why would you want to do it?
Kees
Hello - can you run Vista on FAT 32, or is it NTFS and nothing else? - Amos
![]() | Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years. Thanks, CNET Support |
Hello - can you run Vista on FAT 32, or is it NTFS and nothing else? - Amos
Discussion is locked
Hi Kees - because I have some valuable files on FAT 32 and even FAT , unconverted and dating back to 9xx. I have been running XP on FAT 32 with very few problems. But can you or can't you?
Bob - Now that I am on my own, without an army of IT people to run to if I get stuck, I want as few complications as possible. The Andrew File System is definitely out. A brother in law of mine, a university professor, has used it some time ago and as he told me then he almost threw his computer out the window because of aggravation. Besides, I have a PC, not a Mac. And what say you to the question I asked ?
Vista is designed to automatically check the partition and refuse to upgrade if it's not NTFS, and it doesn't give you the option to format the drive as FAT32 during a clean installation. While you'll read of some who have bypassed this requirement they usually ended up having problems accessing Windows and even their own files down the road. Thus, by advice would be to skip attempting it.
Don't forget that you can convert from FAT32 to NTFS under Windows XP. There is some risk involved so you should have a backup, but it's a relatively simple process explained here.
John