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KB ID: 5725

Mount a Linux disk in Windows 10 or 11 using WSL 2

Last Updated: 09/08/2025


Example Case
Access or retrieve your data from an external USB drive that’s previously backed-up from Buffalo or other vendors’ NAS.

 

Prerequisites
Windows 10 version 2004 and higher (Build 19041 and higher) or Windows 11

 

Install WSL on Windows
1.    Open PowerShell or Windows Command Prompt in administrator mode
2.    Enter the “wsl --install“ command
 
Restart your machine after complete.

3.    You will need to create a user account and password for your newly installed Linux subsystem.
 
For more detailed information, visit this Microsoft KB article.


Mount a disk in WSL 2
1.    Open PowerShell or Windows Command Prompt in administrator mode
2.    Run the following command to get a list of available drives.

wmic diskdrive list brief

3.    In our example our external drive is \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE1. 
You can mount it using the command:

<span style="background-color:#a9a9a9;">wsl</span> --mount<span style="background-color:#a9a9a9;"> <diskpath></diskpath></span> --partition<span style="background-color:#a9a9a9;"> <partitionnumber></partitionnumber></span>


4.    To mount a specify filesystem, you can use the following command:

<span style="background-color:#a9a9a9;">wsl</span> --mount<span style="background-color:#a9a9a9;"> <diskpath></diskpath></span> --partition<span style="background-color:#a9a9a9;"> <partitionnumber></partitionnumber></span> --type<span style="background-color:#a9a9a9;"> <filesystem></filesystem></span>


5.    To access the mounted disk, open Windows File Explorer, then open the Linux category and navigate to /mnt/wsl

For more detailed information, visit this Microsoft KB article.

 

Unmount the disk
Run    
<span style="background-color:#a9a9a9;">wsl</span> --unmount<span style="background-color:#a9a9a9;"> <diskpath></diskpath></span>

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