Accessing LVM2 In Windows

After trying a number of methods, the one that worked is to use Virtual Box.
Virtual Box allows a user to set up a Virtual Machine - a simulated computer running as software. It uses hardware to accelerate where possible, but it is a sandbox, where the programs running in it are separated from your main operating system. Put simply - it allows you to run Linux within Windows, or Windows within Linux as well as multiple Windows instances and so on.

Virtual Box is also free for personal use.

This method involves in short putting Linux on a virtual box, mounting the drive on the Virtual Machine, mounting the LVM2 partition on Linux, using Samba to share the mounted partition. It means that you will be able to have full browsable read and write access to the drive. By using a minimal Linux installation, you will be able to keep the overhead down by a huge amount.

Buy at AllPosters.com
Framed   Mounted

Windows will be able to mount a shared drive, which as long as sensible names are chosen, should be easy to find. To windows it would appear to be a normal windows share. Since it is actually local, and written directly to the hard drive, it should be relatively quick.

The virtual machine will be running but it can be set up to run without a GUI, and as a service - so it will become transparent once fully configured. The interface through Windows is the tip of an iceberg. The busy Linux system now become the hidden depths of something that just works.

Buy at AllPosters.com
Framed   Mounted

Virtual Box is free, and really easy to get hold of.
Download Virtual Box.

Run the downloaded file to install it. On Vista you will need to give it permission to install. You can choose to use VMware or colinux for this, but the procedures will be different and your mileage with raw disk access may vary on them. I chose Virtual Box as this has worked every time for me.

Currently this is the least friendly part of the process and involves a command line. It is also the most crucial step.
If you want to find out more on this, I suggest reading section 9.9 of the Virtual Box user manual. Here are the steps outlined:

• Consider the path you want to create a virtual disk at - For now I suggest c:\users\<username>\rawdisk.vdmk. You can move it once you have done this.


• Click start, run then type "cmd" and hit enter.


• Type "cd c:\program files\Sun\xVM VirtualBox\" so you are in the Virtual Box program directory.


• For the required disk or partition (changing paths as necessary):
  VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename c:\users\<username>\rawdisk.vdmk -rawdisk \\.\PhysicalDrive0 -register

That last command line explained:

• internalcommands selects a lower level command set in VboxManage


• createrawvmdk instructs it to create a VMDK for raw drive access


• -filename specifies the output filename for the VMDK


• -rawdisk specifies the drive number. Note the notation here - the correct drive number, obtained from the previous step should be used here.


• -register ensures that the newly created drive is registered (via the registry) with Vbox and will show up in the virtual box media manager - which will save you plenty a little fiddling and trouble later.

A reader put me onto this, as a much simpler way to get an LVM or other linux partition mountable for windows. This is to use the system Openfiler. Having tried it out - I agree and this has replaced the original Ubuntu GEOS recommended in this artical.

Setting up a virtual box filer install to get to an LVM drive (or LVM image)

• Download OpenFiler - http://www.openfiler.com/ - it is a Free, Open source NAS/Drive management distro. It happens to have LVM setup available and configurable from a web interface. This will be by far the simplest way to gain access. Get an ISO disk image - you will want the latest x86 edition.


• Set up the OpenFiler VM - open up virtual box, click "New" to create a new VM, then give it the name OpenFiler. Give it some memory - I've given it a gig, which may be too much. Create a virtual disk image for it - I gave it 8Gb - which again may be too much - it is the default.


• Be sure to set networking to bridged or host-only as you'll need to connect to this device. Other options require more configuration usually.
• Boot it, and press enter. Skip the disk check.


• Once the GUI shows up - follow this: http://www.openfiler.com/learn/how-to/graphical-installation.


• The installer will complete and you'll be asked to reboot.


• OpenFiler will start.


• It'll display the IP/url to use - pop this into a browser and you should see the openfiler page load up.


• You'll now need to stop it, and add your drives to it - this is easier for images than physical drives. Look belwo for the steps to add those.


• Restart it, and you can now manage your drives from the web interface.


• Default login is openfiler, password.

FAFFING - had to try the intel (not AMD) virtual network.
DHCP - You may want to give it a static address - although it will tell you on boot what its initial adress is.

The title image is from MorgueFile.com - the internet image archive.

Step by step screenshots are of Windows Vista taken with the Gimp.

Further images are from AllPosters.

Hey Webmasters! - Add hundreds of thousands of images to your site - Free!

