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I am in a position where I need to access a drive from WSL. Unfortunately, I need to format it with a specific filesystem (ext4) on WSL since windows doesn't support that filesystem. As a result, I need to be able to have a device file to reference when formatting the disk on WSL. While I can mount a drive to a folder using sudo mount -t drvfs e: /mnt/edrive, I cannot seem to find any information about how to create a device file for a drive mounted in Windows. Is there any way that I can create a device file in WSL that references a drive mounted in Windows?

Pixelthegreat
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3 Answers3

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If I understand you correctly, it sounds like you are looking for a new feature that is coming in WSL, but is currently only available in Windows Insider/Preview. Don't let the fact that the command is named --mount confuse the issue (although it certainly is confusing). At least the way I read the doc (I'm not using Preview), this can create a block device in WSL from a raw, unformatted drive connected in Windows.

NotTheDr01ds
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The simplest way is to attach your device, e.g. a USB-disk which appears as E:, to your Windows system and reboot.

Then restart wsl2 (WindowsTerm->Debian or whatever) and you will now see a new /mnt/e magically created for you :-)

Then use the command sudo mount -t drvfs E: /mnt/e you show above to mount that disk as a normal unix mountpoint.

help-info.de
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GGleGrand
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Had a similar issue with an external HD disk with ext4 format:

I did:

Connect HD and on powershell attach with wsl:

PS C:\Users\Diaz>  wmic diskdrive list brief
Caption                      DeviceID            Model                        Partitions  Size
SAMSUNG MZVLB512HBJQ-000L7   \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE0  SAMSUNG MZVLB512HBJQ-000L7   3           512105932800
BUFFALO HD-PCTU3 USB Device  \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE1  BUFFALO HD-PCTU3 USB Device  0           1000202273280

PS C:\Users\Diaz> wsl --mount \.\PHYSICALDRIVE1
The disk was attached but failed to mount: No such device.
For more details, run 'dmesg' inside WSL2.
To detach the disk, run 'wsl.exe --unmount \.\PHYSICALDRIVE1'.
PS C:\Users\Diaz>

Then on a running WSL (mine is Ubuntu):

/mnt » lsblk
NAME  MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
loop0   7:0    0 469.3M  1 loop /mnt/wsl/docker-desktop/cli-tools
loop1   7:1    0   152M  1 loop
loop2   7:2    0 419.3M  1 loop
sda     8:0    0 388.6M  1 disk
sdb     8:16   0     4G  0 disk [SWAP]
sdc     8:32   0     1T  0 disk /snap
                                /mnt/wslg/distro
                                /
sdd     8:48   0     1T  0 disk /mnt/wsl/docker-desktop/docker-desktop-user-distro
sde     8:64   0 931.5G  0 disk
sdf     8:80   0     1T  0 disk
sdg     8:96   0     1T  0 disk
/mnt »

I'd like to mount sde then:

~ » cd /mnt
/mnt » sudo mkdir buffalo

And mount it:

/mnt » sudo mount /dev/sde /mnt/buffalo
/mnt » cd /mnt/buffalo
/mnt/buffalo » ls -lrt
total 64
drwxrwxrwx 1 root root  4096 Jan  4  2018 32gb
drwxrwxrwx 1 root root  4096 May 22  2020 pics
drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 57344 Jan 21  2021 maveric
/mnt/buffalo »
Israel Diaz
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