Fdisk.exe Limits Non-MS-DOS Partition End to 8 GB

• Microsoft Windows 95
• Microsoft Windows 98
• Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition

SYMPTOMS

On drives larger than 8 gigabytes (GB), the Fdisk tool (Fdisk.exe) reports that any non-MS-DOS partitions end at 8 GB.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs because Fdisk.exe does not use Logical Block Addressing (LBA) when computing partition table information for unknown partition types.

RESOLUTION

A supported fix that corrects this problem is now available from Microsoft, but it has not been fully regression tested and should be applied only to systems experiencing this specific problem.

To resolve this problem, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the fix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services phone numbers and information on support costs, please go to the following address on the World Wide Web:

http://www.microsoft.com/support/supportnet/overview/overview.asp

   Date       Time      Size     File name   Platform
   -------------------------------------------------------------------
   01/10/00   10:08pm   63,132   Fdisk.exe   Windows 95 OSR 2
   12/15/99   09:48pm   63,932   Fdisk.exe   Windows 98
   12/15/99   09:26pm   64,156   Fdisk.exe   Windows 98 Second Edition 

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows 95 and Windows 98.

An update to the original release of Windows 95 (version 4.00.950) for this problem will not be developed. This release was a FAT16 environment, and was developed before large drives (8 GB and larger) were available in the marketplace. Support for large drives (which requires support for INT13h extensions) is introduced in Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2 (OSR2) and later, along with FAT32 support.

MORE INFORMATION

The update allows Fdisk.exe to use LBA when computing partition table information for unknown partition types on LBA drives.

Additional query words:

Keywords : osr2 win95 win98 win98se
Version : WINDOWS:95
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbbug