Microsoft KB Archive/889718

= &quot;Windows was unable to complete the format&quot; error message when you try to format an MO disk with the FAT file system in Windows 2000 =

Article ID: 889718

Article Last Modified on 10/30/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Edition

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SYMPTOMS
In Microsoft Windows 2000, when you try to format a magneto-optic (MO) disk with the FAT file system, you may receive the following error message:

Windows was unable to complete the format.



CAUSE
This problem occurs because Windows cannot read the FAT partition table. The problem may occur when the following conditions are true:
 * The MO disk is already formatted with the FAT file system.
 * The file system on the MO disk uses 2048 bytes per sector.
 * A non-Microsoft operating system was used to format the MO disk.

This problem does not occur if MS-DOS or the Windows operating system was used to format the MO disk.



WORKAROUND
To work around this problem, format the MO disk with the NTFS file system. Then, reformat the MO disk with the FAT file system.



MORE INFORMATION
This problem may occur with the following sizes of MO media:
 * 640 megabytes (MB)
 * 1.3 gigabytes (GB)
 * 2.3 gigabytes (GB)

Additional query words: magneto optical

Keywords: kbwinservsetup kbtshoot kbprb KB889718

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