Windows NT 4.0 Evaluation Edition Incompatible With FAT32 (173838)

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0
Microsoft TCP/IP Training

This article was previously published under Q173838

SYMPTOMS

While installing the Evaluation Edition of Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 from one of the Microsoft Press training kits listed above, you may encounter an error message stating that there is no valid partition.

CAUSE

If the drive was originally formatted for the installation of Windows 95, the partition may be marked for FAT 32. Windows NT 4.0 does not currently recognize the FAT 32 format and, therefore, will not install. If this is the case, you must back up all data and create new partitions either from Windows NT 4.0 or from MS-DOS 6.22 in order to continue the installation.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

The FAT 32 file system is designed to work with hard disk partitions over 512 MB in size. The OEM version of Microsoft Windows 95 will automatically format the hard disk using FAT 32 if the hard drive size is over 512 MB and the "large disk compatibility" option has been selected in FDISK.

For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

126690 Windows NT 4.0 Setup Troubleshooting Guide

Modification Type:	Major	Last Reviewed:	8/9/2001
Keywords:	kbprb KB173838