Format vfat in Linux so Win2k can read it

[Slack Rat]

lsorense-1wCw9BSqJbv44Nm34jS7GywD8/FfD2ys at public.gmane.org (Lennart Sorensen) writes:

> On Mon, May 01, 2006 at 12:50:02PM -0400, Ansar Mohammed wrote:
> > Format it as fat32
> 
> FAT16 can't go past 4GB (on NT) or 2GB (on Win9x).  So it would be FAT32.
> 
> I don't remember if Win2k got support for larger FAT32 in a service
> pack, or if it simply doesn't support it.  XP should support it, but
> still can't format them itself (for stupid reasons only microsoft can
> explain).
> 

Irregardless of the preference to do everything under Linux, setting up 'foreign'
partitions/formats is still best done using tools specific to the target file
system

In this case Windows

There is a tool which does this job admirably on Windows XP for me, and it will
work on other Windows flavours too. I have managed to get the drive partitioned
and slack-current plus freeBSD installed along with XP using the OEM Windows which 
reformats the whole drive leaving no free space using this tool

It is called Partition Commander and I believe a trial version can be obtained
which would allow you to get the job done initially

As a word of advice when installing PartComm; say NO to the offer to install
System Commander or you will end up with a proprietary boot loader

Unfortunately I can't give you a step by step because my brand new lappy is
currently out for repairs having started falling apart physically from Day One 
in addition to a totally unacceptable time drift, a 16*10 aspect CRT and working 
almost as  slowly as this Pentium 25mhz with a 200mb hard drive and 8mb ram and 
which despite its age has never given a minutes trouble apart from its obvious 
limitations. ;)

Good Luck
-- 
Slack Rat
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