Can Windows 7 be installed on a FAT32 partition?


  1. johne53
    Posts : 48
    Windows 7
       New #1

    Can Windows 7 be installed on a FAT32 partition?


    I thought I'd come here for advice since there seems to be so much confusing information out on the internet. Maybe someone here can give me a definitive answer....

    A friend of mine wants me to install Win7 on her Apple Mac (e.g. using Boot Camp). This is something I've already done on my own machine and I'm pretty competent, technically. My own installation uses NTFS for the Windows 7 partition but even though I'm quite computer literate, I've already been caught out by occasional permission problems and access rights issues. Personally, I can get around issues like this but my friend won't be able to. So if possible, I'd prefer to install Windows 7 onto a FAT 32 partition where she won't have to worry about any of this stuff. Does anyone know definitively if that's possible with Win7. Everywhere I look on the internet I seem to get a different answer!
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  3. yowanvista
    Posts : 8,383
    Windows 10 Pro x64, Arch Linux
       New #2

    Windows 7 can only be installed on NTFS volumes
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  4. johne53
    Posts : 48
    Windows 7
    Thread Starter
       New #3

    Thanks. I've noticed that Windows 7 uses a lot of indirection for system folders (i.e. folders referencing other folders via hard links). I guess that feature isn't supported by FAT32. I've certainly never seen it on a FAT32 drive.
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