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tudor -Reinstate Monica-
Asked: 2018-01-25 19:22:00 +0800 CST

Why is exfat greyed out in gparted? [duplicate]

  • 772

I have installed both exfat-fuse and exfat-utils.

However, when I go to gparted, and attempt to format a partition as exFAT, the exfat option is greyed out when attempting to create or format a partition.

exfat greyed out when attempting to format an existing partition

exfat greyed out when attempting to create a new partition

Why is this so? How can I use gparted to create an exfat partition?

gparted

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    For GParted version v1.2.0 and above (Ubuntu 21.10 and above)

    exFAT support was added in version 1.2.0 of GParted. To use exFAT you must install the exfatprogs package (and NOT exfat-utils). Installing exfatprogs will uninstall exfat-utils.

    Install via the software center

    exfat is now supported in GParted v1.2.0 with features "detect","read","create","move","copy","check","label", and "UUID", but not "grow" or "shrink"

    There is also a requirement fo util-linux v2.18 and above. Ubuntu 21.04 is already at util-linux v2.36 so this isn't an issue unless you're manually backporting.

    As of writing, GParted 1.2.0 is not yet in any version backports.

    For GParted version below v1.2.0 (<= Ubuntu 21.04)

    In View->File System Support, exFAT currently doesn't have support in gparted (0.28.1) for anything other than moving or copying.

    enter image description here

    No "required software" is listed, so it doesn't (yet) know about exfat-utils.

    However, because:

    • the partition is a valid partition, and
    • its perfectly safe to move or copy (since the internals of the filesystem are not affected by a move)

    the partition must be listed in the list of filesystems, but greyed out in this context.

    If you must format a partition as exfat, then you can use gnome-disks (a.k.a. "Disks") as in this question: GUI tool for formating to exFAT

    • 71

  2. Much more simple: You can use the Ubuntu Disks app. It does it without needing any other add-on. Just open the Disks app, then choose "format partition". Then name your drive and Choose the option "Other" in order to choose the format.

    Click "next" and then you will be able to select "exFat" formatting. Format and then you're all set!

    Cheers!

    PS: If it still remains greyed, then @K.-MichaelAye found a fix by installing:

    sudo apt install exfat-utils exfat-fuse
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  3. I have the same problem, I didn't understand why it work anymore.

    Now am using KDE Partition Manager. It's like GParted but it supports exFAT (still).

    enter image description here

    enter image description here

    Home Page Link: https://www.kde.org/applications/system/kdepartitionmanager/

    GitHub Page Link: https://github.com/KDE/partitionmanager

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