| Expectation | Reality | |-------------|---------| | Free native solution | None. Windows has no VMFS driver. | | Hot, writable mount | Possible only with expensive tools (e.g., UFS Explorer), but extremely risky if the volume is live on ESXi. | | Read-only hot mount | Yes, with tools like DiskInternals VMFS Recovery or OSFMount (partial v6 support). | | Safe production use | Detach the datastore from ESXi first, then mount as read-only on Windows. |
: Use PowerShell or Disk Management to find the physical drive number (e.g., \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE1 ). mount vmfs 6 windows hot
VMFS (Virtual Machine File System) is a file system used by VMware to store virtual machines (VMs) on a datastore. VMFS 6 is the latest version of this file system, introduced with VMware vSphere 6.5. It's designed to provide high-performance storage for VMs, with features like thin provisioning, deduplication, and compression. | Expectation | Reality | |-------------|---------| | Free
Full control, no vendor lock. Cons: Requires driver signing override (one-time reboot), not pure hot, but subsequent mounts are hot. | | Read-only hot mount | Yes, with