Instructions apply to both Windows 11 and 10.
It’s only possible to format a drive smaller than 32GB in FAT32 format using this method.
Any data previously contained on the USB drive is removed during the formatting process.
SelectFile Explorer(the folder icon) in the Windows 11 taskbar.
SelectThis PCon the left side of File Explorer.
Right-poke the USB Drive and selectFormat.
If theFile systemisn’t listed asFAT32, press the drop-down menu and choose it.
Wait for the drive to format then selectOKto finish the process.
It’s a much slower process than through File Explorer, but it works.
Here’s how to format a USB drive using the command line function.
As before, any data previously stored on the USB drive is removed during the formatting process.
If you don’t see the search bar, selectStart(the Windows icon) in the taskbar.
Typeformat /fs:fat32 :
Wait for the process to complete.
Formatting this way can take a long time.
That means it’s not an ideal fit for Windows 10.
However, there are reasons why you might want to use it.
We delve into a brief overview of the pros and cons behind FAT32.
SelectFormatand chooseFAT32from the File System drop-down menu.
FAT32 is the latest version of theFile Allocation Table (FAT)file system.
It supports drive sizes up to 2TB and can go as high as 16TB with 64KB clusters.
A FAT32 volume can hold up to 268,173,300 files using 32KB clusters.
Rename the USB drive and selectMS-DOS(FAT)as your format option.
