What or behavior are you seeing in Windows Disk Management?
There are a few methods to mount a VMFS 6 datastore on Windows:
When you connect a VMFS drive to Windows for data recovery, forensic analysis, or backup verification, you must ensure two things:
How to Mount VMFS 6 on Windows "Hot" (Live Access) Accessing VMware Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) 6 datastores directly from a Windows environment—often referred to as a "hot" mount—is a scenario frequently encountered during disaster recovery, forensic analysis, or data migration. While VMware ESXi hosts manage VMFS natively, Windows lacks native support for the VMFS6 file system. mount vmfs 6 windows hot
Are you trying to recover data from a , or just copying files?
If you have a flat VMDK file or device snapshot, you can open the -flat.vmdk inside 7-Zip, but this does not mount the entire file system. Not recommended for hot volumes.
To even see the disk in Windows, you must first establish the hardware or network connection: What or behavior are you seeing in Windows Disk Management
| Tool | VMFS 6 Support | Hot mount allowed? | Notes | |------|----------------|--------------------|-------| | (Passmark) | No (VMFS 5 partial) | No | Read-only for older VMFS | | StarWind V2V Converter | Yes (read-only) | Yes | Can browse/mount as virtual disk | | DiskInternals VMFS Recovery | Yes (read-only) | Yes | Forensic tool, not live r/w | | VMware Virtual Disk Dev Kit (VDDK) | Yes (read/write via SAN) | No – requires ESXi quiesce | Use over iSCSI/FC, not recommended hot | | UFS Explorer Professional | Yes (read/write) | No – must unmount from ESXi | Supports RAID reconstruction |
: Run the following in PowerShell to attach the drive to WSL: wsl --mount \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE1 --bare .
Method 2: The Advanced Approach (Linux Subsystem / VM Pass-Through) Are you trying to recover data from a
If you need to instantly ("hot") browse a VMFS 6 LUN, extract VMDK files, or recover data without altering the source disk, using a specialized file browser is the safest route. Software like DiskInternals VMFS Recovery or UFS Explorer Standard Recovery can parse VMFS 6 structures on a live Windows system. Step-by-Step Execution:
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