How to create exfat / vfat image file on Linux

Linux
, , , ,
1

Is there any way to make a exfat or vfat (Microsoft formatting file) image file on Linux machine and mount it for testing purpose?

2

The procedure to create an MS-DOS filesystem under Linux using mkfs.fat is as follows:

Step 1 - Use the fallocate to make an image file under Linux

The syntax is as follows to make a new 512 MB MS-DOS image file named exfat.img:

sudo fallocate -l 512M /exfat.img

See https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/howto-create-lage-files-with-dd-command/ for more info.

Step 2 - Formatting image file using the mkfs.vfat

The syntax is:

sudo mkfs.vfat /exfat.img
## For exFAT (install mkfs.exfat, see below) ##
sudo mkfs.exfat /exfat.img

Step 3 - Creating a new mount point directory

Type the mkdir command as follows:

sudo mkdir -v /fatimagedir/

Step 4 - Mounting exfat / vfast image file under Linux

Use the mount command as follows to mount the /exfat.img under /fatimagedir/

sudo mount  /exfat.img /fatimagedir/

OR

sudo mount  -o loop /exfat.img /fatimagedir/

Step 5 - Verification

Use the mount or df command to check Linux disk space usage using the CLI. For example"

mount | grep fat
df -T

That is all.

1 Like
3

This creates a FAT32, not exFAT:

$ sudo mkfs.vfat -vvvvv /exfat.img
mkfs.fat 4.2 (2021-01-31)
Auto-selecting FAT32 for large filesystem
Boot jump code is eb 58
Using 32 reserved sectors
Trying with 8 sectors/cluster:
Trying FAT32: #clu=130811, fatlen=1024, maxclu=131072, limit=65525/268435446
Using sector 6 as backup boot sector (0 = none)
/exfat.img has 32 heads and 63 sectors per track,
hidden sectors 0x0000;
logical sector size is 512,
using 0xf8 media descriptor, with 1048572 sectors;
drive number 0x80;
filesystem has 2 32-bit FATs and 8 sectors per cluster.
FAT size is 1024 sectors, and provides 130811 clusters.
There are 32 reserved sectors.
Volume ID is 195e0e47, no volume label.
1 Like
4

Oh, yes. Install exfat support for the mkfs. For example, try the apt command under Debian/Ubuntu Linux:

sudo apt install exfat-utils

Then

mkfs.exfat /exfat.img

Rest of the tutorial is same.

2 Likes
5

As of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Jammy it’s exfatprogs; 21.10 Impish has both, but exfatprogs is an older version in 21.10.

2 Likes
6

Unless you have a gparted already installed, just use GPARTED by booting with an MX21 live install disk on the machine that has the drive.
Gparted can format to exfat as one of the options.
Alternatively use parted from command line.