≡ Menu

Format Drive command

In Windows, we can format a disk drive using inbuilt command ‘format’ . What ever we can do in the disk management tool, we can do the same using format command.  This article explains the different options available for the command.

Format a disk drive

format driveletter /fs:Fstype /v:newlabel

When you execute this command, you will be asked to enter the current label of the drive(if it has a label) and also to confirm if you really want to format the drive. Accidentally running a format command would cause data loss. So be sure you are running the command on the right drive.

Example: Format the drive F: with NTFS filesystem and assign the label ‘Backup’

format f: /fs:ntfs  /v:Backup

How to do Quick format

The above command may take several minutes depending on the size of the drive. If you want to quicky format the drive, you can use the option ‘/q’.

format f: /fs:ntfs  /v:Backup  /q

Example:

c:\>format f: /fs:ntfs /v:NewVolume /q
The type of the file system is NTFS.

WARNING, ALL DATA ON NON-REMOVABLE DISK
DRIVE F: WILL BE LOST!
Proceed with Format (Y/N)? y
QuickFormatting 185055M
Creating file system structures.
Format complete.
     180.7 GB total disk space.
     180.6 GB are available.
c:\>

If you want to enable compression on the drive, you can do that by adding the option ‘/C‘. This can be done later also by opening the properties of the disk drive.

We can also configure the file system allocation unit size. For example, if you want to use 4096 bytes as one allocation unit, then you can run the below command.

format F: /fs:ntfs /v:backup /q /a:4096

Format command works on all Windows releases : XP, Server 2003, Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8.

This command should be executed from elevated administrator command prompt. Otherwise, you would get the below error.

C:\>format f: /fs:ntfs
Access Denied as you do not have sufficient privileges.
You have to invoke this utility running in elevated mode.

Related Posts:

Command line disk cleanup

5 comments… add one
  • yonipspy

    go to start/program/accessories/command prompt <<<right click that and run as administrator now you have admin rights and format your drive you want.

    regards…

  • Steve Macha

    How would I use the in-line disk format command and suppress all user interactivity? It seem that with Windows 10 the /y switch no longer works.

    • Srini

      Looks like you need to use /x option to unmount the drive first which should suspend all user activity. I do not see /y in documentation or in help for the command.

    • Dave Johnson

      Hi, if you’re still reading, the other trick, to push a ‘y’ at any CLI instruction that demands confirmation is ‘echo y | format XYZ’ the | character streams whatever the previous command outputs into the next command as if it were keyboard input.

  • david

    i want to reinstall from disc after the f disc command how do ido that it inspiron ;laptop with xp pro

Leave a Comment