"Invalid Media" Error Message Formatting FAT32 Partition

ID: Q155349

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows 95
Microsoft Windows 95 OEM Service Release version 2

SYMPTOMS

When you try to format a FAT32 file system partition larger than 8025 MB from within Windows 95, you may receive the following error message

Verifying <xxx.xx>M
Invalid media or track 0 bad-disk unusable
Format terminated

where <xxx.xx> is the size of the partition.

CAUSE

This error occurs if there is a non-DOS partition preceding the extended DOS partition and the primary DOS partition has been formatted using the real-mode FORMAT.EXE command.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, format the volume using the following steps:

Click the Start button, click Shut Down, click Restart The Computer In MS-DOS Mode, and then click Yes.

Type the following command and then press ENTER
format <drive>:
where <drive> is the drive letter for the partition you want to format.

When the partition is formatted, type exit to restart Windows 95.

Keywords : diskmem win95
Version : WINDOWS:95
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type :