How do I access my Windows partition using the command line?

Question

I had a problem with my Ubuntu install, and I need to uninstall it. However, I have one folder on there with an important assignment in it that I'd like to keep still. I can still get into Ubuntu with the command line, and it was installed beside Windows so I had access to my Windows partition as well. My question is - is it possible to access the Windows partition using the command line?

Solution

First you need to know the partition your Windows is. For that you can use the command

cat /proc/partitions

Then you need to make a folder, where the partition will be mounted to:

mkdir /mnt/win

Next

mount /dev/*** /mnt/win

Then

cd /mnt/win

Comments

[Javier Rivera]

If you are not comfortable with commandline-fu, you should be able to boot from a LiveCD/LiveUSB and copy the files using the GUI.

[Lekensteyn]

If the windows partition was labelled, you can also use /dev/disk/by-label/* instead of /dev/sdXY. (use ls -lA /dev/disk/by-label to get a list or use tab-completion on /dev/disk/by-label/)

[loevborg]

sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda (or sdb ... etc. for you second drive) is really more useful than cat /proc/partitions.