    @call :UnMount %%d
    )

    @prompt -$G

@goto :eof

:UnMount

    @%OSFMount% -D -m %1 %g_MuteOutput% 
    @if not errorlevel 1 @echo %1 UnMounted!


    @goto :eof

Installation:

1. Copy/paste & save it as OSFMount.cmd (in Notepad or some nicer editor)
2. and put it in the same dir as OSFMount.com. (Well if OSFMount is installed to "C:\program files\OSFMount" you may also put it somewhere else.)
3. Create a link to the desktop or the quick launch bar

Usage:

• To mount a image just drag it onto OSFMount.cmd (or it's link).
• File association is also as simple - just choose OSFMount.cmd in the "open with" dialog.

Command line example usage: OSFMount.cmd d:\android-5.1-rc1\system.img

Well the next free drive letter is automatically chosen. If you've mounted more than 4 images the script will reset and unmount the others. (Change the line with MaxDrivesCount=4 in the script if you need more or less. )

So far that script is only made and tested with ext4 images. To work with other image types like iso's, vhd you may probably modify the script.

Answer 6

Why not? It's just an image.

You can use FTK IMAGER, download here

• A new feature allows users to mount an image as a drive or physical device.
• FTK Imager 3.0 now provides support for VXFS, exFAT, and Ext4 file systems.
• Safely mount a forensic Image (AFF/DD/RAW/001/E01/S01) as a physical device or logically as a drive letter.