JSI Tip 5352. A Windows XP Professional Fsutil Query does NOT work properly on a FAT or FAT32 partition?

When you open a CMD prompt and type:

fsutil dirty query

on a Windows XP NTFS partition, you receive:

Volume - is NOT Dirty

               OR

Volume - is Dirty

When you use this command on a FAT or FAT32 partition, is always returns a NOT Dirty.

Very few advanced functions work properly on a FAT or FAT32 partition, and fsutil dirty is no exception.

The 'dirty' bit, in the MFT of an NTFS partition, is checked when Windows starts. If the bit is set, a CHKDSK is scheduled. The 'dirty' bit is normally set when Windows detects corruption on the partition. You can manually set the 'dirty' bit by using the following command:

fsutil dirty set

This will display:

Volume - is now marked dirty.