For modern environments using , specialized software is required. These tools can bypass Windows limitations to read the file system and even recover data from corrupted RAID arrays. Read VMFS partition on Windows - DiskInternals
To share the disk via WebDAV, run: java -jar fvmfs.jar \\.\PhysicalDrive1 webdav .
If building a custom Windows driver/application:
Mount it as a network drive in Windows using: net use * http://localhost:50080/vmfs . 2. Professional Recovery Tools (VMFS 5 & 6)
Enable Windows 10 to mount a VMware VMFS datastore (VMFS5, VMFS6) from a physical disk (local or SAN) and allow access to virtual machine files (VMDKs, VMX logs, etc.) without needing a vSphere environment.
Since VMFS is optimized for block-level storage access by ESXi kernels, accessing it via Windows is inherently a "recovery" operation rather than a native file share. Always prioritize access to ensure the integrity of your production data.