change FAT16 partition UUID

Question

I have created a FAT16 formatted partition on my USB stick using

mkdosfs /dev/sdb1

when I plug in my stick, it appears in /dev/ as:

/dev/disk/by-uuid/ABCD-1234

How can I change the UUID of the disk to something else than ABCD-1234 ?

UPDATE

tune2fs does not seem to work:

# tune2fs /dev/sdb1 -U AAAA-1111
tune2fs 1.42.5 (29-Jul-2012)
tune2fs: Bad magic number in super-block while trying to open /dev/sdb1
Couldn't find valid filesystem superblock.

UPDATE2

I have installed mtools 4.0.17-1 on Debian Wheezy, but the mlabel command does not work:

# mlabel -N aaaa1111 /dev/sdb1
Mtools version 4.0.17, dated June 29th, 2011
Usage: mlabel [-vscVn] [-N serial] drive:

score 4 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 24 '20 at 16:24

4

mtools comes with an utility mlabel which might do the job.

mlabel -N aaaa1111 -i /dev/sdb1 ::

Apart from that you might have to resort to a hex editor. The dosfstools only lets you change the label using the fatlabel command (which mlabel does too, just without the volume id).

If you're willing to re-create the filesystem from scratch, the value can also be supplied via mkfs.vfat -i VOLUME-ID.

edited Mar 24 '20 at 16:24

Stephen Kitt

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answered Feb 10 '16 at 13:08

frostschutz

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this does not work. Please see my update – Martin Vegter Feb 10 '16 at 13:16
Oh, and if you add a `:`? – frostschutz Feb 10 '16 at 13:20
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The correct syntax would be `mlabel -N aaaa1111 -i /dev/sdb1 ::`, to specify `/dev/sdb1` as the "image" to use. – Stephen Kitt Feb 10 '16 at 13:22
This program uses strange DOS drive letter names... `mtoolstest` might list them. Sorry, I relied too much on the manpage for this one... ;) – frostschutz Feb 10 '16 at 13:27

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 27 '19 at 15:54

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mtools work:

mlabel -N $(uuidgen | head -c8) f:

You just have to configure /etc/mtools.conf:

drive f: file="/dev/sdb1"

answered Jun 27 '19 at 15:54

Stanislav Brabec

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Why not just `mlabel -N $(uuidgen | head -c8) -i /dev/sdb1 ::`? – Melroy van den Berg Mar 26 '23 at 14:32

score -1 · Answer 3 · edited Feb 10 '16 at 12:23

-1

use below command

tune2fs partition_name -U useb_id_what_you_want

use uuidgen to generate random UUID

edited Feb 10 '16 at 12:23

EightBitTony

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answered Feb 10 '16 at 12:17

amit singh

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`tune2fs` does not work. Please see my update for details. – Martin Vegter Feb 10 '16 at 13:00

change FAT16 partition UUID

3 Answers3