{"id":890,"date":"2021-03-02T10:21:01","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T00:21:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nickdu.com\/?p=890"},"modified":"2021-03-02T10:21:01","modified_gmt":"2021-03-02T00:21:01","slug":"read-write-linux-ext2-3-4-file-system-from-windows-c-net-application","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nickdu.com\/?p=890","title":{"rendered":"SharpExt4, a .Net library, provides read\/write Linux ext2\/3\/4 file system from Windows application"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As a day to day Windows user, it’s not easy to access Linux file system. Windows doesn’t natively supports Linux Extended file system<\/a> access. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have been working on Linux ARM IoT device, and it’s so annoying to be back and forth between Windows working PC and Linux development PC. I regularly need to burn\/flash SD card, read\/write file, remove\/open directory in Linux device image. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are the findings so far:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. DiscUtils<\/a>, is a .NET library to read and write ISO files and Virtual Machine disk files (VHD, VDI, XVA, VMDK, etc). DiscUtils also provides limited access to ext2\/3\/4 filesystem.<\/li>
  2. Ext2Fsd<\/a> is another Windows file system driver for the Ext2, Ext3, and Ext4 file systems. It allows Windows to read Linux file systems natively, providing access to the file system via a drive letter that any program can access. But it stops developing since 2017.<\/li>
  3. DiskInternals Linux Reader<\/a> is a freeware application from DiskInternals, developers of data recovery software. But it doesn’t have API for .Net Framework.<\/li>
  4. Ext2explore<\/a> is an open-source application that works similarly to DiskInternals Linux Reader\u2014but only for Ext4, Ext3, and Ext2 partitions. It stops developing for a long time and is read only.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    I decided to implement my own library. Finally, I found this, lwext4<\/a>, a C library to provide ext2\/3\/4 filesystem for microcontrollers. According to the author, the library has some cool and unique features in microcontrollers world:<\/p>\n\n\n\n