How to convert NTFS to FAT32 file system in XP
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to Windows Reference RSS feed Thanks for visiting!
If your hard drive is formatted in NTFS and you need to reformat the drive to use either FAT or FAT32 all you need to do is insert your Windows XP CD into your CD-ROM, reboot your system and follow the instructions below:
After restarting your PC the Windows Setup will begin
At the Welcome to Setup screen press F10
Pressing F10 opens the Recovery Console. This is a DOS based screen so you need to first specify the operating system location, i.e. C: Drive and then log in as using your Administrator Password.
After logging in type map and then press Enter
Highlight the drive you want to reformat. Drive letters may differ in recovery console to those in windows xp
Type format x: /fs:fat32 Substitute the ‘x’ for the drive letter you wish to reformat and then press Enter.
Confirm your choice by typing Y and then pressing Enter
Once the hard drive has finished formatting type Exit and then press Enter to restart your computer.
Random Posts
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically each day to your feed reader.
Trackbacks & Pingbacks
Comments
Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
it was so helpful! thanks a lot!
ok. I have… er.. 3 HDDs… all of them have NTFS. But 1 needs to be FAT32. When I do format from my computer only NTFS was available. When I did the boot from XP I only had options to Format to NTFS (full or quick)…
I did however, in Windows opened up the command prompt.
Start -> Run -> “cmd”
and typed in format F: /fs:fat32
(where F was the drive letter)
It says that the type of of file system is NTFS
The new file system is FAT32
Enter Current volume label for drive F: (enter in volume label eg: Local Disk F, or stuff or whatever the HDD name is…)
once correctly done, it will prompt the “are you sure? Y/N?”… then formatting starts…
Thanks, Kaleem. You way is a lot quicker.