Explore2fs, the WIN32 explorer for Linux ex2fs partitions
written by John Newbigin

Creating a File System in a file.

For testing purposes, I use a file system in a file, rather than risk killing my Linux partitions. These are simple steps to creating a file which contains an ex2fs filesystem.

  • Create the file
    # dd if=/dev/zero of=linux.ex2 bs=1024 count=131072
    will do nicely. you can set count to as big or small as you want. 131072 will create a file 128 meg.
  • Create the filesystem
    # mke2fs linux.ex2
    will do that. Just answer yes to the complaint about not being a block device.
  • Mount the new file. You will need loopback support, either as a module or built in the the kernel.
    # mount linux.ex2 /mnt -o loop=/dev/loop0
    and you are done.

Once you have put some files on your new filesystem, umount it and either use samba to share it for another NT machine, or copy it on to a FAT or NTFS partition and reboot into NT.

You can then use the File|Open command to open the file.

Have a look at the readme and if it doesn't work, please send me an e-mail John Newbigin

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Last modified 29/09/04
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