Convert (command)

This article is about the Windows NT command. For the ImageMagick command for converting images, see ImageMagick.

convert

Developer(s)	Microsoft
Initial release	February 17, 2000; 25 years ago (2000-02-17)
Operating system	Microsoft Windows
Type	Command
License	Proprietary commercial software
Website	docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/convert

In computing, convert is a command-line utility included in the Windows NT operating system line. It is used to convert volumes using the FAT file systems to NTFS.^[1]

Overview

convert is an external command first introduced with Windows 2000.^[2] If the drive cannot be locked (for example, the drive is the system volume or the current drive) the command gives the option to convert the drive the next time the computer is restarted.^[3]

On Unix-like systems, there are similar tools like convertfs, a utility which performs in-place conversion between any two file systems with sparse file support^[4] and btrfs-convert, a tool that can convert from ext2/ext3/ext4 or reiserFS file system to Btrfs in-place.^[5]

Syntax

The command-syntax is:

convert volume /FS:NTFS [/V]

Example

The following command converts the volume on drive D: to NTFS. The /v command-line option will cause it to display all messages during the conversion process.

C:\>convert d: /fs:ntfs /v

References

1. "How to use Convert.exe to convert a partition to the NTFS file system". Microsoft. 20 February 2007. Archived from the original on 2015-01-11.
2. "MS-DOS and Windows command line convert command".
3. Convert FAT to NTFS - Windows CMD - SS64.com
4. "In-place file system conversion".
5. "BTRFS-convert(8) - Linux manual page".

Further reading

• Frisch, Æleen (2001). Windows 2000 Commands Pocket Reference. O'Reilly. ISBN 978-0-596-00148-3.
• Stanek, William R. (2008). Windows Command-Line Administrator's Pocket Consultant, 2nd Edition. Microsoft Press. ISBN 978-0735622623.

External links

• Microsoft TechNet Convert article