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I'm trying to use GNOME Disks to format a USB stick to exFAT. If I create a new partition, I see this dialog:

Screenshot

If I select "Other", I am presented with these choices:

Screenshot

As you can see, the "exFAT" radio button is greyed out and disabled. How do I enable it? How do I format a partition to exFAT using GNOME Disks on Ubuntu?

user68186
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Flimm
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  • Please edit your question and add which version of Ubuntu, and kernel you are using. Older kernels don't have exFAT support by default. Can you read/write exFAT formatted partitions in this computer? – user68186 Jan 17 '22 at 15:51
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    Also see How to enable exFAT for Ubuntu 20.04 – user68186 Jan 17 '22 at 16:02
  • I'm using Ubuntu 21.10 but I'm also interested in knowing the answer for other versions of Ubuntu. I'm using the kernel Linux song-ubuntu-desktop 5.13.0-25-generic #26-Ubuntu SMP but I'm also interested in knowing the answer for other kernel versions. – Flimm Jan 17 '22 at 16:54
  • I am using 20.04 and exFAT is not grayed out in my Gnome Disks. I must have installed support at some point. I have both exfat-fuse and exfat-utils installed. Try installing these two (if available in the 21.10 repositories) and see if it works. – user68186 Jan 17 '22 at 17:04

3 Answers3

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On Ubuntu 22.04 exfatprogs package needs to be installed to enable this option apt install exfatprogs

StanG
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The options greyed out do not have tools installed for those filesystems. In some cases, those filesystems can be mounted in linux, but not created.

For example until very recently, NTFS and exfat could only be created in windows. Only recently were tools for these available in linux.

Possibly the option would become available if you installed the appropriate exfat tools, assuming they are available for the version of Ubuntu you are using. In Ubuntu 20.04, apt install exfat-utils will install these tools.

user10489
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  • NTFS can be created in Linux and is listed on OP's screenshot. – raj Jan 17 '22 at 16:53
  • What are the appropriate tools that need to be installed on Ubuntu to enable GNOME Disks to format a partition in exFAT? – Flimm Jan 17 '22 at 16:54
  • Huh. NTFS was added while I blinked. Answer updated for both comments. – user10489 Jan 17 '22 at 17:10
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    @user10489 if you search this site you will find answers to how to create NTFS partitions in Ubuntu from way back in 2012. That was 10 years ago! – user68186 Jan 17 '22 at 17:56
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On Ubuntu 24.x, you'll need exfatprogs to enable that option. Install it like this:

sudo apt install exfat-fuse exfatprogs
James
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  • It looks like your answer differs from the other answers with the addition of the installation of exfat-fuse alongside exfatprogs – Flimm Jul 17 '25 at 08:38
  • @James The problem is you could be referring to Ubuntu Core 24, which makes it confusing. – user7215 Jul 18 '25 at 21:39
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    @user7215 Ubuntu Core 24 does not use Gnome Disks or manage disks in this way. An Ubuntu Core 24 user wouldn't be reading this answer, and a non-Core user wouldn't be confused about it--because they're not programming for IoT. – James Jul 18 '25 at 22:11
  • Why do you think exfat-fuse is needed? The mkfs.exfat program is from exfatprogs and it doesn't need the FUSE driver to work. – muru Jul 19 '25 at 01:42