Disable Write Protection

Write protection allows a drive or SD card to keep its contents from being changed. This effectively prevents you from using the drive in any sort of meaningful way. There are many ways to disable write protection, from toggling a physical switch to delving into your computer's advanced settings. However, if the drive has been corrupted, formatting it to a blank slate may be your only option.

Steps

Basic Fixes

  1. Check the drive or card for a physical lock. Many USB drives and SD cards will have a physical lock switch that turns on write protection. Check to make sure that the drive does not have this lock enabled.
  2. Check if the drive is full. You may get a write protection error if there is no more space on the drive. You can see the amount of free space on the drive by selecting it in the Computer/This PC window. If your drive does have free space, the file you're trying to copy to it may still be too large.
  3. Check the file's attributes. Sometimes the file that you're trying to copy is actually the one that's write-protected, not your USB drive. The error will be a little different, but looks pretty similar. You can change your file's attributes by doing the following:
    • Windows - Right-click the file and select "Properties." Uncheck the "Read-only" box and click "Apply."
    • Mac - Control-click the file and select "Get Info." Expand "Sharing & Permissions" and set the "Privilege" column to "Read & Write" for your user name.
  4. Scan your USB drive or card for viruses. Whenever you plug a USB drive in, especially one that's been plugged into another computer, you should scan it for viruses. Many virus scanners can be configured to scan USB drives automatically when they're connected, or you can right-click on the drive and select "Scan with Antivirus."
  5. Scan your computer for viruses and other malware if all drives are write protected. If every drive you insert in your computer becomes write protected, you may have a virus or malware infection.[1]
    • Run an antivirus scan on your entire computer using your antivirus program.
    • Download and run Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. You can download it for free from malwarebytes.org.
    • See Remove Malware for more detailed virus removal instructions.
  6. Run UsbFix to scan your USB drives. This is a free, open-source program designed to find problems with USB drives and Windows USB drivers. You can download UsbFix for free from fosshub.com/UsbFix.html.
    • Click "Research" after launching UsbFix.
    • Click "Clean" after the scan has completed.
    • Test your USB drives again.

Using the Command Prompt (Windows)

  1. Run the Command Prompt as an Administrator. If your USB drive or SD card is stuck in Read Only mode, you may be able to fix its attributes using the Command Prompt.
    • Press Start.
    • Go to Accessories.
    • Right-click Command Prompt, then choose "Run as Administrator".
  2. Type .diskpart and press ↵ Enter. This will launch the DiskPart utility in a separate Command Prompt window. You will likely be prompted by Windows to start it.
  3. Type .list disk and press ↵ Enter. This will display a list of the drives connected to your computer.
  4. Find your USB drive or SD card in the list. All of the partitions connected to your computer will be displayed, including your internal hard drives. There are several columns of information you can use to identify the USB drive:
    • The Ltr column displays the associated drive letter for each partition. Not all partitions will have letters, such as recovery partitions.
    • If you've given the USB drive a name before, it will be listed in the Label column.
    • Look for Removable in the Type column.
    • The Size column can help you differentiate between two similar USB drives.
  5. Type .select disk . Replace with the number from the first column in the list for the USB drive or SD card you want to perform commands for. For example, if the USB drive is Disk 5, you'd type select disk 5.
  6. Type .attributes disk clear readonly and press ↵ Enter. This will change your USB's properties so that it is no longer read-only.
  7. Type .exit and press ↵ Enter, then try your drive. DiskPart will close, and you can try manipulating files on your USB drive again. You may have to eject and then reinsert the drive to get it working. If the Command Prompt didn't work, try the next method.[2]

Editing the Registry (Windows)

