Solved UEFI/EFI Fat32 Access in Windows 8

Avinator9000

New Member
Messages
3
THE PROBLEM:
Hello all, I've got a minor dilemma upon my hands. I regularly work with EFI partitions (Fat32 formatted as per requirements) on my usb drives (for loading Ubuntu, Win8 installs, and Win7 installs), and I cannot seem to access any of these drives in Windows 8.

No matter how many times I format the things to Fat32 I can not even access them at all. I get the error message "You don't currently have permission to access this folder, Click Continue to permanently get access to this folder" [FONT=lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif]<Clicks Continue> "You have been denied access to this folder. To gain access to this folder you will need to use the security tab" <Right-Click, Properties, search for non-existent security tab>. [/FONT]

[FONT=lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif]I understand that the security tab does not exist on Fat32 partitions. But how do we access these drives? The only other way I have found is through elevated command prompt run as administrator. (Which is dumb when you think about it because any virus coded for DOS can essentially access your EFI partition essential to your computer's booting into Windows, but you cannot access it to fix it?) Some days I just wonder what people were thinking when they write software. ~Sigh~[/FONT]

[FONT=lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif]I commonly extract ISO images straight onto Fat32 USB when they contain the /efi/boot structure, but I cannot do this without explorer access (Oh and elevated explorer doesn't help either). MS Dos only sometimes works because of the naming rules associated with it and the xcopy command, etc.[/FONT]

[FONT=lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif]To re-create my disaster, format any USB drive as Fat32 using Windows 8 (or plug one in which is already formatted as such) and try to access it. Then try right clicking the drive and look for said 'security' tab.[/FONT]



[FONT=lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif]TO SUM UP:[/FONT]
[FONT=lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif]I cannot read/write/access Fat32 partitions.[/FONT]
[FONT=lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif]It is a re-creatable issue
According to Google and 8Forums nobody has solved this. 8f has not had this issue brought up on it before.
If anyone is able to help out with this that would be wonderful, thank you in advance!!!



SOLUTION:
I'll edit this post with the solution later when/if it reveals itself, and move it to the top of the post.
[/FONT]
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    W8 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X6 T1100
    Motherboard
    Asus Sabertooth 990FX
    Memory
    16GB 1866MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI 5450, 5400, 3450 5 screens.
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22w, 19w, 19f, 15f, 15f
    Screen Resolution
    1650x1050, 1440x900, 1280x1024, 1280x1024, 1024x768
    Hard Drives
    3TB
    3TB
    1TB
    500G
    500G
    500G
    250GB
    120GB
    PSU
    800w generic
    Case
    Armor Thermaltake
    Cooling
    Corsair H70 sealed liquid cooling, 7 fans <14Db
    Keyboard
    Dvorak layout, Logitech Wireless
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Internet Speed
    16Mb d, 2Mb u
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    I'll load it when I need it
    Other Info
    Yes, that is all in just one machine.
So, in summary, you cannot format and then access any USB drive as FAT32 in Windows 8? Is that correct? If so, and you haven't messed around with any permissions, I would be surprised if that were the issue; however, I seem to get surprised a lot these days. Anyway, it works OK for me so here are a few basic screenshots for you review. They may not help at all but who knows? Good luck.

