Mount NTFS Partition Read-Only in Windows

diskpartmountntfsread-onlywindows

I feel like this is a really simple and fundamental function that Windows should have, but so far Google has been telling me it isn't possible. How can I mount an NTFS partition read-only in Windows?

Everett's answer works! (Thanks.)

Additional info about diskpart:

  1. If you have multiple volumes in a disk, neither detail vol nor attr vol shows the correct read-only status. It shows the read-only status of the last modified volume. Try these: sel vol 1, attr vol set readonly, sel vol 2, attr vol clear readonly, sel vol 1. Now detail vol shows that volume 1 is not read-only, but it actually is.

  2. If you modify a volume with Linux's ntfs-3g and then bring it to Windows, it cannot be mount read-only.

  3. If you run attr disk set readonly, none of the disk's volume can be mounted.

Best Answer

  • Switch off "automount" by running mountvol.exe /N
  • Connect disk to Windows (do not mount the disk)
  • Run diskpart
    • Enter list volume
    • Enter select volume X (where X is the correct volume number from the previous command)
    • Enter att vol set readonly
    • Enter detail vol and ensure the read-only bit is set

Now you can mount the volume and it will be read-only.

See also: http://crawlmsdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc302206.aspx

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