How to Format to FAT32 in Windows 10: A Step-by-Step Guide

Updated By

Linda 

Authored By

Linda 

Last Updated on May 13, 2024

On Windows 10/8.1/8/7 systems, there are usually four methods to format USB to FAT32, which has the best compatibility compared with other file systems. All four methods apply to small USB drives, flash drives, or SD cards whose capacity ranges from 2GB to 32GB. However, for USB flash drives, HDDs, or external hard disks larger than 32GB, the available tools will be limited to third-party best USB formatting tool and the Windows Command Prompt.

All four approaches have value for both casual and power users, and the first will save you time whenever you can use it.

< a class="anchor" data-category="article_user_experience" data-event="eclick_text_anchor" data-event_label="article" href="#fat32_formatter">1. Third-Party USB Formatting Tools (Recommended by Lifewire)
< a class="anchor" data-category="article_user_experience" data-event="eclick_text_anchor" data-event_label="article" href="#format_fat32_file_explorer">2. Quick Format with Windows 10 File Explorer
< a class="anchor" data-category="article_user_experience" data-event="eclick_text_anchor" data-event_label="article" href="#format_usb_drive_disk_management">3. Format with Windows 10 Disk Management
< a class="anchor" data-category="article_user_experience" data-event="eclick_text_anchor" data-event_label="article" href="#format_fat32_cmd">4. Windows Command Prompt
< a class="anchor" data-category="article_user_experience" data-event="eclick_text_anchor" data-event_label="article" href="#video_format_to_fat32">Video Tutorial: How to Format to FAT32 in Windows 10 Using Four Methods

If none of the built-in disk formatting tools in Windows 10 can format to FAT32, skip straight to the last section for other solutions that work on Windows 10 for the “Cannot Format to FAT32” issue.

About File Systems (FAT32, FAT16, FAT12, NTFS)

In computers, a file system controls how data is stored and retrieved. Common Windows file systems include FAT16, FAT32, and NTFS. Users can switch between different file systems on their USB flash drives or external hard disks. In the table below, we list the features of four common file systems, providing details on everything from the maximum partition size to compatibility with various operating systems.

Solution 1: Format to FAT32 on Windows 10 with FAT32 Formatter

No USB requirements

A professional third-party Windows 10 FAT32 formatting tool can make the formatting process both easy and secure. We recommend you try Partition Master with its formatting feature. Aside from FAT32, it also supports formatting USB to NTFS, EXT2, EXT3, and ReFS.

Download this Partition Wizard and follow the simple steps to format USB to FAT32 freely on Windows 10.

1. Right-click the external drive or USB you want to format, and select "Format." 2. Set the Volume label, File system (NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3/EXT4/exFAT), and Allocation unit size, then click "OK." 3. Click "Yes" to continue. 4. Click "Perform 1 task," then click "Apply" to format the hard drive partition.

You may also like:

How to Partition a Hard Drive in Windows 10

With this FAT32 format, you can also repartition the volume on HDD/SSD or external storage devices. Continue reading to learn how to partition a hard drive by yourself.

Solution 2: Format FAT32 on Windows 10 via File Explorer

USB requirement: 32 GB or less. Otherwise, you'll need to format the USB as NTFS.

To format a USB with 32 GB or less to FAT32 using the Windows 10 File Explorer, follow these three steps:

Step 1: Connect your USB drive or external hard drive to the PC running Windows 10.

Step 2. Open File Explorer, locate the USB drive, right-click on it, and select “Format.”

Step 3: Set the file system to FAT32, check "Quick Format", and then click on the "Start" button to format the drive.

When it's done, click “OK” to confirm. Your USB drive is now formatted to FAT32.

Read more: [How to Format a USB Drive That Doesn't Show Up](/partition-master/format-a-usb-drive-that-does-not-show-up.html)

Solution 3: Format USB/External Drive to FAT32 with Disk Management

USB requirement: As with Explorer, your USB drive must be 32GB or smaller to format it as FAT32 in the program.

Follow this 3-step guide to format it to FAT32:

Step 1: In Windows 10, go to This PC > Manage > Disk Management.

Step 2: Right-click on your USB flash drive or external hard drive, and select "Format."

Step 3: Format the USB device as FAT32, with "Quick format" checked, and click "OK" to confirm.

Solution 4: Format Windows 10 to FAT32 via Command Prompt

No USB requirements

Some experienced users or administrators prefer to perform certain actions on a Windows PC via the command line. In Windows 10, this is also a viable method for formatting a flash drive or external hard disk as FAT32.

Warning: Be careful when formatting a USB drive from the command line on your computer. Doing so incorrectly can cause serious problems.

