can i scan my Linux partition from Windows?

[iceni60]

the scanners i have for Linux - Clam and F-Prot are slow and just don't seem to be as advanced as Windows scanners, is that true? (just detection wise, not things like GUI). i've heard Clam isn't very good at unpacking, i don't know how true that is though.

i know Linux AVs look for win32 stuff but do win32 scanners look for Linux malware too?

i just want to know what is best for finding Linux malware - a Linux scanner or a windows one? thanks.

[Johnny123]

I wouldn't imagine that Windows AVs look for Linux malware since malware in the wild for Linux is basically a non-issue and wouldn't run on Windows anyway. Someone did make a cross-platform virus, but that was a proof of concept thing and you had to give the root password for it to execute. No reason for concern there.
What is your set up? Dual boot or different crates networked with Samba? I know for certain that on a dual boot set up you won't be able to scan the Linux partitions from Windows due to Windows' inability to see ext3, ReiserFS, etc.

[iceni60]

-{ Quote: "I wouldn't imagine that Windows AVs look for Linux malware since malware in the wild for Linux is basically a non-issue and wouldn't run on Windows anyway. Someone did make a cross-platform virus, but that was a proof of concept thing and you had to give the root password for it to execute. No reason for concern there.
What is your set up? Dual boot or different crates networked with Samba? I know for certain that on a dual boot set up you won't be able to scan the Linux partitions from Windows due to Windows' inability to see ext3, ReiserFS, etc." }-
hi, thanks for the reply. i have a dual-boot setup; NTFS and ext3.

i don't understand why you are certain i won't be able to scan my ext3 partition from Windows, i'm sure i've done it once in the past. if Windows can read and write to ext3 why can't it scan it?

does anyone know the answers for certain? -

do win32 scanners look for Linux malware (i'm asking because Linux scanners look for Windows malware, and although it's probably not very likely it would be good to know)

which is more effective when scanning a Linux partition - using a windows scanner from a NTFS partition, or a Linux one from on ext3?

i feel sure someone's going to say - what a stupid question, of course you can't use a Windows AV to scan a Linux partition, but i just want to find out that's really the case from someone who knows the answer, someone like IC. thanks.

[dog]

Windows can't see Ext2, Ext3, ResizerFS, JFS, XFS etc. so it can't read or write - it's non-existant to Windows. The only filesystem both can read and write to is VFAT (FAT32).

[iceni60]

oh, OK. i understand now lol. i use one of these drivers to read my Linux partition from Windows (i can't remember which one i installed now) however, it works flawlessly. (if anyone's thinking of trying it out i'll find out which one it is i use :))
http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/ext2ifs.htm
http://www.fs-driver.org/index.html

[iceni60]

i'd forgotten XP doesn't support ext3 natively, so i'm almost certain i won't be able to scan Ubuntu from Windows now :(

[Inspector Clouseau]

And most of the "Addon-Filesystem-Drivers" are experimental, so i wouldn't do that from windows.

[Johnny123]

I'd be careful about writing from one file system to another, i.e., writing to NTFS from within Linux or writing to ext3 from Windows. Reading is no big deal, but writing to NTFS from a *nix system can potentially have undesirable results, e.g.,hosing the whole partition. The same may also be true writing to ext3 from Windows, who knows, these drivers appear to be beta. You may want to consider making a small FAT32 partition to save files that you want to access from both systems. Then you can write to this from both without any risk.

[iceni60]

thanks everyone. i should have thought abit more before i posted; i completely forgot about using that driver to RW to ext2.

BTW, reading/writing from NTFS to ext2 seems to be fairly stable, it's been done for awhile now with very few problems. however, doing it the other way around - ext2 to NTFS is still in the very earily stages. still, i understand it's not something to be undertaken likely.