Access raw partitions from Windows

I'm using a windows tablet that makes imposible usb booting. It would be nice to have access to raw partitions in order to run linux installers using qemu. I can successfully install several boot loaders using uefi, so I gues this feature would be very helpful.
Thanks!

I am not sure whether I have understood your request completely. QEMU can access raw partitions if the OS supports them. MS Windows supports physical partitions and calls them \\.\PhysicalDrive0, \\.\PhysicalDrive1 and so on. Admin rights are required to access these devices. Depending on your shell, the backslashes might need to be escaped, or you will have to write //./PhysicalDrive0.

Using raw partitions from QEMU can be really dangerous, so you should know what you are doing, overwise the result might be that your windows tablet no longer boots at all.

Well, the tablet calls \\.\PhysicalDrive0 to the entire disk and
\\.\PhysicalDrive2 a mounted pendrive. Looking at disk administration,,
\\.\PhysicalDrive0 has the following partition schema:
- 2GB Recover partition
- 500M EFI partition
- 15,04 Windows C: Partition
- 6G Raw partition (no data, here is where I want to install linux)
- 5,46G Recover partition
The idea is to install a linux distro in the 6G partition, obviously I
wouldn't use the partition editor of the installer nor install a bootloader
in theese conditions. If I need to modify the partitions I would do in
advance from Windows, and for the booting I would use refind or grub, which
both work as I could test.

El Wed Jan 28 2015 at 4:40:48, Stefan Weil (<email address hidden>)
escribió:

> I am not sure whether I have understood your request completely. QEMU
> can access raw partitions if the OS supports them. MS Windows supports
> physical partitions and calls them \\.\PhysicalDrive0,
> \\.\PhysicalDrive1 and so on. Admin rights are required to access these
> devices. Depending on your shell, the backslashes might need to be
> escaped, or you will have to write //./PhysicalDrive0.
>
> Using raw partitions from QEMU can be really dangerous, so you should
> know what you are doing, overwise the result might be that your windows
> tablet no longer boots at all.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1415181
>
> Title:
>   Access raw partitions from Windows
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/qemu/+bug/1415181/+subscriptions
>


Looking through old bug tickets... is this still an issue with the latest version of QEMU? Or could we close this ticket nowadays?


Well, it's not an issue for me, but is a nice to have feature. I don't use
the tablet in question anymore. The tablet had an uefi that didn't allow
pendrive boot, but if it could be done what I proposed with qemu, a linux
distro could be booted with qemu and this installed manually in a
partition. The Uefi of the tablet did allow a grub install and also I could
install another bootloader, but any of them recognized pendrives.
So, personally I don't care anymore for now. But would allow a beautiful
method to override insane manufacturers setups.
Thanks, regards!
Sebastián

El vie., 7 ago. 2020 a las 15:05, Thomas Huth (<email address hidden>)
escribió:

> Looking through old bug tickets... is this still an issue with the
> latest version of QEMU? Or could we close this ticket nowadays?
>
>
> ** Changed in: qemu
>        Status: New => Incomplete
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1415181
>
> Title:
>   Access raw partitions from Windows
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/qemu/+bug/1415181/+subscriptions
>


Ok, thanks for your answer! Apparently no developer looked into this during the past 5 years, so it likely won't happen in the future, and since you don't need it anymore, let's simply close this ticket.