While Windows does not natively support VMware's clustered file system, you can bridge this gap using specialized tools. To mount a VMFS 6 volume on Windows for data recovery or migration, follow this guide to set up the necessary environment. 🛠️ Prerequisites & Tools Because VMFS 6 is a proprietary VMware format, standard Windows drivers cannot read it. You will need: Third-Party Recovery Software
John, a system administrator, was tasked with recovering data from a failed VMware ESXi host. The host had been storing its virtual machines on a VMFS 6 datastore, which was now inaccessible. John needed to mount the VMFS 6 datastore in a Windows machine to retrieve the virtual machine files. mount vmfs 6 windows
# Install in WSL2 Ubuntu sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install git build-essential git clone https://github.com/aboutcherry/vmfs6-tools cd vmfs6-tools make sudo ./vmfs6-fuse /dev/sdb1 /mnt/vmfs6 While Windows does not natively support VMware's clustered
# Conceptual, placeholder functions def detect_vmfs_volume(device_path): # Implement detection logic pass You will need: Third-Party Recovery Software John, a
Last updated: April 2026 Tested on: Windows 11 24H2, VMware ESXi 7.0 U3 and 8.0 U2
# ESXi Shell voma -m vmfs -f check -d /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.XXX voma -m vmfs -f fix -d /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.XXX