Formatting a 720K floppy disk on Windows XP or newer

If you come across a 720K DD floppy disk (double density) in your collection, you might notice that modern software typically assumes a 3.5-inch floppy disk to be 1.44MB HD (high density). Nonetheless, there are 3.5-inch floppy disks with the same physical dimensions but only 720KB of storage capacity.

While attempting to format the drive, I followed these steps but did not succeed.

I entered the following command in the DOS prompt:

format a: /f:720

Upon doing so, this is the result I obtained:

format a: /f:720
Insert new disk for drive A:
and press ENTER when ready...
The type of the file system is RAW.
The new file system is FAT.
Formatting 720 KB
Parameters not supported by drive.
Format failed.

Just like stated in the message, the format was not successful. The details on the disk cover are as follows:

FUJI FILM
Micro Floppy Disk
MF2DD
Double Sided Double Density
135 TPI / 80 Tracks

Executing the conventional "format A:" command at the prompt yielded these outcomes:

Insert new disk for drive A:
and press ENTER when ready...
The type of the file system is RAW.
The new file system is FAT.
Verifying 1.44M
Invalid media or Track 0 bad - disk unusable.
Format failed.

Unfortunately, still no luck.

Afterward, I visited StackExchange to search for answers. Eventually, I came across a solution hidden among numerous other recommendations. The method below proved effective for me:

Manually set the number of tracks and sectors as shown. This setting should be consistent for most 3.5-inch 720K floppy disks.

FORMAT A: /T:80 /N:9

Insert new disk for drive A:
and press ENTER when ready...
The type of the file system is FAT.
Verifying 720 KB
Initializing the File Allocation Table (FAT)...
Volume label (11 characters, ENTER for none)? CREATOR
Format complete.
713.0 KB total disk space.
713.0 KB are available.

1,024 bytes in each allocation unit.
713 allocation units available on disk.

12 bits in each FAT entry.

Volume Serial Number is xxxx-xxxx

The format completed without any issues, and now my 720K floppy disk is usable once more!