You should be able to attach VHD files in diskmgmt.msc
. Click Action > Attach VHD
and select the VHD file. The volume should be marked as Online
after it's attached. Right-click on the volume and select Change Drive Letter and Paths...
to assign a drive letter.
DO NOT initialize the VHD. Initializing it will destroy the partition table.
If attaching the VHD did not work for you: how exactly did it "not work"? Did you get an error? (which?) Do related errors/warnings show up in the eventlog?
You could also try to open the VHD with WinImage.
Edit: Accessing Linux filesystems from Windows requires additional tools. Plus, you need to know which filesystem is being used.
I have only used Explore2fs
and Ext2 IFS
myself, so I can't say how reliable the other tools/drivers are. I'd be a good idea to work on a copy of the VHD, so you have a backup when something goes wrong.
Another route you could try would be to install VirtualBox, set up a Linux VM, connect the VHD file to the VM as a secondary volume, and then try to mount the filesystem on the VHD from Linux. Files could be transferred to the host OS via a shared folder.