[SOLVED] What format type for Windows 10 install and BIOS update?

[emitfudd]

Way too much conflicting information about this. I need to do 2 things. I want to update my BIOS before I install Windows 10 on a new rig. What format does that need to be? FAT32, EXFAT or NTFS? Then I want to install Windows 10 after formatting the flash drive. What format should that be?

I used the flash drive to create the Windows 10 install. I formatted it because I want to use it to update the BIOS first. Now my 64GB flash drive is stuck at 32GB. I have looked up how to fix that but nothing works. How do I get rid of the ESD format?

 

[Colif]

I would use a smaller USB drive and make it FAT32 for the BIOS update. I am not sure if bios recognise exfat although they should by now, it is mainly used for larger USB drives. 32gb or more.

As for windows, you can use Fat32 or NTFS.

the bios can only boot from NTFS or FAt32, so I think thats reason it won't boot from exfat. EFI partition or MBR is normally FAT32

How to delete esd partition
open disk management
navigate to USB
right click the ESD USB partition and choose delete volume
click ok to confirm

and yet you can install windows 10 in a exfat partiton - https://developpaper.com/how-to-install-and-start-windows-system-in-exfat-partition/
you just can't install from one. https://ostoday.org/android/can-you-use-exfat-to-install-windows-10.html

 

[emitfudd]

I would use a smaller USB drive and make it FAT32 for the BIOS update. I am not sure if bios recognise exfat although they should by now, it is mainly used for larger USB drives. 32gb or more.

As for windows, you can use Fat32 or NTFS.

How to delete esd partition
open disk management
navigate to USB
right click the ESD USB partition and choose delete volume
click ok to confirm

Delete volume is greyed out. I have read everything I can find online and nothing is working. I just read that Windows 7 can't delete volume. I am on my Windows 7 computer. I am going to try on my Windows 10 laptop.

 

[Colif]

have you tried diskpart? see method 1 here - https://www.diskpart.com/articles/cannot-delete-volume-on-usb-7201.html

 

[emitfudd]

have you tried diskpart? see method 1 here - https://www.diskpart.com/articles/cannot-delete-volume-on-usb-7201.html

I was able to delete the volume on my Windows 10 laptop but now I can't format it.

 

[Colif]

Maybe this will work:

Whenever I’ve had troubles formatting or partitioning a drive in Windows or MacOS, be it a hard drive or a flash drive, and I didn’t care about the contents, I’ve been able to clear that trouble after writing zeroes the drive from a Linux box using the “dd” command. In Linux:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX count=1000

(Replace the sdX with the name of the drive, i.e. sdb, sde, …)

You probably only need to write zeroes to the first sector (using “count=1”), but just in case it matters, I’d write zeroes to the first 1000 or more sectors. Once the drive was initialized with zeroes, Windows or MacOS would let me write a new partition table to it and format it. By writing zeroes to the disk, it appears as a blank disk which still needs a partition table.

link

 

[emitfudd]

I currently have it formatted to exfat at 58.4GB with an allocation unit size of 128kb. There is no longer the option to set it to fat32. Only exfat and NTFS. So to go back to my original question, do you think it will work for BIOS update in exfat format? This is my only flash drive and I am hoping to do the BIOS update and Windows 10 install tomorrow. I will be using the EZ flash utility inside Asus BIOS once I boot the PC.

 

[Colif]

i would suggest not using that usb drive unless you want to repeat process again. BIOS updates currently still need to be FAT32

How to Update Your Motherboard BIOS Using a Simple USB Stick

Attention DIY PC Mechanics! It’s time to update that motherboard BIOS and today in the GeForce Garage we show how to get it done on virtually any motherboard using a simple USB Stick!

www.nvidia.com

https://www.asrock.com/support/BIOSUI.asp?cat=DOS4

https://us.msi.com/support/technical_details/MB_BIOS_Update

just a few examples, 2 being motherboard makers.

Asus - https://rog.asus.com/technology/rog-motherboard-innovations/usb-bios-flashback/#:~:text=Update your BIOS without even needing a CPU!&text=Simply drop the (UEFI) BIOS,Flashback button next to it.

[Motherboard] How to use USB BIOS FlashBack™? | Official Support | ASUS Australia

just need a smaller usb drive, doesn't have to be expensive. I have plenty of small ones around, i lacked big ones like yours. I now have 2 x 32gb and 1 x 265gb USB sticks.I wouldn't use any of them for windows installers or bios updates because they all use exfat.

eventually bios must change to accept exfat but until an OS uses it as its boot partition format, its not really a choice. GPT and MBR both use FAT32 or FAT16. Its sort a chicken/egg situation. No point making an OS that uses Exfat if BIOS can't boot off them. At least UEFI can be changed and added to, so in time it might happen.

 

[emitfudd]

i would suggest not using that usb drive unless you want to repeat process again. BIOS updates currently still need to be FAT32

How to Update Your Motherboard BIOS Using a Simple USB Stick

Attention DIY PC Mechanics! It’s time to update that motherboard BIOS and today in the GeForce Garage we show how to get it done on virtually any motherboard using a simple USB Stick!

www.nvidia.com

https://www.asrock.com/support/BIOSUI.asp?cat=DOS4

https://us.msi.com/support/technical_details/MB_BIOS_Update

just a few examples, 2 being motherboard makers.

Asus - https://rog.asus.com/technology/rog-motherboard-innovations/usb-bios-flashback/#:~:text=Update your BIOS without even needing a CPU!&text=Simply drop the (UEFI) BIOS,Flashback button next to it.

[Motherboard] How to use USB BIOS FlashBack™? | Official Support | ASUS Australia

When the flash drive was an ESD it allowed fat32 format. I am wondering if I can create two smaller partitions? I also have a 2017 Windows 10 USB that I bought for the install back then. It is probably only 8GB or less. I could probably format that and use it instead.

 

[Colif]

i would use the smaller usb rather than mess with the big one. 8gb is about right size I think.

 

[emitfudd]

I went to Staples and the smallest flash drive they had was 16 GB. It worked perfectly for the BIOS update and the Windows 10 install. Fat32 for both.