Disk Mounting

WSL Dashboard's disk mounting feature mounts a WSL distribution's virtual disk (.vhdx) directly into Windows, letting you browse and manipulate the distribution's files in File Explorer just like a normal disk — no need to memorize \\wsl$ paths or run complex wsl --mount commands.

Use Cases

• File access: Browse files inside a distribution (such as project code, logs) directly in Windows File Explorer.
• Backup & organization: After mounting, easily copy important files to the Windows side for backup.
• Disk maintenance: View the usage of the distribution's virtual disk to plan space.

Steps

1. In the "Installed Linux distributions" list, click the "Settings" button on the target distribution's row.
2. In the settings dialog, find the "Disk Mounting" option.
3. Select the virtual disk or partition you want to mount, then click Mount.
4. Once mounted, open the corresponding drive letter in Windows File Explorer to access the distribution's file system.

Notes

• While a disk is mounted, avoid performing instance migration, export/clone, or other disk operations at the same time to prevent file lock conflicts.
• Unmount promptly after use to free the drive letter and system resources.
• Before modifying files on the mounted disk, back them up using Export/Clone to avoid data loss from accidental operations.
• To fully migrate a distribution to another drive, use the Instance Management: Move VHDX feature instead of manually copying after mounting.

TIP

Mounting and migration are two different operations: mounting is for temporary access to the distribution's disk contents; migration is for moving the distribution's storage location.