Installing Windows from Media Formatted with exFAT


hsehestedt

Well-known member
Pro User
VIP
Local time
5:19 AM
Posts
2,533
Location
Texas, USA
OS
Win11 Pro 23H2
I know that some UEFI based systems don't like to boot from removable media formatted with NTFS, for example, thumb drives that are formatted with NTFS. However, I'm wondering how many such systems will tolerate booting from exFAT rather than only plain FAT32.

Just out of curiosity, I created Windows installation media using exFAT and booted an 11 year old laptop (this one is not a UEFI based system) and was pleasantly surprised that it worked flawlessly.

If anyone has tried creating bootable thumb drives using exFAT, I'd like to hear what your results were. I have a program that I wrote that always creates bootable media using a FAT32 partition along with a secondary NTFS partition, but if exFAT works in most instances I may consider reworking this code to allow the user the option of using exFAT instead. I just simply don't have enough data yet to know if this will work for most people or not.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built
    CPU
    Intel i7-11700K
    Motherboard
    ASUS Prime Z590-A
    Memory
    128GB Crucial Ballistix 3200MHz DRAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    No GPU - CPU graphics only (for now)
    Sound Card
    Realtek (on motherboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP Envy 32
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1440
    Hard Drives
    1 x 1TB NVMe Gen 4 x 4 SSD
    1 x 2TB NVMe Gen 3 x 4 SSD
    2 x 512GB 2.5" SSDs
    2 x 8TB HD
    PSU
    Corsair HX850i
    Case
    Corsair iCue 5000X RGB
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black cooler + 10 case fans
    Keyboard
    CODE backlit mechanical keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1Gb Up / 1 Gb Down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    Additional options installed:
    WiFi 6E PCIe adapter
    ASUS ThunderboltEX 4 PCIe adapter
  • Operating System
    Win11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkBook 13x Gen 2
    CPU
    Intel i7-1255U
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Iris Xe Graphics
    Sound Card
    Realtek® ALC3306-CG codec
    Monitor(s) Displays
    13.3-inch IPS Display
    Screen Resolution
    WQXGA (2560 x 1600)
    Hard Drives
    2 TB 4 x 4 NVMe SSD
    PSU
    USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 Power / Charging
    Mouse
    Buttonless Glass Precision Touchpad
    Keyboard
    Backlit, spill resistant keyboard
    Internet Speed
    1Gb Up / 1Gb Down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    WiFi 6e / Bluetooth 5.1 / Facial Recognition / Fingerprint Sensor / ToF (Time of Flight) Human Presence Sensor
I don’t know enough about it but was under the impression Fat 32 was better for safe data storage - so I just use this program to change ex fat to fat 32

 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion 14-ce3514sa
    CPU
    Core i5
    Memory
    16gb
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 970 evo plus 2TB
    Cooling
    Could be better
    Internet Speed
    200mbps Starlink
    Browser
    Firefox
    Other Info
    Originally installed with a 500gb H10 Optane ssd
exFAT works better on Mac OS X than NTFS and is better for drives larger than the limit of 32GB for FAT plus getting around the 4GB single-file-size of FAT32. If using the MCT/Media Creation Tool of Windows to format/prepare the bootable USB drive be aware it formats as FAT32 and a maximum partition size of 32GB [found that out when mistakenly using a 64GB drive].
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 Pro RTM
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 3400
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 11th Gen. 2.40GHz
    Memory
    12GB
    Hard Drives
    256GB SSD NVMe
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro RTM x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 5890
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 10th Gen. 2.90GHz
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Onboard, no VGA, using a DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter
    Monitor(s) Displays
    24" Dell
    Hard Drives
    512GB SSD NVMe, 2TB WDC HDD
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender/Microsoft Security
The UEFI specification states that UEFI must be able to boot from FAT32, FAT16 and FAT12. All other filesystems are optional. My Dell laptop will not boot in UEFI from NTFS nor exFAT. I did not attempt to see if it would boot in legacy BIOS mode from exFAT.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Homebuilt
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Crosshair VII Hero (WiFi)
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Education
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 7773
    CPU
    Intel i7-8550U
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce MX150
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17"
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba 512GB NVMe SSD
    SK Hynix 512GB SATA SSD
    Internet Speed
    Fast!
I've also had a mixture of responses to exFat.
Some would boot from it whilst others would not.
Only Fat32 has proved bootable on all.

