Reading SD Card with Windows

[stanlu]

Hello!

I'm totally new at this forum. My name is Lukas and I'm from Austria (not Australia )

My question now is, if there is any way to make Windows read my SD Card on which I have already put a bootable OS. I have already googled my problem but was not able to find any solution . Hopefully you can help me!

Greetings
Lukas

[klricks]

In Windows normally you can only access the small boot partition which contains the boot files and some configuration files (12 files).
You cannot read the rest of the OS in Windows without installing some special software. Something like this:
http://www.howtogeek.com/112888/3-ways- ... m-windows/

Your best option would be to find a Linux desktop where you can browse the entire OS on the SD card.

Or you can download or purchase a 'Live CD' version of one of the Linux distributions and temporarily boot that on your Windows computer. This way you can run Linux on your computer without actually installing the Linux OS. Then you can browse the entire SD card. When you are done you take the CD out and reboot and you go back to Windows.
I have used this method to recover files from a Windows system that wouldn't boot.

[stanlu]

First of all, thank you very much for your extensive answer. I think I'm going to try to access the data with a Linux distribution.

The thing with windows is, that I can't even access the boot partition. It says that I have to format my SD-Card before I can use it Could it be that I did something wrong when I wrote the *.img file onto the SD-Card (my Raspberry Pi is able to boot from the SD-Card)?

[RaTTuS]

make sure you write the .img file [using win32diskimager etc] to the whole device and not a partition
make your you write it to the correct device

[stanlu]

make sure you write the .img file [using win32diskimager etc] to the whole device and not a partition
make your you write it to the correct device

I wrote the image onto the SD-Card, not only to one partition. Since I once made that mistake and it didn't work with the RasPi, I'm absolutely sure about that.
I'm also absolutely sure that I wrote the *.img file onto the SD-Card because it works without any problem with the Pi. I just have problems being able to read any partition with windows. As I already said, Windows is not able to open the SD Card. It always says that I have to format the SD-Card before being able to use it. The next thing is, when I'm using Ubuntu I can access both partititions of the Card without any problems.

[SimonSmall]

Why do you need to read the card? If you use a USB stick, formatted in one of the file systems that Windows does support, you can store files on that using the Pi, and read it on your Windows machine. You could also use WinSCP, which is a graphical ftp tool. It reads the SD card when it is still in the Pi

Some SD card slots on laptops have been known to have problems reading Pi formatted SD cards; you could try a USB adaptor (from one of the pound shops)

[zoukimando]

I use DiskInternals free Linux reader http://www.diskinternals.com/linux-reader/
It allows you to view and copy from an ext3 formatted card, but not to write to it.
There are others that allow writing too, but I've not tried those. See here for example
http://www.howtoforge.com/access-linux- ... om-windows

[Joe Schmoe]

I use DiskInternals free Linux reader http://www.diskinternals.com/linux-reader/
It allows you to view and copy from an ext3 formatted card, but not to write to it.
There are others that allow writing too, but I've not tried those. See here for example
http://www.howtoforge.com/access-linux- ... om-windows

Heh heh. I just type in two words, "access ext2", into Google, and get showered with possibilities.

[AMIR00]

hi,
same problem. I wanted to ask something. I used Linux reader and can see some drives with it, but i cannot find my files, i wrote some python codes, in a folder in desktop in pi, which drive contains desktop of raspbian?

[AMIR00]

oh my bad, found i

[AMIR00]

oh my bad, found it.
just In case some one seeks t too, in root/home/pi/desktoop

[chuckkh]

I use DiskInternals free Linux reader http://www.diskinternals.com/linux-reader/
It allows you to view and copy from an ext3 formatted card, but not to write to it.
There are others that allow writing too, but I've not tried those. See here for example
http://www.howtoforge.com/access-linux- ... om-windows

Heh heh. I just type in two words, "access ext2", into Google, and get showered with possibilities.

This is a non-answer. I have used Ext2Fsd for years for my laptop's ext partition, but I just found that it DOES NOT read the main partition on a standard Raspbian image. ext4 maybe? Ext2Fsd too old? I don't know, but Google did not tell me that it wouldn't work. Now I'm using DiskInternals Linux Reader and it's telling me all of the folder sizes WRONG, smaller than what they really are, so it's useless for me to know if I have enough room to backup my data.
I think people use these forums in the hopes that people will answer who know more than the first few Google results will tell them. Probably hoping, as I was, that someone would answer who has actually done it and knows, rather than being told to go back to Google and do more work instead of less. Why does this forum exist? I bet every single question could be resolved somehow using Google instead, and trying a thousand possibilities to see which works.
I'm still looking, btw, for a solution to read and write this FS accurately in Windows... till then I'll just use Linux Reader and accept its faults.

-Chuckk

[DirkS]

Heh heh. I just type in two words, "access ext2", into Google, and get showered with possibilities.

This is a non-answer.

It was also written 3 years ago

[jellis]

Now here's a funny thing...

I am no expert on Linux etc. but since installing Microsoft Bash on my W10 PC, I can read and write all areas of the Pi SD card directly in Windows Explorer, so I can, for example, edit the wifi config files directly using Notepad++. It's wonderful.

Of course, it may be due to something else on my machine, but I cannot imagine what.

[HawaiianPi]

Now here's a funny thing...

I am no expert on Linux etc. but since installing Microsoft Bash on my W10 PC, I can read and write all areas of the Pi SD card directly in Windows Explorer, so I can, for example, edit the wifi config files directly using Notepad++. It's wonderful.

Of course, it may be due to something else on my machine, but I cannot imagine what.

Raspbian already has a mechanism to edit the wpa_supplicant.conf file from Windows. All you do is put it in the small FAT32 "boot" partition of the SD card and Raspbian will move it to the correct location and use it when it boots in the Pi. This was added in Jessie, and this is exactly why people should not bump these old threads. They contain out of date information that confuses and misleads people when they pop up on the front page again.

And speaking of confusing information, the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) does not add the ability to read ext partitions from Windows Explorer, so there is something else going on with your system. I have been using WSL from quite a while now (starting with the Insider preview builds) and I cannot access the ext4 partition on Raspbian imaged cards or flash drives from Windows 10, so you have something else installed that has enabled that ability on your system.

[JustinB4]

For anyone else with this issue: I had to assign the boot partition on the sd card a drive letter before I could read it.

[jamie1985]

I use DiskInternals clenbuterol free Linux reader http://www.diskinternals.com/linux-reader/
It allows you to view and copy from an ext3 formatted card, but not to write to it.
There are others that allow writing too, but I've not tried those. See here for example
http://www.howtoforge.com/access-linux- ... om-windows
l]

I was looking at DiskInternals too but wasn't sure if I could write on it. Thank you zoukimando.. got me sorted now.

[darkestmon]

I don't mean to bump this thread up but for those who want full access to the linux sd card...
the best way for me is to plug it to an Android device via OTG and a card reader. Android is linux based so it should work well.