The ability to mount VMFS 6 datastores natively in Windows is virtually non-existent because Windows does not recognize the proprietary VMware file system. While legacy tools like the Open Source VMFS Driver supported older versions (VMFS 3), modern environments require specialized third-party software or virtualized workarounds to access files without reformatting. 1. Professional Software Solutions
Several commercial tools can read VMFS 6 partitions on Windows, typically in a read-only mode to protect data integrity.
DiskInternals VMFS Recovery: This is one of the few tools with explicit support for VMFS 6. It can mount a VMFS volume as a virtual disk in Windows Explorer, allowing you to browse and copy files as if they were on a standard NTFS drive.
UFS Explorer: Widely used for data recovery, it supports VMware's latest file systems and can handle complex RAID configurations often used with VMFS datastores.
Hetman Partition Recovery: Can identify VMFS volumes and extract virtual machine files (VMDKs) after a "Fast Scan". 2. The WSL2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux) Workaround
A more technical but "hot" method involves using WSL2 to bridge the gap between Windows and Linux-based VMFS tools.
Identify the Disk: Use PowerShell or Disk Management to find the physical drive number (e.g., \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE1).
Mount in WSL2: Run wsl --mount \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE1 --bare in an administrative terminal to attach the raw disk to your Linux subsystem.
Install VMFS6 Tools: Inside the WSL2 terminal (e.g., Ubuntu), install the necessary drivers: sudo apt-get install vmfs6-tools.
Mount the Partition: Use sudo vmfs6-fuse /dev/sdX1 /mnt/vmfs to mount the partition. You can then access the files within the WSL2 environment. 3. Virtualized Mounting
If you have VMware Workstation or Player installed on your Windows machine, you can "hot" mount the physical disk into a guest OS. mount vmfs 6 windows hot
VMFS Recovery™ - repair VMDK, VMDK recovery tool. ESX/ESXi recovery | DiskInternals
To mount a VMFS 6 datastore on Windows—often required when a host is down and you need to "hot-plug" the drive to recover files—you generally need third-party tools because Windows cannot natively read this VMware proprietary file system. Best Methods for VMFS 6 on Windows
DiskInternals VMFS Recovery (Recommended for VMFS 6)This is one of the few tools that explicitly supports VMFS 6 on Windows 10 and 11. It can mount the datastore as a virtual drive or allow you to browse it in a "Recovery" mode to copy files.
Step 1: Download and install VMFS Recovery from DiskInternals.
Step 2: Connect your physical disk (via SATA, SAS, or USB) to the Windows PC. Step 3: Launch the software and select the physical drive.
Step 4: Run a "Fast" or "Full" scan to find the VMFS partition.
Step 5: Right-click the partition and select Mount as Disk to assign a Windows drive letter.
WSL2 with vmfs6-tools (Free/Open Source Workaround)Since the popular "Open Source VMFS Driver" (Java-based) typically only supports up to VMFS 3/5, Windows users often use WSL2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux) to run Linux-native tools.
Step 1: In an Admin PowerShell, identify your disk: GET-CimInstance -query "SELECT * from Win32_DiskDrive".
Step 2: Mount the bare disk to WSL: wsl --mount \\.\PHYSICALDRIVEx --bare (replace x with your disk number). The ability to mount VMFS 6 datastores natively
Step 3: Inside your WSL terminal (e.g., Ubuntu), install the tools: sudo apt install vmfs6-tools.
Step 4: Create a mount point and mount it: sudo vmfs6-fuse /dev/sdX /mnt/vmfs.
VMware Workstation (For .VMDK Files)If you have already moved the .vmdk files to a Windows drive and just need to "mount" them to see the data inside the virtual disk itself, use VMware Workstation. Go to File > Map Virtual Disks and select your .vmdk file.
Choose a drive letter to browse the internal files as if it were a local drive. Important Notes
Read-Only Access: Most third-party tools provide read-only access to prevent datastore corruption.
Safety: Always set the drive to Offline in Windows Disk Management before trying to mount it through WSL2 or recovery tools to avoid Windows attempting to initialize or format the "Unknown" partition.
Native support for mounting VMFS 6 on Windows does not exist. Windows cannot natively read VMFS partitions and typically identifies them as "Unknown" or "Offline" in Disk Management. To access data from a VMFS 6 volume on a Windows machine, you must use third-party recovery tools or a Linux-based intermediary. Option 1: Using Third-Party Windows Software
Several specialized tools can parse VMFS 6 structures directly within Windows. These are primarily used for data recovery or emergency file access.
DiskInternals VMFS Recovery: One of the most reliable options for modern VMFS versions. It can reconstruct VMFS volumes and allow you to mount them as local disks or export files to NTFS/FAT32.
Process: Install the software, connect the physical drive or iSCSI target, and use the "Mount" feature to assign a Windows drive letter to the VMFS partition. Procedure: Remove the LUN from ESXi → Connect
BitRecover VMFS Recovery Tool: An alternative designed to scan and recover data from .vmdk files or raw VMFS partitions.
EaseUS Partition Master: While it cannot "mount" VMFS for file exploration, it is often used to manage the physical partition table if a drive appears incorrectly as MBR instead of GPT.
Option 2: The Linux Intermediary (Recommended for Stability)
Since Windows support is limited, the most stable way to "hot" mount VMFS 6 is through a Linux environment using vmfs6-tools.
Here’s a technical write-up based on the search query “mount vmfs 6 windows hot” — which suggests a need to mount VMware’s VMFS 6 datastores on a Windows system, likely “hot” (i.e., without shutting down the ESXi host or rebooting Windows).
If you can safely power off your ESXi host or physically remove the disk, you can attach the disk to a Windows machine and use a read-only tool to extract data. This is not “hot” (the volume is offline to VMware), but it’s often safer.
Hot mounting the same VMFS 6 volume on Windows while ESXi has it open can corrupt the datastore.
For safe read/write, the volume must be unmounted from all ESXi hosts first, unless using a read-only or coordinated cluster filesystem (not standard VMFS).
Solution: VMFS 6 uses file descriptors (FDCs) that point to scattered blocks. Your driver may not support dynamic inode resolution. Upgrade to UFS Explorer or DiskInternals.
VMware’s Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) is a clustered, high-performance file system designed for block storage. VMFS 6 introduced:
Windows uses NTFS, exFAT, or ReFS. The OS has no built-in VMFS driver. To mount it, you need a filter driver that understands:
Most legacy tools (like the old VMware DiskMount utility) only support VMFS 5 and below, and they require a reboot to install the driver. This guide focuses on true hot-plug solutions – software that loads dynamically.
If by "hot" you meant moving a running VM to Windows (to run on Hyper-V or Workstation), you are looking for a V2V (Virtual to Virtual) conversion.