Screenshot (33).png

Screenshot (34).png

Screenshot (35).png
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel G2020
    Motherboard
    ASRock B75M-DGS R2.0
    Memory
    8GBs @ 1333 MHz
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 EVO
    PSU
    400w
    Internet Speed
    57/11
My apologies, it seems a reload of windows fixed it, but I required a third party to load a new usb install drive
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    W8 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X6 T1100
    Motherboard
    Asus Sabertooth 990FX
    Memory
    16GB 1866MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI 5450, 5400, 3450 5 screens.
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22w, 19w, 19f, 15f, 15f
    Screen Resolution
    1650x1050, 1440x900, 1280x1024, 1280x1024, 1024x768
    Hard Drives
    3TB
    3TB
    1TB
    500G
    500G
    500G
    250GB
    120GB
    PSU
    800w generic
    Case
    Armor Thermaltake
    Cooling
    Corsair H70 sealed liquid cooling, 7 fans <14Db
    Keyboard
    Dvorak layout, Logitech Wireless
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Internet Speed
    16Mb d, 2Mb u
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    I'll load it when I need it
    Other Info
    Yes, that is all in just one machine.
Hey, that's great news! Just for the record, I used an A-typical USB flash drive. Were any of your problems related to using one of those Toshiba Canvio or WD Passport external drives? Just curious. Anyway, glad you got it fixed! Cheers!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel G2020
    Motherboard
    ASRock B75M-DGS R2.0
    Memory
    8GBs @ 1333 MHz
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 EVO
    PSU
    400w
    Internet Speed
    57/11
Generic chinese flash drives (*4) and 3 OCZ flashes also
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    W8 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X6 T1100
    Motherboard
    Asus Sabertooth 990FX
    Memory
    16GB 1866MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI 5450, 5400, 3450 5 screens.
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22w, 19w, 19f, 15f, 15f
    Screen Resolution
    1650x1050, 1440x900, 1280x1024, 1280x1024, 1024x768
    Hard Drives
    3TB
    3TB
    1TB
    500G
    500G
    500G
    250GB
    120GB
    PSU
    800w generic
    Case
    Armor Thermaltake
    Cooling
    Corsair H70 sealed liquid cooling, 7 fans <14Db
    Keyboard
    Dvorak layout, Logitech Wireless
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Internet Speed
    16Mb d, 2Mb u
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    I'll load it when I need it
    Other Info
    Yes, that is all in just one machine.

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel G2020
    Motherboard
    ASRock B75M-DGS R2.0
    Memory
    8GBs @ 1333 MHz
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 EVO
    PSU
    400w
    Internet Speed
    57/11
Diskpart.PNG

I followed https://superuser.com/questions/662...o-that-it-is-readable-and-write/902583#902583 advice and it helped but I still have problems. See Attached Pics of my OEM disk 1.
I can now access and read all partitions except partition 1 and 3. Partition 1, I can see in "My computer" but even after killing and elevating explorer.exe I get the error that I do not have permission. This is the most important partition to me and I need to have full access/ control.
Partition 3 is very small and I can not assign a drive letter to it, nor see it except in Diskpart. Partition 3 is labeled "RESERVED" I need to have full access/ control.
Partition 4 has my Win 8 OS on it and I want to clone it and the boot files to A SSD.
Why even after assigning drive letters can I not see the drive letters in disk management ?
Question, Can Partitions 1,2,3,5,6,7 be converted into FAT32 without loss of data via editing the partition table or some other method ?
My ultimate goal is for drive 1 is to clone it to my SSD then reformat it.
How do I reformat this drive to one NTFS partition ?
Mrgcav@gmail.comAsus Disk Managment.PNG
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 10 ,8, 7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    custom
    CPU
    I7 extreme What else is their ?
    Motherboard
    Asus
    Memory
    Alot in my computer, not much in my head
    Graphics Card(s)
    I ca not draw
    Browser
    TOR
    Antivirus
    Mcaffee
Question, Can Partitions 1,2,3,5,6,7 be converted into FAT32 without loss of data via editing the partition table or some other method ?

NO

My ultimate goal is for drive 1 is to clone it to my SSD then reformat it.
How do I reformat this drive to one NTFS partition ?

After you clone to SSD - and boot from SSD - you can Clean and format HDD
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
Thank you

I figured converting the partitions to FAT32 was not possible. But EFI is FAT32 with some minor difference. I have edited partition tables previously to access other secure drives.
I know how to clone a drive and planned to do. I still need to access partition 1, before I clone anything.
Any suggestions on that ?
MRGCAV@gmail.com
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 10 ,8, 7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    custom
    CPU
    I7 extreme What else is their ?
    Motherboard
    Asus
    Memory
    Alot in my computer, not much in my head
    Graphics Card(s)
    I ca not draw
    Browser
    TOR
    Antivirus
    Mcaffee
Back
Top