Accessing windows files

[jomaco]

Hi

I installed linux using the windows installer (from windows 7) so now on startup I can now choose to boot windows/linux. I did this because quite a few of the programs I wish to use for my current project will only function in a unix environment. The file I wish to use with the program, however, was originally downloaded in windows. It is a big text file and would take a long time to download again. Also, there are other files similar in size which I will require at a later stage so this is why I need access the files I have saved in windows.

The problem is that the hard drives listed under devices do not list all of the files - in fact hardly any of them - so this is the reason why I tried to mount the hard drve (sda1) using terminal. Terminal stated that the drive was already exclusively mounted (or something on those lines). As a result I realized it must have been automounted so I unmounted everything listed under devices and then re-mounted sdb1 to my own folder (/mnt/windrive) but it still does not show all the files. Why might this be?

Hope you can help!

Thanks

[coffeecat]

The problem is that the hard drives listed under devices do not list all of the files - in fact hardly any of them - so this is the reason why I tried to mount the hard drve (sda1) using terminal. Terminal stated that the drive was already exclusively mounted (or something on those lines). As a result I realized it must have been automounted so I unmounted everything listed under devices and then re-mounted sdb1 to my own folder (/mnt/windrive) but it still does not show all the files. Why might this be?

I'm a bit confused by your reference to sda1 and then to sdb1. Is the second a typo?

Anyway, you have a wubi installation of Ubuntu which is a pseudo-partition in the file C:\ubuntu\disks\root.disk, and your Windows partition is presumably sda1. Which means that sda1 is already mounted which is why you got the "already mounted" message. The solution is straightforward. If you want to access Windows files in the C: "drive" from Ubuntu, open a Nautilus file browser and click on "File System" in the left pane. Now open the /host folder and there is your Windows C: filesystem.

Other Windows partitions seen as D:, E: and so on in Windows will be listed in the left pane of Nautilus with a partition label if there is one, or the partition size if not. Simply click on the partition you want to mount.

The above is slightly different if you elected to install the wubi Ubuntu to your D: (or whatever) drive, which is possible.

Which version of Ubuntu are you running?

By the way, I'm assuming you are running Ubuntu since you've posted in the Ubuntu section. "I installed Linux" doesn't necessarily mean Ubuntu.

[jomaco]

Problem solved!

You are correct I did mean sda1 but I think sdb1 was in the back of my mind as I have two hard drives and this is the other one. Sorry about that.

I think the reason I thought all the files were not there is because this is a fairly new computer. I will have to load windows to check but I suspect there simply isn't that much on the D drive (i.e. sdb1). I now realise this is the partition labeled 'Data' under devices. The reason I thought there was nothing there is because I stored everything on the C drive (sda1) which is indeed available through the host folder and not listed under devices.

Thanks very much for your help. I should have had more of a look around the file system before jumping in. Also sorry about putting 'Linux'. I know there are many other linux distributions so i'm not really sure why I put linux but I will make sure I don't in future! For the record I am running Ubuntu version 11.10

Thanks again

Jon

[coffeecat]

No need to apologise!

One useful tip if you don't want to search through "File System" each time you need to access the Windows fileystem, is to open the /host folder and then (from the Nautilus menu which will be in the panel if you're using Unity) Bookmarks -> Add Bookmark, and a "host" entry will appear in the left pane. You can rename this if you wish.

Good luck with using Ubuntu!