For the command prompt, there are two methods you can try, and if they work, please share this article to help more users.

Here are the detailed steps to format a device using CMD, DiskPart, or PowerShell command lines:

Option 1: Format to FAT32 using CMD - Command Prompt/Disk Management In the Windows operating system, you can format a disk to FAT32 using the Command Prompt and Disk Management. Here are the detailed steps: 1. Open the Command Prompt: - Press `Win + X` and choose "Command Prompt" (if you're using Windows 10, you can also choose "Windows PowerShell" or "Windows Terminal"; they function similarly). 2. In the Command Prompt window, type the following command to list all disks: ``` diskpart ``` Press Enter. 3. The Diskpart utility will open. Type the following command and hit Enter: ``` list disk ``` This will display all hard drives connected to your computer. 4. Identify the disk number you want to format and replace `#` with it in the following command, then press Enter: ``` select disk # ``` 5. Next, determine the partition or volume number you want to format. Replace `#` with that number in the command below and press Enter: ``` select partition # ``` 6. Finally, input the following command to format the partition to FAT32 and press Enter: ``` format fs=fat32 quick ``` 7. Wait for the formatting process to complete. Once finished, type `exit` twice to quit Diskpart and the Command Prompt. Please note that this will erase all data on the disk, so make sure to back up important files before proceeding.

Step 1: Type **Command Prompt** in the Windows 10 search bar, or right-click the **Windows icon** > select **Search** and type cmd.

Step 2: Right-click Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.

Step 3: Check the USB drive label, and type format /fs:FAT32 o: at the prompt (replace O: with the letter assigned to your USB drive), and press Enter.

Windows 10 will begin formatting USB flash drives and external hard disks as FAT32.

4. When it's done, type exit.

Option 2: Use DiskPart

Step 1. Type diskpart in the Windows search bar, and press Enter.

Step 2: Type the following commands one at a time, pressing Enter after each:

• list disk
• select disk 2 (replace "2" with the number of your USB drive)
• list volume
• select volume 10 (replace "10" with the volume number of the USB drive you want to format)
• format fs=fat32 quick

Step 3: When DiskPart confirms that the USB drive has been formatted, type exit and press Enter to close the program.

You might also enjoy these video tutorials:

Option 3: Use PowerShell

Step 1: Right-click the Windows icon, select "Windows PowerShell (Admin)," and then click "Yes" to open it.

Step 2: Label your USB drive and type Format /FS:FAT32 o: in PowerShell, then press Enter.

Step 3: Once the formatting is complete, type exit.

Format USB to FAT32 via PowerShell

Video Tutorial: 4 Ways to Format to FAT32 in Windows 10 (UTF-8)

01:30 Method 1: Format the drive using File Explorer
02:13 Method 2: Format the drive using Disk Management
02:46 Method 3: Format the drive with the DiskPart command-line tool
03:49 Method 4: Format the drive using Partition Master Tool

Other fixes for “Can't format as FAT32” in Windows 10

If you're having trouble formatting your USB or if Windows is unable to complete the format, don't worry. In this section, you'll learn why you can't format a disk as FAT32 in Windows 10 and how to effectively resolve this issue.

"Windows was unable to complete the format"

Reasons for Failure to Format as FAT32

To find the right solution for your situation, it's important to determine why the FAT32 format option is unavailable. Here are the main reasons:

1. File system errors, or bad sectors exist on the USB/external hard drive 2. The USB drive contains two partitions, or the partition needing to be formatted as FAT32 is not the first primary partition 3. The partition on the USB drive or external hard drive is larger than 32GB 4. The USB drive or external hard drive is write-protected

So, how to fix the issues and switch the USB drive to FAT32? Follow the quick fix to resolve the FAT32 format issue in Windows 10.

Solution 1: Check for disk errors, fix file system issues or bad sectors

For this, you can use third-party partition management software – Partition Master and the Windows Disk Check tool.

Method 1: Check and Repair Disk Errors with Partition Master Tool

Step 1: Launch Partition Master on your computer. Then, locate the hard drive and right-click on the partition you want to check. Select “Advanced” > “Check File System.”

Select "Check Partition":

(2) In the Check Disk Utility dialog box, select the option to Try to fix errors if found, and then click Start.

Step 3: The software will now begin checking the partition's file system on the disk. When it's done, click on "Finish".

Finish the check

Method 2: Run Disk Check from Windows File Explorer

< strong > Step 1. < /strong> Open File Explorer, right-click on your USB drive or external hard disk, and select “Properties.”

Step 2: Click on "Tools," and then under "Error Checking," select "Check Now."

Check USB drive errors

Step 3: Choose “Scan and repair drive.”

