How to Format to FAT32 on Windows 11 [4 Free Ways]

Quick Guide to using FAT32 format tool:

• AOMEI Partition Assistant provides a quick formatting option to successfully format to FAT32 in Windows 11 in just three steps. You can also convert NTFS to fat32 without data loss.
• Disk Management and File Explorer provide the same formatting process: click on the target drive and right-click to select the formatting option. However the tool has some basic limitations.
• Using format /FS:FAT32 you can format the drive in Windows 11 using the command prompt. However, this method is for people who are familiar with computers.

What is FAT32?

Before figuring out how to format FAT32 in Windows 11, we should understand what is FAT32. The FAT32 format means that the file allocation table is a disk file management format that uses 32-bit binary number record management. Because the core of the FAT file system is the file allocation table, the name is derived from it.

The advantage of the FAT32 format is that it has good stability and compatibility, and is easy to maintain. The disadvantage is that the security is poor, and only supports up to 32 GB partitions, and a single file supports up to 4 GB. Please see how to format hard drive to FAT32 in Windows 11.

How to format to FAT32 in Windows 11, 10, 8, 7

There are four formatting methods you can use, one is the Windows 11 built-in tool Disk Management, File Explorer, Command Prompt, and a third-party utility, AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional.

But before you start formatting, please note that any formatting method will delete the data on the device, so please make a backup in advance.

▶ Method 1. Format drive to FAT32 via free FAT32 format Tool (hot)

So how to format a larger drive to FAT32 format in Windows 11? Here, I recommend you to use the free formatting software AOMEI Partition Assistant. It allows you to easily format hard drives of any size into common file systems such as FAT32, exFAT, NTFS, etc. in Windows 7/8/10/11.

In addition, it can directly Convert File System between FAT32 and NTFS without data loss. Next, I will show how to format FAT32 in Windows 11 step by step.

Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard. Right-click the hard drive and select the “Format Partition” option.

Step 2. Choose “FAT32” in the File System drop-down menu. You can also change Cluster Size, and Partition Label on this window.

Step 3. Back to the main interface, click “Apply” to commit the pending operation.

★Tips:

 You can try more other features, like deleting large files to free up space, moving applications from one drive to another, migrating Windows 11 to SSD, recovering lost data, allocating free space, etc.

 If you are running Windows Server 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012, 2008, and 2003, please turn to Server Edition, which is designed for Windows Server users.

▶ Method 2. Format drive to FAT32 with Disk Management

Be extra careful when using Disk Management, because incorrect operations or operating errors may cause you to lose partitions.

Step 1. Click the Search icon on the Windows 11 desktop and enter Create and format hard disk. Then, open it.

Step 2. In the Disk Management window, you can see all the hard disks on the computer. Right-click and select the partition and click “Format”. Then select “FAT32” from the drop-down menu. Then click “OK”.

Note: Disk management cannot format a storage device larger than 32 GB to FAT32. Sometimes you may find the Format option greyed out. To keep the format process successful, try AOMEI Partition Assistant.

Method 3. Format to FAT32 with File Explorer

Windows File Explorer manages basic disk management, including formatting partitions.

Step 1. Please click on the File Explorer icon and select This PC. This will display all connected drives and partitions.

Step 2. Right-click on the selected drive and choose "Format." It is important to ensure that a backup of all essential data from the partition is available, as failure to do so may result in the loss of this data.

Step 3. Select FAT32 from the File System drop-down in the Format window, select Quick Format, and click the Start button. Once completed, the drive will be ready for use.

Method 4. Format to FAT32 Windows 11 with Command Prompt

If you are familiar with computer operations and prefer to use the command prompt. Then you can use CMD to format the USB drive to FAT32. regardless of whether you are using Windows 10 or Windows 11, Command Prompt does not have any version!

Step 1. Open the Start menu, locate the Command Prompt, and select "Run as administrator". At the "User Account Control" prompt, select "Yes".

Step 2. Type the following commands in the Command Prompt window and press Enter.

• list disk

• select disk 1

• list partition

• select partition X:

• format fs=fat32 or format fs=fat32 quick

Note: If you are using PowerShell to format USB drive, please use the format /FS:FAT32 command.

When your drive is formatted, close the Command Prompt. When using this method, please make sure that you don't enter any wrong command parameter and drive letter, or it may result in irretrievable data loss. If you are not sure, please download FAT32 formatting tool.

Why format to FAT32 in Windows 11?

If you want to take full advantage of an external hard drive, your best choice is to format it as a FAT32 file system. Why? Because if you have an NTFS external hard drive, you can only apply it to Windows OS. If you have an HFS+ external hard drive, you can only apply it to macOS. However, if you have a FAT32 external storage drive, the result will be completely different. Because both Windows OS and macOS can easily recognize FAT32. In addition, PlayStation 3/4/5 only supports exFAT and FAT32 file system.

So, no matter what purpose you want to format the internal hard drive or external hard drive as FAT32, the methods I provide can solve it for you. However, some people say that they the Windows 11 format FAT32 not available:

"I either need to reformat or convert a flash drive to fat32. I have read numerous articles and most say go to accessories-system tools-disk converter but there is no disk converter is system tools. I also read an article that says to go to a command prompt and type format X: /fat32 where X is the drive letter but that says invalid parameter. I would appreciate if someone could tell me how to format my flash drive to fat32 I would very much appreciate it." - from Microsoft community

If you can't format to FAT32, it is usually due to that your partition is larger than 32GB.  Windows formatting options allow using FAT32 partitions only on drives 32GB or smaller. So when you can't format a 64GB SD card to FAT32 using Windows built-in formatting tools (such as Disk Management, File Explorer or DiskPart), use a professional third-party tool - AOMEI Partition Assitant!

Bottom line

Do you see it? This article shows you how to format FAT32 in Windows 11 in two ways. It is not difficult to format a partition or drive as FAT32 on a PC. But you need to choose the right method. Although Disk Management comes with Windows 11, it has obvious flaws. The AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard can just make up for the lack of Disk Management. As long as the hard drive can be detected by the computer, it can be formatted as exFAT, NTFS, FAT32, and more.