Mounting NTFS in Linux - Access Windows files

Mounting NTFS in Linux: How to Access Windows Files Stored on an NTFS Partition. In this guide, I’ll show you how to easily mount and access a Windows NTFS partition from a Linux environment. Whether you need to repair a Windows system, recover files, or access data in a dual-boot setup, knowing how to work with NTFS partitions on Linux can be invaluable.

Accessing NTFS partitions in Linux is straightforward, especially for users of Debian-based distributions like Ubuntu or Knoppix. With modern tools like ntfs-3g and built in support in most distributions, the entire process can be completed in just a few minutes.

Mounting NTFS in Linux

Mounting NTFS in Linux | Accessing Windows Files

Accessing NTFS partitions from Linux can be useful for various reasons, such as repairing a Windows system or accessing files in a dual-boot environment. Fortunately, mounting NTFS in Linux is straightforward, especially in distributions like Ubuntu, which derive from Debian.

  1. Open a terminal: Ctrl + Alt + T
  2. To become the root user, type or copy and paste the following, then press Enter:
    sudo su
  3. Locate the NTFS partition using fdisk:
    fdisk -l

    Identify the partition that contains the NTFS filesystem (e.g., /dev/sda1, /dev/nvme0n1p1).

  4. Create a mount point:
    mkdir /mnt/windows
  5. Mount the NTFS partition in Linux:
    mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /mnt/windows

    Replace sda1 with your actual NTFS partition.

  6. Move to the Windows directory:
    cd /mnt/windows
  7. List the files on the NTFS partition:
    ls

    Alternately, you can navigate to the /mnt/windows directory outside of the terminal to view and access the NTFS files.

Additional Note: When you want to unmount the Windows NTFS partition, from the terminal simply use:

umount /mnt/windows/