  1. Open the Registry Editor. If performing the DiskPart commands did not fix your USB drive, or every drive you connect becomes read-only, you may need to edit your Windows registry. The registry controls how Windows runs, so be very careful to only perform the actions described in this article.
    • To open the Registry Editor, press ⊞ Win+R and type regedit. If you're not an administrator, you'll be prompted for the administrator password.
  2. Use the navigation tree on the left to open the correct location. Expand and collapse the entries on the left to navigate to the following location:
    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies
    • If you don't have a StorageDevicePolicies folder in the Control folder, right-click in the folder and select "New" → "Key." Name it StorageDevicePolicies and then open it.
  3. Double-click the .WriteProtect entry. This will open the Edit window.
    • If you don't have a WriteProtect entry because you just created StorageDevicePolicies, right-click in the folder and select "New" → "DWORD (32-bit) value." Name it WriteProtect and then save it. Double-click it to open the Edit window.
  4. Change the "Value data" entry to .0. This will disable write protection for all of your USB drives.
  5. Close the Registry Editor and reboot your computer. The card or drive should now be writeable.

Formatting the Drive (Windows)

  1. Format your drive if nothing else is working. If you've tried everything above and still can't remove the write protection, you may need to format the drive. This will delete all of the data on the drive, but may get it working again.
  2. Reboot your computer into Safe Mode. You won't be able to properly format the write-protected drive unless you are in Safe Mode:[3]
    • Reboot your computer and hold F8. Select "Safe Mode with Networking" from the list of startup options.
    • See Start Windows in Safe Mode if you're having difficulties booting into Safe Mode.
  3. Open the Computer/This PC window. This windows displays all of the drives connected to your computer.
    • You can open this window from the Start menu, or by pressing ⊞ Win+E.
  4. Right-click on your USB drive and select "Format." This will open the Format window for the USB drive.
  5. Select "FAT32" from the "File system" menu. This will make the drive compatible with the most computers and devices.
    • Select "exFAT" if the drive is larger than 32 GB.
    • Select "NTFS" if the drive is only going to be used in Windows.
  6. Uncheck the "Quick Format" box and click "Start." Windows will begin formatting the drive, which may take a while to complete.
  7. Test your drive. After formatting, see if you can read and write to the drive. If the problem is not fixed, the drive itself may be damaged.[4]

Repairing Permissions (OS X)

  1. Open Disk Utility. Your drive's permissions may have become corrupted. You can fix these using Disk Utility. You can find Disk Utility in the Utilities folder.
  2. Select the write-protected device on the left. The Disk Utility window should list your hard drive, CD drive, and any attached devices. Select the write-protected device.
  3. Click the "First Aid" button. After confirming, OS X will begin scanning your drive and attempt to fix any problems. This may take a while to complete.
    • If you're using older versions of OS X, click the "First Aid" tab and then click the "Repair Permissions" button.

Formatting the Drive (OS X)

  1. Format the drive if you still can't get it to work. If the drive is in NTFS format, you won't be able to write to it. Formatting it will allow you to use it, but will erase all of the data on the drive.
  2. Select your USB drive in Disk Utility. Open the Disk Utility app from your Utilities folder. Your USB drive will be listed in the left frame.
  3. Select the proper format for the drive. There are several options you can pick from, depending on what you'll be doing with the drive:
    • Select "OS X Extended (Journaled)" if you're only going to be using the drive on Mac computers.
    • Select "FAT" if you plan on using the drive on other operating systems and devices.
    • Select "exFAT" if the drive is larger than 32 GB and you want to use it in Windows as well.
  4. Click the "Erase" button. OS X will begin formatting the drive, which may take a while to complete. All of the data on the drive will be deleted.
  5. Try the drive again. If you still can't write to the drive, it may be malfunctioning and will need to be replaced.

Tips

  • Write protection errors often occur because the USB drive is failing mechanically. If this is the case, you will need to get a new USB drive.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-fix-write-protection-errors-on-a-usb-stick/
  2. ↑ http://www.pcworld.com/article/245174/restore_access_to_a_write_protected_hard_drive.html
  3. ↑ http://www.thewindowsclub.com/disk-is-write-protected
  4. ↑ http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/276599-32-remove-write-protection-generic-disk-drive

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