If you fully zero the media,

then partition for proper cylinder alignment even though experts have disparaged the need for this two decades now,

then format the target FAT32 partition using MS-DOS while actually booted to the W98SE startup floppy, CD, or equivalent (accepting no later DOS version than W98SE of 2001, which all proved to have lesser FAT consistency),

making sure both partition and format are accomplished using 255 heads & 63 sectors/track, correcting and re-doing if necessary, regardless of _native_ device geometry that may come up by default and need to be over-ridden,

you will almost never be as disappointed about compatibility as when you let other tools or devices prepare your FAT32 media.

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Even on devices which are intended to never boot the media, best results can also often be obtained when there is a master boot record (MBR) placed at the beginning of sector 0 anyway even though it's theoretically unnecessary. This is in addition to the partition table at the end of sector 0 which is actually essential either way for booting and/or mere storage.

As an an example if you simply create a valid partition table alone on a fully blank USB drive using a Linux tool, you would not yet have a DOS MBR at the beginning of the same sector 0.

Regardless, the partition should be ready for recognition and formatting by MS-DOS as FAT32 using its default geometry for the detected situation. After FAT32 formatting there will then be a volume boot record (VBR) at the starting sector of the partition a certain distance away from sector 0 (best recognition is usually when the VBR is at sector 63).

In MS-DOS, without disturbing the partitioon table, you place a DOS MBR on sector 0 (overwrites MBR zone and current MBR) using an undocumented switch in FDISK; FDISK /MBR when you are booted to floppy and there is no other drive hardware than the target, when the target is recognized as drive 0 by the BIOS and identifed as C:\ by DOS even before formatting, and supposedly when HDDs other than the hardcoded drive 0 target are present as well.

In Windows 10 a BIOS MBR can be written to a chosen sector 0 of a HDD containing a letter volume by BOOTSECT.EXE at the command line using the /MBR option. This occurs while you intentionally overwrite a target VBR simultaneously with an NT6 (BOOTMGR) version which is the main purpose of the BOOTSECT command. If this ends up being done you're probably better off rebooting to DOS and reformatting (/q option for a quick format) to replace with a DOS VBR before using the FAT32 volume.

But the Windows 10 MBR is a good MBR for an otherwise pure DOS HDD.

Unfortunately, occasional devices defy all patterns which Windows versions and sometimes MS-DOS itself are capable of recognizing and/or generating. Designers have poorly selected (sometimes bizarre) partitioning and/or formatting layouts far removed from what was consistent with all that had come before, even though there could be superficial Windows compatibility apparent at one point. This was not progress since FAT32 with LFN is a long-established, stable, now patent-unencumbered standard, and it is more valuable than ever to maintain compatibility back to its foundational 1999 OS version, before important features were compromised in ways which could unfairly make NTFS seem more appropriate by comparison.

For that you may just have to format media in the device itself to achieve its unique desired geometry & layout.