As a result, I now only use exFat for a large [non-bootable] SD card that my phone can read.

Denis
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home x64 Version 23H2 Build 22631.3296
The UEFI specification states that UEFI must be able to boot from FAT32, FAT16 and FAT12. All other filesystems are optional. My Dell laptop will not boot in UEFI from NTFS nor exFAT. I did not attempt to see if it would boot in legacy BIOS mode from exFAT.
Thanks! That directly addressed the concern I had. I'll simply stick with what I have now since that works universally on everything. Less work for me as well :-)
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built
    CPU
    Intel i7-11700K
    Motherboard
    ASUS Prime Z590-A
    Memory
    128GB Crucial Ballistix 3200MHz DRAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    No GPU - CPU graphics only (for now)
    Sound Card
    Realtek (on motherboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP Envy 32
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1440
    Hard Drives
    1 x 1TB NVMe Gen 4 x 4 SSD
    1 x 2TB NVMe Gen 3 x 4 SSD
    2 x 512GB 2.5" SSDs
    2 x 8TB HD
    PSU
    Corsair HX850i
    Case
    Corsair iCue 5000X RGB
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black cooler + 10 case fans
    Keyboard
    CODE backlit mechanical keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1Gb Up / 1 Gb Down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    Additional options installed:
    WiFi 6E PCIe adapter
    ASUS ThunderboltEX 4 PCIe adapter
  • Operating System
    Win11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkBook 13x Gen 2
    CPU
    Intel i7-1255U
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Iris Xe Graphics
    Sound Card
    Realtek® ALC3306-CG codec
    Monitor(s) Displays
    13.3-inch IPS Display
    Screen Resolution
    WQXGA (2560 x 1600)
    Hard Drives
    2 TB 4 x 4 NVMe SSD
    PSU
    USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 Power / Charging
    Mouse
    Buttonless Glass Precision Touchpad
    Keyboard
    Backlit, spill resistant keyboard
    Internet Speed
    1Gb Up / 1Gb Down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    WiFi 6e / Bluetooth 5.1 / Facial Recognition / Fingerprint Sensor / ToF (Time of Flight) Human Presence Sensor
I'd like to observe that Ventoy supports exFAT and NTFS for the "big partition," and does some tricks to boot (briefly) from a 32 MB FAT partition, then mount and hand over control to an ISO on the "big partition." This offers a lot of advantages, including no need to split images larger than 4GB in size. Here's snapshot of the disk layout:
1635784577499.png
You can also store as many ISO files as will fit on the Ventoy partition and boot to any of them. According to File Explorer, I have 28 such items in that disk for 144GB of storage consumed (averages out to 5.14GB per image).
HTH,
--Ed--
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo X380 Yoga
    CPU
    i7-8650U (8th Gen/Kaby Lake)
    Motherboard
    20LH000MUS (U3E1)
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel UHD Graphics 620
    Sound Card
    Integrated Conexant SmartAudio HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    FlexView Display
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba 1 TB PCIe x3 NVMe SSD
    external 5TB Seagate USB-C attached HDD
    PSU
    Lenovo integrated 65W power brick
    Case
    Laptop
    Cooling
    Laptop
    Keyboard
    Integrated Lenovo ThinkPad keyboard
    Mouse
    touchscreen, touchpad
    Internet Speed
    GbE (Spectrum/Charter)
    Browser
    all of em
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    Purchased early 2019 as Windows Insider test PC
exFAT is working better as storage device instead of bootable device. Both my Mac and laptops won't recognize exFAT USB created with ISO burning software.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    DIY
    CPU
    Intel i5 7500
    Motherboard
    ASRock B250M
    Memory
    Kingston 8 GB DDR4
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Graphics HD 630
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HKC M242
    Hard Drives
    SanDisk SSD PLus 240
    Browser
    Chrome
I'd like to observe that Ventoy supports exFAT and NTFS for the "big partition," and does some tricks to boot (briefly) from a 32 MB FAT partition, then mount and hand over control to an ISO on the "big partition." This offers a lot of advantages, including no need to split images larger than 4GB in size. Here's snapshot of the disk layout:
View attachment 12178
You can also store as many ISO files as will fit on the Ventoy partition and boot to any of them. According to File Explorer, I have 28 such items in that disk for 144GB of storage consumed (averages out to 5.14GB per image).
HTH,
--Ed--
Yes, BUT... what you have described is the EASY way. Can't you understand the simple fact that the vast majority of ppl on here will insist on doing it the hard way? 😂
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Asus TUF Gaming (2024)
    CPU
    i7 13650HX
    Memory
    16GB DDR5
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile
    Sound Card
    Eastern Electric MiniMax DAC Supreme; Emotiva UMC-200; Astell & Kern AK240
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Sony Bravia XR-55X90J
    Screen Resolution
    3840×2160
    Hard Drives
    512GB SSD internal
    37TB external
    PSU
    Li-ion
    Cooling
    2× Arc Flow Fans, 4× exhaust vents, 5× heatpipes
    Keyboard
    Logitech K800
    Mouse
    Logitech G402
    Internet Speed
    20Mbit/s up, 250Mbit/s down
    Browser
    FF
  • Operating System
    11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Medion S15450
    CPU
    i5 1135G7
    Memory
    16GB DDR4
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Iris Xe
    Sound Card
    Eastern Electric MiniMax DAC Supreme; Emotiva UMC-200; Astell & Kern AK240
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Sony Bravia XR-55X90J
    Screen Resolution
    3840×2160
    Hard Drives
    2TB SSD internal
    37TB external
    PSU
    Li-ion
    Mouse
    Logitech G402
    Keyboard
    Logitech K800
    Internet Speed
    20Mbit/s up, 250Mbit/s down
    Browser
    FF
Many years ago, I installed and booted Windows on the exFAT partition.
exFAT boot Windows 10 v2004.jpg
I was the first to study the exFAT file system boot, among the minimum Windows version that supports exFAT boot is 6.1.7850.
This is a detailed installation tutorial I wrote in Simplified Chinese (because I am from China)
http://bbs.wuyou.net/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=388226&mobile=no
I appologize for my grammatical mistake because English isn't my main language.
Note:
To access this forum by non-Chinese IP, you need to modify the "C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts" file and add:
117.25.130.178 bbs.c3.wuyou.net
117.25.130.178 bbs.wuyou.net
117.25.130.178 wuyou.net
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
There are scripts in TF that are being revised before they become resources in EF.

