diff --git a/src/drive.c b/src/drive.c
index 55c08124ba7..b8cc95682e5 100644
--- a/src/drive.c
+++ b/src/drive.c
@@ -1247,8 +1247,8 @@ BOOL RefreshDriveLayout(HANDLE hDrive)
 	return r;
 }
 
-/* Delete the disk partition table */
-BOOL DeletePartitions(HANDLE hDrive)
+/* Initialize disk for partitioning */
+BOOL InitializeDisk(HANDLE hDrive)
 {
 	BOOL r;
 	DWORD size;
diff --git a/src/drive.h b/src/drive.h
index dd6de5e952d..22b12da2937 100644
--- a/src/drive.h
+++ b/src/drive.h
@@ -97,6 +97,6 @@ BOOL AltUnmountVolume(const char* drive_name);
 char* AltMountVolume(const char* drive_name, uint8_t part_nr);
 BOOL RemountVolume(char* drive_name);
 BOOL CreatePartition(HANDLE hDrive, int partition_style, int file_system, BOOL mbr_uefi_marker, uint8_t extra_partitions);
-BOOL DeletePartitions(HANDLE hDrive);
+BOOL InitializeDisk(HANDLE hDrive);
 BOOL RefreshDriveLayout(HANDLE hDrive);
 const char* GetPartitionType(BYTE Type);
diff --git a/src/format.c b/src/format.c
index eadde70bc11..4d047f139ce 100644
--- a/src/format.c
+++ b/src/format.c
@@ -1668,20 +1668,22 @@ DWORD WINAPI FormatThread(void* param)
 		UpdateProgress(OP_ANALYZE_MBR, -1.0f);
 	}
 
+	if (zero_drive) {
+		WriteDrive(hPhysicalDrive, NULL);
+		goto out;
+	}
+
 	// Zap any existing partitions. This helps prevent access errors.
-	// As this creates issues with FAT16 formatted MS drives, only do this for other filesystems
-	if ( (fs != FS_FAT16) && (!DeletePartitions(hPhysicalDrive)) ) {
+	// Note, Microsoft's way of cleaning partitions (IOCTL_DISK_CREATE_DISK, which is what we apply
+	// in InitializeDisk) is *NOT ENOUGH* to reset a disk and can render it inoperable for partitioning
+	// or formatting under Windows. See https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/issues/759 for details.
+	if ((!ClearMBRGPT(hPhysicalDrive, SelectedDrive.DiskSize, SectorSize, FALSE)) || (!InitializeDisk(hPhysicalDrive)) ) {
 		uprintf("Could not reset partitions\n");
 		FormatStatus = ERROR_SEVERITY_ERROR|FAC(FACILITY_STORAGE)|ERROR_PARTITION_FAILURE;
 		goto out;
 	}
 	CreateThread(NULL, 0, CloseFormatPromptThread, NULL, 0, NULL);
 
-	if (zero_drive) {
-		WriteDrive(hPhysicalDrive, NULL);
-		goto out;
-	}
-
 	if (IsChecked(IDC_BADBLOCKS)) {
 		do {
 			// create a log file for bad blocks report. Since %USERPROFILE% may
@@ -1736,15 +1738,15 @@ DWORD WINAPI FormatThread(void* param)
 			FormatStatus = ERROR_SEVERITY_ERROR|FAC(FACILITY_STORAGE)|ERROR_CANCELLED;
 			goto out;
 		}
-	}
 
-	// Especially after destructive badblocks test, you must zero the MBR/GPT completely
-	// before repartitioning. Else, all kind of bad things happen.
-	if (!ClearMBRGPT(hPhysicalDrive, SelectedDrive.DiskSize, SectorSize, use_large_fat32)) {
-		uprintf("unable to zero MBR/GPT\n");
-		if (!IS_ERROR(FormatStatus))
-			FormatStatus = ERROR_SEVERITY_ERROR|FAC(FACILITY_STORAGE)|ERROR_WRITE_FAULT;
-		goto out;
+		// Especially after destructive badblocks test, you must zero the MBR/GPT completely
+		// before repartitioning. Else, all kind of bad things happen.
+		if (!ClearMBRGPT(hPhysicalDrive, SelectedDrive.DiskSize, SectorSize, use_large_fat32)) {
+			uprintf("unable to zero MBR/GPT\n");
+			if (!IS_ERROR(FormatStatus))
+				FormatStatus = ERROR_SEVERITY_ERROR|FAC(FACILITY_STORAGE)|ERROR_WRITE_FAULT;
+			goto out;
+		}
 	}
 
 	// Write an image file
diff --git a/src/rufus.rc b/src/rufus.rc
index 9c7c7a6272d..419a5aa6610 100644
--- a/src/rufus.rc
+++ b/src/rufus.rc
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ LANGUAGE LANG_NEUTRAL, SUBLANG_NEUTRAL
 IDD_DIALOG DIALOGEX 12, 12, 242, 376
 STYLE DS_SETFONT | DS_MODALFRAME | DS_CENTER | WS_MINIMIZEBOX | WS_POPUP | WS_CAPTION | WS_SYSMENU
 EXSTYLE WS_EX_ACCEPTFILES
-CAPTION "Rufus 2.9.935"
+CAPTION "Rufus 2.9.936"
 FONT 8, "Segoe UI Symbol", 400, 0, 0x0
 BEGIN
     LTEXT           "Device",IDS_DEVICE_TXT,9,6,200,8
@@ -320,8 +320,8 @@ END
 //
 
 VS_VERSION_INFO VERSIONINFO
- FILEVERSION 2,9,935,0
- PRODUCTVERSION 2,9,935,0
+ FILEVERSION 2,9,936,0
+ PRODUCTVERSION 2,9,936,0
  FILEFLAGSMASK 0x3fL
 #ifdef _DEBUG
  FILEFLAGS 0x1L
@@ -338,13 +338,13 @@ BEGIN
         BEGIN
             VALUE "CompanyName", "Akeo Consulting (http://akeo.ie)"
             VALUE "FileDescription", "Rufus"
-            VALUE "FileVersion", "2.9.935"
+            VALUE "FileVersion", "2.9.936"
             VALUE "InternalName", "Rufus"
             VALUE "LegalCopyright", "© 2011-2016 Pete Batard (GPL v3)"
             VALUE "LegalTrademarks", "http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html"
             VALUE "OriginalFilename", "rufus.exe"
             VALUE "ProductName", "Rufus"
-            VALUE "ProductVersion", "2.9.935"
+            VALUE "ProductVersion", "2.9.936"
         END
     END
     BLOCK "VarFileInfo"