Accessing a Windows Partition

Q: How Do I Access My Windows Partition?

I have a dual-boot system with Red Hat Linux and Windows 98. Is there a way to access my Windows partition while I'm running Linux?

A: Two Ways to Access Windows Partitions

You can access another partition on your system, for example, a Windows partition, in two different ways.

First, let's assume that your Windows partition is on your first IDE hard drive, in the first partition (/dev/hda1).

At a shell prompt, log in as root (type su and then enter the root password).

Create a directory at which the Windows partition will be mounted by typing the following command:

mkdir /mnt/vfat

Before you can access the partition, you will need to mount it at the directory you just created. As root, type the following command at a shell prompt:

mount -t vfat /dev/hda1 /mnt/vfat

Another method of mounting a Windows partition is by editing the file /etc/fstab.

At a shell prompt, su to root, following the above example.

Before you can access the partition, you will need to mount it at the directory you just created. As root, type the following command at a shell prompt:

mkdir /mnt/vfat

Next, while you're still root, open the /etc/fstab in a text editor by typing (for example):

pico /etc/fstab

The line that probably shows where Windows is mounted is /dev/hda1 (or similar). Edit this line so it looks like this:

/dev/hda1 /mnt/vfat vfat noauto,owner,users 0 0

Press [Ctrl]-[x] and then press "y" for "yes" when prompted to save the changes. For more information on the mount command, read the man page by typing man mount at a shell prompt.

To access the partition, type cd /mnt/vfat. To navigate through Windows 98's "long filename" directories, surround the directory in quotation marks, as in ls "Program Files".