No FAT16 to install XP

[JohnSmith1]

During the installation of XP I cannot see option of FAT16. I know NTFS is
better but just for curiousity why there is no FAT16? Also some PCs ask
network settings other don't during the installation. Any idea??

thx

 

[BillW50]

In JohnSmith1 typed on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 03:46:01 -0700:

During the installation of XP I cannot see option of FAT16. I know
NTFS is better but just for curiousity why there is no FAT16? Also
some PCs ask network settings other don't during the installation.
Any idea??

thx

Are you sure you are not thinking of FAT32? As FAT16 would be a disaster
under XP.

http://www.allensmith.net/Storage/HDDlimit/NT4FAT16.htm

 

[Malke]

During the installation of XP I cannot see option of FAT16. I know NTFS is
better but just for curiousity why there is no FAT16? Also some PCs ask
network settings other don't during the installation. Any idea??

FAT16 was used for DOS. It is not used for 32-bit Windows. The preferred file
system for XP is NTFS.

I can't answer your last question because it is too vague. Provide exact
details about the computers where you think network settings options are
requested and computer where they are, including hardware and network
topology, and we might be able to hazard a guess. You should also describe
exactly what you mean by "some PCs ask network settings [sic]", giving
examples.

Malke

 

[Bob I]

Fat16 won't create an HD partition large enough to support the
installation of XP.

 

[Tim Slattery]

During the installation of XP I cannot see option of FAT16. I know NTFS is
better but just for curiousity why there is no FAT16? Also some PCs ask
network settings other don't during the installation. Any idea??

Maybe because the largest partition you can have under FAT16 is 2.1GB.
That's not particularly useful with today's disks.

FAT32 should be available, but NTFS is a much better choice for the
huge disks being sold today.

 

[smlunatick]

During the installation of XP I cannot see option of FAT16. I know NTFS is
better but just for curiousity why there is no FAT16? Also some PCs ask
network settings other don't during the installation.  Any idea??

thx

FAT16 is extremely old and not available for hard drives in XP. May
be available for digital media cards, flash drives and floppies .

 

[JohnSmith1]

My last question is that: during my installation some pcs prompts to set
TCP/IP configuration and some don't.

During the installation of XP I cannot see option of FAT16. I know NTFS is
better but just for curiousity why there is no FAT16? Also some PCs ask
network settings other don't during the installation. Any idea??

FAT16 was used for DOS. It is not used for 32-bit Windows. The preferred file
system for XP is NTFS.

I can't answer your last question because it is too vague. Provide exact
details about the computers where you think network settings options are
requested and computer where they are, including hardware and network
topology, and we might be able to hazard a guess. You should also describe
exactly what you mean by "some PCs ask network settings [sic]", giving
examples.

Malke

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

On Sep 24, 11:46 am, JohnSmith1 <[email protected]>
wrote:

FAT16 is extremely old

True. And generally inappropriate for XP.

and not available for hard drives in XP.

But that's completely false. See
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310561


Also note that even FAT12 is available for hard drives under XP, if
you create a small-enough partition.