Why can’t I access my Linux drive from Windows 10 in a dual boot setup?

When setting up your storage, consider creating a third partition formatted in NTFS or exFAT for shared data. This way, you can save files accessible from both systems. Just keep in mind that changing permissions on Linux won’t fix access issues with a drive that’s fast-booted in Windows. Better to play it safe and disable that setting if you want full access!

Also, make sure you check Windows' fast boot settings. If Windows hibernates your drive instead of fully shutting it down, you might find Linux can't write to the Windows drive properly because it's being held 'hostage' by that fast boot feature. Just disable it, and you should be able to access everything you need without issues.

If you happen to have used btrfs for your Linux installation, there's a way around it. You can install the open-source btrfs driver on Windows, and it should allow you to access that partition without too much hassle. Just something to keep in mind!

You're spot on! Different file systems are the key here. Windows mainly recognizes its own formats, like NTFS, FAT32, etc. Linux drives usually go with ext4 - recognized by Linux but not by Windows, unless you get specialized drivers. If you need to share files between the two, I'd recommend creating a separate partition and formatting it as exFAT, which both OSes can read and write to without a hitch!

Basically, Windows doesn’t recognize the ext4 file system that Linux uses, so that's why you can't access your Linux drive from Windows. On the other hand, Linux typically supports NTFS quite well, which is why you can get to your Windows files in Linux without issues. Unfortunately, Windows will just see your Linux drive as an unknown file system and won't have any access to it at all.