Support for mounting raw disk images
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- Dominant language
- C++
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Description
**Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.**
Right now, WSL2 supports mounting VHDX images, but doesn’t directly support raw disk images. This makes it harder to, for example, create LUKS containers on USB drives (that can be used on both Windows and Linux), something that I need.
**Describe the solution you'd like**
Ideally, WSL2 should natively support mounting raw disk images, similar to how it handles VHDX files (`wsl.exe --mount --vhd c:/path/to/file.vhdx`). I don't really need FS mounting, support for `--bare` will be enough for my use case.
**Describe alternatives you've considered**
The main alternative is setting up an NBD server on Windows that serves the raw image, and then attaching the NBD on the Linux side. However, this adds complexity and significantly slows down performance compared to a direct mounting solution.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start with the wsl.exe --mount --vhd entry point and the existing --bare behavior described in the issue. Define completion as allowing raw disk image files to be mounted through --mount with --bare, without requiring filesystem mounting, while retaining the existing VHDX behavior.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- cpp
- Domain
- operating-systems
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 45/100