Extract text from Puppy Linux save states (4FS)
To convert 4FS save states to another format, you need Puppy Linux or other Disk Image software.
To convert other file formats to the "Linux Filesystem Image" file type, you need software like Puppy Linux or a similar tool.
The .4FS file functions as a virtual hard drive for Puppy Linux Live USB and CD deployments. It stores a user's persistent session state, keeping track of saved documents, browser history, network settings, and newly installed applications. Under the hood, a .4FS file is simply a standard Linux ext4 loopback filesystem image.
While native to Puppy Linux, these files can be mounted via terminal in any Linux distribution. On Windows, users can access the internal contents using archive extractors like 7-Zip.
The primary disadvantage of the .4FS format is its lack of cross-platform compatibility. It is entirely unreadable by default on Windows and macOS. Furthermore, these files are pre-allocated; a 1GB .4FS file will always consume 1GB of disk space, even if you only have 10MB of actual data saved inside it. Because it is a raw disk partition image, standard online converters fail to process it.
The most practical "conversion" involves extracting the files trapped inside the filesystem and repacking them into universally supported archives like ZIP or .TAR.GZ.
Because .4FS is a closed, pre-allocated disk image, it is inherently difficult to convert. Often, only a Linux kernel or specialized extraction software can properly read the raw byte structure. Standard tools will just see a massive, unrecognizable blob of data. Our analyzer can inspect the file header, verify its integrity, and if our system detects a supported underlying format, we can help extract the text or internal data.
Convert.Guru analyzes your 4FS file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
If you want to convert 4FS file to SYS, DLL, EXE, DRV, VXD, 386, COM, BAT, CMD, SCR, PIF or LNK, you can use Puppy Linux or similar software from the "Persistent State Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert MSI, EXE, REG, MST, LNK, CAB, CAT, DRV, INF, SYS, MSU or DLL files to 4FS, try Puppy Linux or another comparable tool in the "Persistent State Storage" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our 4FS converter.