How to change directories to a different hard drive using Ubuntu on WSL?

I have just started learning bash. I am fighting a bit with this simple problem:

Please write EXACTLY the command that you would use to get to hard drive F:, folder Fiddler.

Side question: What do each of these 4 words mean? If I type ls in bash, I get this:

examples.desktop itnetworktest Desktop Videos

I installed cygwin, and then bash for Windows 10. I need to learn Linux bash for college.

Solution 1:

Primary question

The hard drives labelled C:/, D:/ etc in Windows should be mounted as c, d etc either in a /mnt directory, or one called /cygdrive, I believe, depending on your setup. If the folder you are looking for is located at F:/fiddler in Windows, it should be at either /mnt/f/fiddler or /cygdrive/f/fiddler when accessed from Linux.

So you would be able to get there with cd /mnt/f/fiddler or cd /cygdrive/f/fiddler.

Side question

The command ls in bash (and AFAIK also in Windows) will list ('LiSt') all the files and directories located in the current directory. It's like if you opened your directory in a graphical file explorer program like Windows Explorer, and see a little icon & the name for every file & directory at the current location.

So if you execute the command ls and it returns examples.desktop itnetworktest Desktop Videos, that means that in the current directory (presumably your home folder?), there are four files/directories: one called examples.desktop (presumably a file), one called itnetworktest (presumably a file), one called Desktop (presumably a directory) and one called Videos (presumably a directory).

Note that ls as-is provides only the names and nothing more. You can instead use it with an additional option, as ls -la, to see a little more info (on many systems, the shorter 'alias' command ll can also be used instead of the full ls -la for the same effect). This way of displaying might be laid out slightly more similar to the graphical file browsers you're used to.

PS

Generally, when you have two separate questions that are not directly related, it is good practice to post both separately, as distinct questions. That helps to keep the site organized, makes it easier for people to find your question, and makes it clearer what someone can expect to find when they click on the title. It probably also makes your questions more accessible - someone who can help with one question but not the other might choose not to engage at all if they feel they cannot 'fully' answer your question as posed, if you combine two questions into one post.