{"id":1508,"date":"2013-02-01T13:02:12","date_gmt":"2013-02-01T19:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/neosmart.net\/blog\/?p=1508"},"modified":"2013-02-01T13:02:12","modified_gmt":"2013-02-01T19:02:12","slug":"autoformat-for-windows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neosmart.net\/blog\/autoformat-for-windows\/","title":{"rendered":"AutoFormat for Windows"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few years ago while working on another boot-related project, I had need of a scripted method of formatting a drive, silently and without user intervention (don’t ask).<\/p>\n

After mucking around with the various IOCTL in the disk and volume management WIN32 APIs, I realized there was a much easier method. Windows has always shipped with a command-line format utility<\/a> (aptly named “format”) that could technically be coerced<\/del> err convinced to do the job.<\/p>\n

The only problem with format.com is its (understandable) reluctance to actually wipe a disk without the user explicitly OKing it. At the same time, there are quite a few developers out there doing low-level work that does not involve viruses or other malicious intent that are in need of a scripted format run. And, of course, the expectation is that the developer will obtain the user’s permission beforehand.<\/p>\n

However when all is said and done, there’s no clean way of formatting a disk behind the scenes. Enter AutoFormat for Windows.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

AutoFormat is a Windows utility to programmatically format a disk without user intervention.\u00a0This is basically the Windows format utility somewhat lobotomized to “forget” to ask a user for permission before formatting a disk. It goes without saying:\u00a0be careful when running using AutoFormat.com, and use at your own mortal peril!<\/strong><\/p>\n

AutoFormat.com takes exactly the same command-line parameters as the bog-standard format.com, and is for all intents and purposes one and the same – except it will not wait for the user’s say-so before formatting the target volume. It supports FAT, FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS.<\/p>\n

Again, one last time:\u00a0don’t use this for malicious intent (and don’t tell us if you do; we’ll be forced to take this down). This software shall be used for Good and not Evil. You shall only use this on a genuinely licensed copy of Windows.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And without further ado:<\/p>\n

AutoFormat for Windows<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few years ago while working on another boot-related project, I had need of a scripted method of formatting a drive, silently and without user intervention (don’t ask). After mucking around with the various IOCTL in the disk and volume … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":505,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[858,448,11,901,859],"class_list":["post-1508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-software","tag-autoformat","tag-freeware","tag-programming","tag-software","tag-utilities"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t