diskpart
Developer(s)Microsoft, Lee Schroeder
Initial releaseFebruary 17, 2000; 24 years ago (2000-02-17)
Operating systemWindows, ReactOS
PlatformCross-platform
Predecessorfdisk
TypeCommand
LicenseWindows: Proprietary commercial software
ReactOS: GPLv2
Websitelearn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/diskpart
The Windows 7 diskpart command
The ReactOS diskpart command

In computing, diskpart is a command-line disk partitioning utility included in Windows 2000 and later Microsoft operating systems, replacing its predecessor, fdisk.[1][2] The command is also available in ReactOS.[3]

Overview

The diskpart utility is used for partitioning internal hard drives, but can also format removable media such as flash drives.[4]

It has long been possible, theoretically, to partition removable drives – such as flash drives or memory cards – from within Windows NT 4.0 / 2000 / XP; e.g., during system installation. In reality, however, it was not possible to create, for instance, a recovery console, for such a device. A message would appear: 'Cannot format removable disk'. Microsoft noticed this error, and responded by disabling the functionalities of creating and viewing partitions on the device from within Windows, beginning with Vista up to[clarification needed] Windows 10.[citation needed]

With diskpart, scripts are supported to facilitate such functions. For example, the code below would create a new partition: 

create partition logical size=2048
assign letter=F

Specifically, the above will create a 2 GB logical partition, provided that adequate space is available, and assign it the drive letter 'F:'.[5]

The installed disks and their associated volumes and/or partitions can be viewed using these commands: 

list disk
list volume
list partition

The sel command will select them. The command clean will perform a "quick" disk wipe, and clean all zeroes out the entire partition/disk. The ReactOS version was developed by Lee Schroeder and is licensed under the GPLv2.[6]

Recovery Console

Main article: Recovery Console

On the Recovery Console, which is included in all Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, there is a diskpart command which is significantly different from the one included in the actual operating system. It only provides functionality for adding and deleting partitions, but not for setting an active partition.[7][8]

See also

References

This article has an unclear citation style. The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of citation and footnoting. (April 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Footnotes

  1. ^ "DiskPart". Windows XP Command-line reference A-Z. Microsoft. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  2. ^ "How to extend a data volume in Windows Server 2003, in Windows XP, in Windows 2000, and in Windows Server 2008". Support. Microsoft. 11 September 2011.
  3. ^ "Reactos/Reactos". GitHub.
  4. ^ "DiskPart Commands". Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2008 Command-Line Reference. Microsoft. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  5. ^ Bhardwaj, Pawan K.; Andreou, Kimon; Barber, Brian; Kleiman, Dave; Satyanarayana, Mahesh (2006). How to cheat at Windows System Administration using command line scripts. Rockland, MA: Syngress. ISBN 1-59749-105-5.
  6. ^ "Reactos/Reactos". GitHub. 3 January 2022.
  7. ^ "Description of the Windows XP Recovery Console for advanced users". Support. Microsoft. 11 July 2013.
  8. ^ "Partition Diskpart - Create, Extend or Delete a Disk Partition". Retrieved 2021-02-28.

Citations

Further reading

External links

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: Guide to Windows Commands
Windows command-line programs and shell builtins
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