The arbitrary 32GB limit in Windows 11 is being removed. The latest Canary build lets you work with FAT32-formatted external storage up to 2TB.

For years, there has been a hard limit of 32 GB for reading external storage within the command prompt. Why this number? Nobody knew. Microsoft apparently doesn’t see the point in it either. In the latest Canary build of Windows 11, an early beta for Windows Insiders, the restriction is lifted. The new limit is 2 TB.

Until now, according to Bleeping Computer, Windows systems could read even larger FAT32 file systems despite this artificial 32GB limit. The only requirement was that they were created on other operating systems or via alternative methods (e.g. via a Windows PowerShell prompt with administrative privileges or with third-party apps that ignored this artificial limit).

After a testing period within the Canary release, the new limit should make its way into less experimental betas within Windows Insiders until it is generally rolled out to all users. Canary testers should update their version of Windows to Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27686.

Important: A GUI-based Windows disk formatting utility still maintains the same artificial limit of 32 GB for FAT32 file systems. The maximum file size remains 4 GB for FAT32.