How to Format a Drive or SD Card to FAT32.

This tutorial may help any user who wants to format an SD card or a USB drive in FAT32 in Windows. As you probably know, in Windows 10, you cannot format to FAT32 a drive larger than 32GB, and the only options you have (after right-clicking on it and choosing 'Format'), is to format the drive to NTFS or to exFAT file system. To bypass this problem, continue reading below.

How to Format to FAT32 a Hard Drive, Memory Card, USB Flash Drive in Windows 10.

To format an SD Card or a Drive to FAT32, you can use one of the following methods according the drive's capacity.

Method 1. Format Any Drive Smaller than 32GB to FAT32 from Windows GUI or Command Prompt.

Method 2. Format Any SD Card or Drive to FAT32 by using AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard Free.

Method 1. How to Format a Drive to FAT32 from Windows GUI or Command Prompt. *

* Note: Use this method if the Memory Card or the Drive that you want to format is less than 32GB in capacity. For 64Gb or larger drives/disks, follow the instructions in Method-2 below.

A. Format to FAT32 from Windows GUI.

1. Right click on the drive that you want to format to FAT32 and click Format.

2. At 'File system' select FAT32 and then click Start.

3. Wait for the format to complete.

B. Format to FAT32 from Command Prompt.

If you want to format to FAT32 a drive smaller that 32GB, by using command prompt:

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator.
2. Give the following command and press Enter: *

• format /FS:FAT32 DriveLetter:

* Notice: Where DriveLetter = the drive letter of the disk that you want to format, as appears in Windows Explorer. e.g. if you want to format the E: drive, give this command:

• format /FS:FAT32 E:

Method 2. How to Format Any Drive to FAT32 by using AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard Free.

* Note: Because of the inability of Windows to format to FAT32 an SD Card or any other drive (e.g. HDD, USB Disk, etc. ) with capacity over 32GB, you have to use a third party utility to accomplish the job. So, use this method to format any drive to FAT32 regardless it's capacity.

1. Download and install the Freeware version of AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard.
2. After the installation, open the AOMEI Partition Assistant.
3. Right click on the drive that you want to Format to FAT32 and choose Format Partition.

4. At 'Format Partition' options, select the FAT32 File System and click OK.

5. Now click the Apply button from the main menu.

6.  Finally click Proceed to format the drive to FAT32 file system.

That's it! Which method worked for you?
Let me know if this guide has helped you by leaving your comment about your experience. Please like and share this guide to help others.

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Konstantinos Tsoukalas

Konstantinos is the founder and administrator of Wintips.org. Since 1995 he works and provides IT support as a computer and network expert to individuals and large companies. He is specialized in solving problems related to Windows or other Microsoft products (Windows Server, Office, Microsoft 365, etc.).

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