You will need tools capable of reading VMFS 6.
VMFS 6 introduced several internal changes:
Operating systems rely on specific file system drivers to interpret how data is organized on a disk. Windows natively understands formats like NTFS, FAT32, exFAT, and increasingly ReFS. mount vmfs 6 windows hot
Third-party utilities allow Windows to mount and read VMFS volumes.
If you open , Windows will often display a pop-up stating: "You must initialize a disk before Logical Disk Manager can access it." Do not initialize the disk as MBR or GPT. You will need tools capable of reading VMFS 6
in read-only mode, where they can be copied to an NTFS or FAT32 drive for Windows use. Technical Comparison ESXi Support 5.0 and later 6.5 and later Windows Native Linux Support vmfs-tools vmfs6-tools Read/Write Read-only (tools) Read-only (tools) Critical Precautions How to Mount VMFS in Windows, Linux, and ESXi - NAKIVO
VMFS is a cluster file system. When ESXi uses a volume, it locks files to prevent data corruption. If Windows tries to mount this volume, it will break those locks, leading to immediate VM corruption or data loss . Third-party utilities allow Windows to mount and read
Read-only, no support for software RAID, less user-friendly.
The disk must be visible in Windows Disk Management as a raw partition. Do not initialize or format the disk if prompted by Windows.
: Most third-party tools provide only read-only access to VMFS volumes. This is by design—writing directly to VMFS from a non-VMware operating system can corrupt the file system.
: Available on the Microsoft Marketplace , this tool allows you to deep scan and restore data from VMFS partitions directly within Windows.