We've not tested exFat yet and are looking for various partition structures (different types, large numbers, etc.)

If possible please logon to TF (as needed) to run them and post share links in this thread using one drive, drop box, or google drive.


Latest diskparinfo bat script:

 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4800MQ CPU @ 2.70GHz
    Motherboard
    Product : 190A Version : KBC Version 94.56
    Memory
    16 GB Total: Manufacturer : Samsung MemoryType : DDR3 FormFactor : SODIMM Capacity : 8GB Speed : 1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Quadro K3100M; Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600
    Sound Card
    IDT High Definition Audio CODEC; PNP Device ID HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_111D&DEV_76E0
    Hard Drives
    Model Hitachi HTS727575A9E364
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender
    Other Info
    Mobile Workstation
@hdmi Still laughing about your response to my observations, months later. Great bon mot!
Keep it up, and keep 'em laughing...
=Ed=
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo X380 Yoga
    CPU
    i7-8650U (8th Gen/Kaby Lake)
    Motherboard
    20LH000MUS (U3E1)
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel UHD Graphics 620
    Sound Card
    Integrated Conexant SmartAudio HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    FlexView Display
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba 1 TB PCIe x3 NVMe SSD
    external 5TB Seagate USB-C attached HDD
    PSU
    Lenovo integrated 65W power brick
    Case
    Laptop
    Cooling
    Laptop
    Keyboard
    Integrated Lenovo ThinkPad keyboard
    Mouse
    touchscreen, touchpad
    Internet Speed
    GbE (Spectrum/Charter)
    Browser
    all of em
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    Purchased early 2019 as Windows Insider test PC

Latest Support Threads

Back
Top Bottom