fat16usb
I already tried FORMAT /FS:FAT, diskpart, Disk Management and HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool.
Do I really need to buy a smaller capacity drive? Can't a formatting tool ignore the area beyond 2 GB?
My Asus netbook's BIOS update requires the USB to be formatted as FAT16, and I couldn't get the various Asus BIOS update utilities to work.
I managed to do it with diskpart. What I was missing is the command to create a new partition. So here is a run-down of all the commands I used, step by step.
Beware that when typing select disk 1 (step 4), your disk number may be different. Selecting the incorrect disk might erase your whole computer's main disk drive, losing all your data on it.
I assume you know how to get to the Run prompt since you have arrived at SU. But if not, just press and hold down the Windows key on your keyboard. While still holding the Windows key, press the R key. Voilà! La Run prompt! L'invite de commande!
cmddiskpartlist disk select disk 1 (Careful! Choose the correct number here. See note above.)list partition (Inspect the results to double-check this is the right disk)cleanlist partition (There should be none)create partition primarylist partition (There should be one)format fs=fat32 quicklist partition (There should still be one)exitIn case you haven't realised it yet, you have to press the Enter key on your keyboard after each command line above.
Here it is now:
Shows up as a 14.6 GB drive.
And it looks good in diskmgmt.msc too. So it's all good now.
Your motherboard does not have any EHCI (USB 2.0) controllers. Intel decided to give those up with the 100-series chipsets. So you have only XHCI (USB 3.0) which Windows 7 knows nothing about.
The only reason why you are able to boot to Windows 7 Installation on USB Key is because your PC's BIOS is emulating a hard-drive/CD-ROM from it! Neat trick, but it doesn't always get you through to the end of a Windows 7 install.
ANYWAY, lets think outside the box... why are you doing any of this via USB Key? Please tell me you have DVD/Bluray drive on this PC.
If so, you could always burn the NVMe drivers to a blank DVD. Then you can install Windows 7 off the Win7 DVD. When you get to the "load driver" bit you can eject the Win7 DVD and insert your NVMe DVD. Once the driver has loaded, you can eject the NVMe DVD and re-insert the Win7 DVD to finish the install.
While you're at it you could also put all other drivers (ethernet, audio, graphics, usb3) on the NVMe DVD so you can get Win7 internet-connected and ready for Windows Updates. Beware that the first scan of Windows Updates on a fresh install might take 3~4 hours (I'm not kidding).
Best Answer
Disk Management and DISKPART don't let you delete partitions on removable media. But you can use DISKPART's
cleancommand to nuke it and start over. Here is a series of commands that worked for me:This creates a 500MB FAT partition as the only one on the disk.
list partis only used to make sure I selected the right disk (and the Size shown was from a previous attempt; yours will say something else closer to the full size).