Formatting a USB stick larger than 32 gigabyte with FAT32 on Windows 10
Posted by jpluimers on 2023/11/03
Formatting USB sticks in Fat32 on Windows 10 can be a pain, especially when they are larger than 32 gigabyte.
Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19043.1081] (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. C:\bin>format D: /FS:FAT32 Insert new disk for drive D: and press ENTER when ready... The type of the file system is EXFAT. The new file system is FAT32. Verifying 239.0 GB The volume is too big for FAT32. Format failed. C:\bin>
This works:
C:\bin>choco install guiformat Chocolatey v0.10.15 Installing the following packages: guiformat By installing you accept licenses for the packages. Progress: Downloading guiformat 1.0.3... 100% guiformat v1.0.3 [Approved] guiformat package files install completed. Performing other installation steps. The package guiformat wants to run 'chocolateyinstall.ps1'. Note: If you don't run this script, the installation will fail. Note: To confirm automatically next time, use '-y' or consider: choco feature enable -n allowGlobalConfirmation Do you want to run the script?([Y]es/[A]ll - yes to all/[N]o/[P]rint): all Downloading guiformat from 'http://ridgecrop.co.uk/guiformat-x64.Exe' Progress: 100% - Completed download of C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\lib\guiformat\tools\guiformat.exe (100.5 KB). Download of guiformat.exe (100.5 KB) completed. Hashes match. C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\lib\guiformat\tools\guiformat.exe ShimGen has successfully created a shim for guiformat.exe The install of guiformat was successful. Software install location not explicitly set, could be in package or default install location if installer. Chocolatey installed 1/1 packages. See the log for details (C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\logs\chocolatey.log). C:\bin>guiformat
The trick that [Wayback] Guiformat (downloads: [Wayback] 32-bit guiformat.exe, [Wayback] 64-bit guiformat-x64.exe) or [Wayback] fat32format (downloads: [Wayback] Executable in fat32format.zip, [Wayback] Source in fat32formatsrc.zip) uses is to increase the FAT32 cluster size from the default 512 to the smallest value (always a power of 2) that is suitable for the partition to format.
–jeroen
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 
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