{"id":1766,"date":"2019-01-16T11:08:14","date_gmt":"2019-01-16T11:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iseepassword.com\/blog\/?p=1766"},"modified":"2023-10-10T10:49:58","modified_gmt":"2023-10-10T10:49:58","slug":"how-to-remove-write-protection-from-usb-flash-drive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iseepassword.com\/blog\/how-to-remove-write-protection-from-usb-flash-drive\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Remove Write Protection from USB Flash Drive?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">There are many times when you attempts to format a writing protected USB drive or copy files from USB drive you may receive an error message \u00a0&#8220;The disk is write protected&#8221;\u00a0and your files in USB drive turns into read-only.\u00a0 So if you find this &#8220;Read only&#8221;\u00a0restriction again and again, don&#8217;t bother, nothing is wrong with your USB drive, it\u2019s just it has somehow got locked down with write protection of the disk, according to which you are only able to read the contents not modifying it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">This write protection can easily be undone even without the usage of any third party tools. And the article here is written to make you learn how to remove write protection from USB drive in few minutes\u00a0and giving you the capability to copy, edit and modify any files from your USB flash drive.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\"><strong><b>Solution #1: Alter USB\u00a0Drive&#8217;s Properties<\/b><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Here in this method we would simply change the pen drive\u2019s properties to remove the write protection. How?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-1772\" src=\"https:\/\/www.iseepassword.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/usb_Properties.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"437\" height=\"561\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Step 1. First go to &#8220;My computer&#8221;\u00a0and under &#8220;devices with removable storage&#8221;\u00a0option search for your USB flash drive option.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Step 2. Once you find your disk, right click on it and then choose &#8220;Properties&#8221;. A pop up box will appear in which you will be prompted to choose the security tab and change the permission. Just change the status of this option and you are all set to go without any write protection anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\"><strong><b>Solution 2: Remove Write Protection from USB Drive via Regedit<\/b><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">When you are finding it difficult to remove the Write protection error, using Registry Editor to remove it is the easiest and most direct method of all. But make sure you follow the step guidelines below as exactly as mentioned. Even a slightest mistake can render serious damage to your operating system.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-1770\" src=\"https:\/\/www.iseepassword.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/registray_eidtor_1_img.jpg\" alt=\"Remove Write Protection from USB Drive\" width=\"607\" height=\"411\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Step 1. Connect your flash drive to your computer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Step 2. Access &#8220;Run&#8221;\u00a0tool and type &#8220;regedit&#8221;\u00a0in the search field and hit &#8220;Enter&#8221;.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Step 3. Go to the location <span style=\"color: #008000\"><em>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControl. \u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Step 4. Now check if there is a folder key named &#8220;StorageDevicePolicies&#8221;. Change its DWORD value to &#8220;0&#8221;\u00a0and click &#8220;OK&#8221;\u00a0to save the change.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\"><strong><b>TIP:<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0IF you can\u2019t find the respective folder, then you right click on &#8220;Control&#8221;\u00a0and create a new key. Name it &#8220;StorageDevicePolicies&#8221;. Right click on it again to open the DWORD value pop up box. Change its name &#8220;Write protection&#8221;\u00a0and finally double click it one more time to change the number.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">After you are done with the steps, exit regedit and reboot your computer.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\"><strong><b>Solution #3: Use DiskPart Command <\/b><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">As you can clearly deduce that we are going to use command prompt\u00a0to modify the read &#8211; writing attributes of USB drive. But\u00a0attempt this method only if you are sure that you won\u2019t do any mistake while handling the command lines, because\u00a0even a little error in typing commands can bring down your system to heavier damage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1771\" src=\"https:\/\/www.iseepassword.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Command-Prompt-Run-DiskPart.jpg\" alt=\"DiskPart Command \" width=\"600\" height=\"428\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Step 1. Press &#8220;Windows key + R&#8221;\u00a0together to bring the &#8220;Run&#8221;\u00a0tool box at the bottom left corner of the screen.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Step 2. In the search field type &#8220;cmd&#8221;\u00a0and hit &#8220;Enter&#8221;.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\"><strong><b>NOTE:<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0You can also click on &#8220;Start&#8221;\u00a0menu and type &#8220;command prompt&#8221;\u00a0and then right click on it to select &#8220;Run as administrator&#8221;\u00a0option from the drop down menu. This will open up the cmd box with admin rights.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Step 3. As soon as the black cmd panel turns up, type &#8220;diskpart&#8221;\u00a0and press &#8220;Enter&#8221;. Click &#8220;Ok&#8221;\u00a0to confirm the command and a new black box will open up above the already opened up black panel.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Step 4. Next in the newly opened panel you have to type &#8220;list disk&#8221;. This will show you all the disk partitions already available.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Step 5. Carefully choose the USB flash drive disk partition by typing &#8220;Select disk n&#8221;, here is the number of your locked pen drive.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Step 6. Now type &#8220;attributes disk clear read\u00a0only&#8221;\u00a0command and hit &#8220;Enter&#8221;.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Step 7. Once you get the message &#8220;Disk attributes cleared successfully&#8221;, close the Window and you can try re-plugging the pen drive to check if the write protection is removed or not.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">If everything has been done as accurately as explained, then you are most likely to get the outcome you were aiming here.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\"><strong><b>Conclusion:<\/b><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">In case none of the methods seem to remove write protection from USB flash drive, then there could be possibly some hardware defect. Take your USB flash drive to any hardware repair shop, they might find a way to remove the restriction.\u00a0If it does not work out on overall basis, then you are left with no other option other than to replace your USB drive.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are many times when you attempts to format a writing protected USB drive or copy files from USB drive you may receive an error message \u00a0&#8220;The disk is write protected&#8221;\u00a0and your files in USB drive turns into read-only.\u00a0 So if you find this &#8220;Read only&#8221;\u00a0restriction again and again, don&#8217;t bother, nothing is wrong with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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