I have an SD card with ext4 for SteamOS and EmuDeck. I want to add files from my Windows 11 to the SD card. But the ext4 I found only supports reading and not writing. And NTFS format can't support EmuDeck. How should I write to a USB drive formatted as ext4 in Windows 11?
EXT4 is a proprietary file system for Linux, and Windows cannot directly read or detect partitions or devices in EXT4 format. This is because the EXT format is entered into a log file system that Windows has not yet fully implemented. If you want to write to an EXT4 partition or drive on Windows, you can only convert a USB or SD card to NTFS or FAT format.
If you only want to view the EXT4 file format, there are two ways to do this under Windows.
1. Use Linux VM under Windows.
2. On Windows with the help of a professional disk management tool: Qiling Disk Master.
The first method is more complicated. The third-party tool is a much faster and simpler way.
Qiling Disk Master Free has strong compatibility with file systems on Mac, Windows, and Linux. You can view EXT4 drives on it and convert EXT4 to NTFS or FAT format and vice versa.
If you want to know how to view EXT4 partitions and drives on Windows, follow these steps:
Step 1. Launch Qiling Disk Master and locate the EXT4 partition.
Step 2. Right-click on the target partition and select "Properties."
Step 3. Expand the folder in the left pane to check the contents of the EXT4 partition.
If you want to continue using the drive in this format on Windows, you need to convert EXT4 to a format supported by Windows, such as NTFS, FAT, exFAT, etc. Qiling Disk Master also supports this quick operation.
Step 1. Select the target partition and click "Format."
Step 2. Set the target file system as FAT, NTFS, or exFAT and click "OK."
Step 3. Click "Yes," and then execute the task.
If you still want to learn more about accessing EXT4 format on Windows, click the link below for a more comprehensive study.
Extended Reading: How to Access Linux EXT4 Partition and Data on Windows