Okay, so, let me tell you about the time I messed around with DiskInternals Linux Reader. I needed to get some files from an EXT4 formatted drive, and you know, Windows usually doesn’t like that at all. This thing promised to read Linux filesystems, so I thought, why not give it a shot?
First, I got the software. It was pretty easy to find. I just searched for “DiskInternals Linux Reader” and got it. Installation was a breeze, nothing complicated there. Standard “Next, Next, Finish” type of deal. Once I had it up and running, I plugged in my external hard drive – a 2TB monster with a whole bunch of stuff on it, formatted as reiserfs, I believe.
The program itself, well, it looked simple enough. Not too many buttons, which is always a good thing in my book. It found the drive right away. So far, so good. I tried to access it but that got me an error message. Kind of annoying, but I figured maybe it needed some special permissions or something.
Then I remembered something I read about using Windows Subsystem for Linux. I used to type “\wsl$” in the address bar of File Explorer, which showed me all the Linux distributions installed on my computer. Then it hit me, what if I tried running `* .` from within my Linux distribution? I gave it a shot and, bam, there it was! Windows File Explorer popped up, showing me all the files on my Linux partition. It was pretty cool to see it working like that.
But here’s the kicker. I didn’t even need to install the Linux Reader. Turns out I could have just done it directly from Windows. I felt a bit silly, to be honest, spending all that time installing a program I didn’t really need. But hey, live and learn, right?
So, I went back to DiskInternals Linux Reader. I right-clicked on the drive and checked the options. Turns out, I just had to run it as administrator. That’s it. A simple right-click, “Run as administrator,” and boom, I could see all my files. It felt kind of funny that the solution was so simple all along.
Here’s what I did, step-by-step:
- Downloaded and installed DiskInternals Linux Reader.
- Connected my EXT4 formatted external hard drive.
- Tried to open the drive in the program, got an error.
- Tried accessing Linux files through `* .` in WSL.
- Ran DiskInternals Linux Reader as administrator.
- Successfully accessed my files!
In the end, the software worked fine. It was just my own fault for not running it as administrator in the first place. I guess you could say it was a bit of a learning experience. It’s always those little things that trip you up, right?