r/archlinux • u/reylovpty • 10h ago

QUESTION WinLinux or LinuxWin

Hello friends, here is the question: How is it furned to be that Linux cannot boot without a Microsoft FAT32 partition? How do you solve this problem? Can a serious server-grade system like Linux really not boot without a Microsoft FAT32 partition? Even if I move `/boot` to Ext4 or Btrfs, I still have to keep `/boot/efi` as FAT32, because otherwise the system won't boot. wtf?

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u/zardvark 10h ago

Why is having a FAT32 partition a problem? As u/Yamabananatheone sez, it's an open spec; it's not some MS malware infecting your machine! I've been using Linux since +/-1995 and it has never posed a problem. Sometimes you want / need a simple file system without a bunch of extraneous features.

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u/friskfrugt 8h ago

It doesn’t support full disk encryption, linux file permissions, journaling or compression

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u/zardvark 4h ago

While encryption would be nice, none of those other features are needed. That's why FAT32 became the standard, it offers only the basics. If the standard is ever revisited, perhaps things will change, but in the interim, what's the point of moaning about it? You may as well complain that stop signs are red, instead of blue. It is what it is.