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How to mount a VHD file in Windows 7

Posted December 2008 by Steve Sinchak

VHD (Virtual HardDrive) file support has been deeply integrated throughout Windows 7. Users can make a system backup to VHD file and also boot from a VHD file. But what if you want to edit the VHD file and make a quick change or pull a file out of a backup? With Windows 7 you can easily mount a VHD file for offline editing in Disk Management.

  1. Click on the Start Button and key in diskmgmt.msc and hit Enter.
  2. Once in Disk Management, click on the Action in the menu bar and select Attach VHD.
  3. Select the file location and check Read-only to prevent writes to the VHD file.
  4. After you hit ok the drive will show up in Disk Management with a blue icon.

You can now access the F: drive in Explorer. 5. When you want to un-mount the VHD file return to Disk Management and right click on the left side of the drive listed on the device chart and select Detach VHD.

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