Microsoft FINALLY removes FAT32 partition size limit in Windows 11: from 32GB to 2TB

Microsoft will soon remove the 32GB size limit for FAT32 partitions in Windows 1, upgrading to volumes of up to 2TB... something that has plagued Windows for close to 30 years now.

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The Windows team said in a blog post on Thursday: "When formatting disks from the command line using the format command, we've increased the FAT32 size limit from 32GB to 2TB". The limit is only being removed from the format command line right now, so we'll still see the existing format dialog box that will have the 32GB limit for FAT32 partitions, unless Microsoft updates this Windows feature in the future.

Microsoft first put the 32GB limit on FAT32 partitions during the development of Windows 95, which was over 30 years ago now. Dave Plummer is a former Windows developer said earlier this year that he was the man responsible for the format dialog box that hasn't been updated in 30 years now, and that he was the person who picked the 32GB limit for FAT32.

Plummer posted on X explaining: "I also had to decide how much 'cluster slack' would be too much, and that wound up constraining the format size of a FAT volume to 32GB. That limit was also an arbitrary choice that morning, and one that has stuck with us as a permanent side effect".

Windows itself has supported reading FAT32 partitions that were up to 2TB in size, but you are unable to create one in the OS without third-party tools, until this new Windows 11 update rolls out that is. We should ask Microsoft to update the format GUI in upcoming Windows 11 builds, which would make it easier again for users to create full FAT32 partitions.

This isn't all good news however, because while we'll have an increased partition limit for FAT32, there's still a small 4GB size limit on individual files stored on the FAT32 volume. FAT32 isn't used much these days, but older devices like USB drives and SD cards can be used with FAT32 partitions.