After remaining unchanged for nearly 30 years, Microsoft will soon remove the 32GB size limit in its FAT32 partitions for Windows 11 and increase it to 2TB. The announcement in its blog post states that it will initially roll out via Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27686 and will be available through its Canary Channel.
Windows Insider “XenoPanther” was able to secure this Insider Preview version and demonstrated the scaling of the format by creating a 114.6 GB FAT32 format using quick formatting via the command prompt.
This is the output when formatting a volume as FAT32 in 27686 pic.twitter.com/LcOsEZqMf315 August 2024
The 32GB limit was originally set during the development of Windows 95 and has remained unchanged to this day. While there is no explanation as to why it wasn’t increased earlier, former Microsoft developer Dave Plummer recalls a situation about X and said that it was more of an arbitrary decision at the time.
Microsoft already supports increasing the size limit to 2TB for FAT32, but was unable to create one with an extended limit through Disk Management. FAT32 is useful because it is compatible with many operating systems and any device with a USB port. While there is exFAT, introduced with Windows XP, many older operating systems and devices do not recognize this format, so simply increasing the ability to format FAT32 with a higher size limit has its advantages.
Additionally, Windows can read larger FAT32 file systems. The only way to create one was either through other operating systems, PowerShell, or third-party applications. With this integration, one can now create larger FAT32 partitions without much effort. At the moment, this is confirmed to be possible via a command prompt using DISKPART.EXE, while GUI-based Disk Management only allows 32GB.
Surely, it is straightforward to do this via Disk Management. However, there are certain situations where the GUI-based built-in option fails to format in certain scenarios, as noted by PassMark Software. The Windows Disk Management feature needs to be improved, including the ability to increase the FAT32 format up to 2TB.
Further additions to Windows 11 Preview Build 27686
Along with this change, Microsoft will add the following in its upcoming Canary build:
- The most important new feature is the new Windows Sandbox Client Preview, which offers clipboard redirection, audio/video input control, and the ability to share folders with the host at runtime.
- Adding the Detach Virtual Hard Disk (VHD/VHDX) button to the settings will make it much easier to detach your VHD/VHDx when needed
- Periodic background network testing to collect up to 10MB of diagnostic data per day over Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and connections not marked as metered.
Fixed several issues, including VHDs not being able to be automatically remounted and the battery icon on the lock screen not being synced with your PC’s actual battery level.
While not all changes made in the Canary Channel preview build will necessarily make it to the public versions, it is safe to assume that they will eventually be implemented in future releases, hopefully with integration with GUI-based disk management.
