Can I mount a Linux-formatted VMWare disk image from Windows?

Question

I need to update some files inside of a VMWare disk image from the Windows host machine. The virtual disks are formatted for Linux (ext3).

Is it possible to mount an image so that it appears as a disk in Windows?

Or alternatively, is there some application that offers a file browser that can be used to access the image (similar to how WinSCP looks like).

There will be no virtual machines running while I do this, I can shut them down or unmount the disks beforehand.

Solution 1

I'm not 100% sure but you could use VMware Workstation 5.5 Disk Mount Utility to mount the file and http://www.fs-driver.org/ to access the ext3 filesystem.

Solution 2

http://www.fs-driver.org/

EXT2 IFS allows ext2 partitions to be mounted inside windows. This works with ext3 as it can be mounted as ext2 and function normally (minus he journaling from ext3)

Comments

[Thilo]

Does this also work when it is not a partition, but a disk image?

[MDMarra]

Well, no. Your best bet is to make a Windows VM and attach that vdisk to it and access it like that, unless there is a tool to mount a vdisk in Windows that I'm not aware of.

[Lebenita]

It works here (W7 x64) with VMWare's mount utility and the ext2 driver service of ext2fsd. It will likely work with the driver from fs-driver.org as well (not tested).