Alternatively, check “Automatically fix file system errors” and “Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors,” then click “Start.”

Run a Windows check to fix the USB.

Fix 2: Delete all partitions and create a new FAT32 partition on the USB drive

If your version of Windows (earlier than Windows 8.1) or your USB drive doesn't support creating two primary partitions, your computer won't be able to format the non-primary partition on your USB drive as FAT32.

The solution is to delete all existing partitions on the USB drive and create a new FAT32 partition.

Step 1: Connect the USB to your PC and open Disk Management.

Step 2. Right-click the main partition on your USB device and select "Delete Volume." Click "Yes" to confirm.

Step 3: Right-click on the logical partition on the USB drive and select "Delete Volume."

Step 4: Click “Yes” to confirm.

Step 5: Right-click on the logical partition and select "Delete Partition". Click "Yes" to confirm.

Step 6: Right-click the unallocated space and select New Simple Volume > Next.

Step 7. The wizard will prompt you to specify the volume size, drive letter, and file system (set to FAT32). Click “Next” > “Finish.”

After going through these steps, your USB drive or external hard disk will be successfully converted to the FAT32 format without needing to reformat the disk.

Solution 3: Choose NTFS as the file system or split the large USB partition into smaller FAT32 partitions

As shown in the picture, the maximum capacity of a FAT32 partition is 32GB, so you can only format devices with a capacity under 32GB to this file system.

This means that when your USB drive's partition is larger than 32 GB, you cannot format it as FAT32. There are three solutions to this problem:

Method 1: Format the USB as FAT32 with Partition Master

Unlike the built-in tool in Windows, AOMEI Partition Assistant can easily format a USB larger than 32GB to FAT32. You just need to go back to the Partition Manager and directly format the USB to FAT32 without any limitation.

Method 2: Format the USB drive to NTFS

NTFS supports individual files larger than 4 GB and partitions larger than 32 GB.

If you want to have just one partition on your USB drive and make the most of the drive's space, NTFS is the best choice for your USB drive.

Method 3: Format the USB drive as FAT32 (for partitions smaller than 32 GB)

Alternatively, you can partition the USB drive into smaller partitions and format them as FAT32:

Prerequisites: Your Windows system (version 8.1 or later) and USB drive must support two or more partitions.

Step 1: Delete the USB Partition with Disk Management

Step 2. Create two or more partitions with a FAT32 file system that are smaller than 32 GB each.

Fix 4: Remove USB write protection and format USB as FAT32

When a USB drive is write-protected or password-locked, you can't format it to FAT32 directly. Here's how to get around this issue in detail:

Step 1: Remove the USB write protection and unlock the USB

You may refer to this link to remove write protection on USB in Windows 10/8/7. Or, you can try to unlock USB easily with M Tool in 3 steps:

If you don't consider yourself very computer-savvy or aren't comfortable with the command line, don't worry – there are graphical solutions that can help you unprotect your hard drive, USB drive, or even an SD card.

CleanGenius is one of those tools that can help you fix such issues on your disk without having to resort to the command line.

This is a simple, easy-to-follow guide on how to use this tool to address your issue:

Step 1: Download and install the free CleanGenius tool on your computer.

Step 2: Run CleanGenius on your computer, choose “Optimize,” and then select “Write Protection” mode.

Step 3: Select the write-protected device and click “Disable” to remove the protection.

Step 2: Format the USB drive as FAT32

With the USB write protection removed, you can proceed to format your USB drive to FAT32 using any of the methods provided in Part 1.

The ultimate answer - Format as FAT32 in Windows 10

This page provides guidance on how to format a USB or external hard drive to FAT32 and resolves issues with unable to format USB to FAT32. It also includes a useful solution to format devices larger than 32GB to FAT32 without losing data.

If you want to convert it to NTFS without formatting, see How to Convert FAT to NTFS Without Formatting.

FAT32 Format Issues on Windows - Frequently Asked Questions

How do I format a microSD card to FAT32? - Quora.com

The built-in tools “Disk Management” and “File Explorer” can format the microSD card with ease.

Use Disk Management: Right-click on the SD card and select Format from the list. Change the Volume label, File system, and Allocation unit size. Check the box for Quick format, then click OK.

File Explorer: Right-click the drive and select Format… Choose the File system tab and allocation unit size. Confirm the warning and click OK.

2. How do I format a hard disk? - Quora.com

To save time and edit quickly, we recommend using a professional hard drive formatting tool - AOMEI Partition Assistant. If you plan to format a hard drive, run the software. Right-click the disk you need to format and select "Format". Done!

Why can't I format my USB drive to FAT32?

The error could be due to a USB error, a USB size greater than 32 GB, or a write-protected status.