Installation or .img file creation via Windows only?

[jvstech]

Does anyone have a method they use to install the newest rootfs based release without using a secondary Linux system? Or, preferably, a way to create a .img file from the rootfs release? Following the instructions, and using Cygwin with a few additional, official packages installed, I can get up to the point of creating a .img file and partitioning it; without loopback device support, I can't format it -- and even if I could, I don't have any way to create a vfat file system. Those seem to be my only two hangups. Everything else can be done.

I'd really like to be able to do this without dual booting or using a VM. I'm using a VM for the time being, but transferring the .img file from the guest to the host is time consuming, and I would *really* like to avoid having to do that.

[WarheadsSE]

Just grant your sd card reader to the VM.

[jvstech]

Right. That's what I've been doing.

However, I've *also* been using losetup in the VM to create .img files for testing and configuration inside QEMU. Shuttling the .img file off to an NFS folder on the Windows host has been time consuming and bandwidth intensive.

Oh well. I'm stuck using a secondary system.