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I installed Ubuntu 16.04 on my PC a while ago, and I really like the new OS. I've noticed that I can access all data on the hard drive from Ubuntu, but I can't find Ubuntu files from Windows. I set up Ubuntu with the FAT32 file system (yes, I know), which is supported by Windows, and no partitions are encrypted. If anyone can tell me how I can allow Windows to view the files on the other partition, that would be great. If I could do this without a third-party application, it would be even better.

Here's what my disk manager sees: https://i.stack.imgur.com/Tgi22.png

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  • Don't install any drivers on Windows that allow you to read/write to Ubuntu EXT2/3/4 partitions. You'll corrupt Ubuntu. Best to create a separate NTFS partition that both OS's can access.
    – heynnema
    Sep 10, 2017 at 22:10
  • Disable hibernation in windows.
    – Panther
    Sep 10, 2017 at 22:31
  • Can you show us your (working) fstab?
    – thomasrutter
    Sep 11, 2017 at 0:18
  • Why have you tagged this question under xubuntu? Is it xubuntu you have installed or ubuntu?
    – Prahlad Yeri
    Sep 11, 2017 at 16:19
  • You may get some useful tips from the following link, askubuntu.com/questions/952673/… ; It is a good idea to have a separate data partition for sharing data with Window. There are alternatives to FAT32: NTFS, exFAT and UDF. Windows should read them all, if the file systems are healthy (not corrupted).
    – sudodus
    Oct 2, 2017 at 6:19

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You seem to admit this in your question, but using FAT32 is not a good idea for installing your Ubuntu system. It doesn't even have basic security features expected by Linux.

It is better to set up a system partition for each OS using an appropriate filesystem for that OS, and then have a separate partition which is to be shared by both OSes. While FAT32 is an option for such a partition, NTFS is probably a better choice now as FAT32 still has that 4GB file size limit, very relevant these days, and it's a little easier to corrupt if your computer doesn't shut down cleanly. NTFS is now supported well by most operating systems, including Linux.

That said, I don't know why your FAT32 partition isn't showing on Windows. That may be a Windows issue that you'll need to sort out, if you do want to continue trying this.

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FAT32 file system is supported by Windows. The partition isn't being shown probably because it is missing a letter. Press Windows Key+R to open Run. Write diskmgmt.msc and press Enter. It'll open the Disk Management app. There you'll find the FAT32 partition, right click on it and assign any letter to it. Hopefully, it'll be shown then.

However you can install Ubuntu on an EXT4 partition and still access it in Windows using a program called Linux Reader.

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