Join the AllPosters.com Affiliates Program and get access to hundred of thousands of images for your site. AllPosters.com has images from popular movies, music groups, sports teams, fine art, and much more. Adding these images to your site will enhance your content.

Furthermore, you get paid for improving your site with poster/print images! All of the images you use will link to AllPosters.com where your site visitors can make purchases. When they buy something, AllPosters.com pays you 20% of the sale. If the visitor decides to purchase within 10 days of their last visit from your website, you'll still earn commission on the sale! It's easy to sign-up, build links, and track your sales.

Sign up today!

I recommend using one of the fairly minimal text only Linux distributions unless you intend to use Linux in a virtual machine for other purposes.

I used the Ubuntu server edition as this comes with options to install a very basic setup and with simple access to Samba file sharing. For the remainder of this tutorial I will guide as if using the Ubuntu Server JeOS installation. Adapt this to your choice of distro if you use another.

Download Ubuntu Server.

Once you have downloaded a CD, build a virtual machine that will mount it in virtual box.

Start Virtual Box. Click "New" to create a new virtual machine. The wizard will start.
Click next (the first screen is a bit useless). Give your virtual machine a name - for now "lvmaccess" will do.

Now, in the "Operating system" drop down, select "Linux". Current versions of Virtual Box will then automatically select "Ubuntu" in the Version box. Click Next.

For the base memory size, since you are not doing anything requiring much memory, the default of 384mb is fine. Click "next".

You then need a hard disk image to install to. Click "New.." and you will see the "Create new virtual disk wizard". Click Next. As you will not need much on this, select "Dynamically Expanding Storage" which should give it the smallest profile. Click Next. In the location box the name of your VM should be there. Select 1Gb for the size - it will not actually use this much. Click Finish to complete tha, and you will returned to the "Create new virtual machine" dialog.

Click next, and finish.
Now in the Virtual Box window, your new VM should appear on the left hand column. Select it and click settings. In this dialog, select Hard Disks, which should be the second option from the left hand list.

Add your raw disk access profile by clicking the "+" disk icon on the top right. You will be asked to create or select a disk. Hit "select" and you will see the virtual media manager.

You now need to add the raw disk profile to the virtual media manager. Press the "Add" button here, and you will see a file selector. Select the file you created in step three and click "Open". In the virtual media manager, ensure that this is in the list of hard disks, then select it and click "Select" on the bottom.

You will be returned to the settings page. You should now add the installation CD. Click on the "CD/DVD-ROM" icon on the left. Tick "Mount CD/DVD Drive", and ensure that "ISO Image file" is selected. Use the file selector to choose the Linux Administration ISO you downloaded in step Two.

For the networking - I recommend using a host-only network.

Close the settings Window.

Click "Start" in the virtual machine to start it. It should now show the CD Menu for the Ubuntu installer.

Press F4 for more options and select JeOS or Virtual Machine. Press enter to continue the install.

You will be asked to select a language, username, password and machine name.
Eventually the installation will ask you to select the roles. Only select "SMB Server" or "SAMBA Server". Hit ok, and complete the installation.

Once you have done this, boot into the installation. Login with the user name you chose before.
Now install lvm2 with "sudo apt-get install lvm2". You will be asked for a password, and if you really want to install, press y for yes.

You should then reboot the linux installation and your lvm2 set should be in /dev/mapper. Add this to your fstab so the volume is mounted somewhere - perhaps mount it in /mnt/lvm_volume .

Now then create an SMB share for it by editing /etc/samba/smb.conf - "sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf". Find the line that says "#=== Share Definitions ===".
Add the following:

[target_drive]
comment = LVM Volume
path = /mnt/lvm_volume
browseable = yes
read only = no
guest ok = yes
create mask = 0775
directory mask = 0775

Now restart the SMB service. You should now be able open your LVM2 device in Windows Vista via the SMB share.

Although the method is complicated - with a cut down JeOS installation, it is kept fairly minimal. It would be even better if someone was to use Puppy Linux or another tiny distro to create a VM appliance to facilitate this - perhaps I will in the future.

If you are a Linux and Windows dual boot user, you will know that it has mostly gotten quite easy to share data between the two. However, if you chose to use an LVM2 volume (which is great for managing multiple drives - like a software RAID) you will find it very hard to get to that in Windows. This guide tells you how to get access to it, although it assumes a certain amount of technical knowledge - which was required to get into such a pickle anyway.