How many of us have not encountered a situation when, when connecting an external USB storage device (flash drive, memory card or USB HDD), a message appears stating that the disk is write-protected? Not all users know how to remove protection, although most of them are aware of the simplest solutions. To deal with disabling access blocking, we will consider the most common cases, and for each of them we will offer the implementation of basic actions that are guaranteed to remove protection, and sometimes even regardless of the situation.
The drive is write-protected: reasons for the appearance or installation of access locks
To begin, let's dwell on some simple cases. It should be noted right away that the appearance of reports that a USB drive (flash drive) is write-protected is not typical for external hard drives, but mainly occurs when trying to connect removable devices in the form of flash drives and removable memory cards. The most common reason is the installation of mechanical protection on the drive itself or the device is locked with a special combination lock.
No less often, a notification that the disk (flash drive) is write-protected appears when there is not enough storage on the drive to copy or move a larger file than is available on it. It is possible that the drive itself at the software level has protection, which cannot be circumvented by conventional methods.
Finally, you should not discount the effect of certain types of virus threats that can block access to the device no less effectively than using mechanical and software protection. But these are only the most common and most common situations, because in fact they can be much more. But the solutions proposed below (especially in terms of software neutralization of protection) almost always work. The only exceptions are situations where the device itself has physical damage or a change in the structure of the original file system.
When connecting a USB flash drive, it says: “The disk is write-protected.” What to do first?
So, let's move on to the practical elimination of problems with access to a removable storage device connected to a computer or laptop. As already mentioned, the notification that the disk (flash drive) is write-protected, most often appears when mechanical protection is installed that restricts access to the media at the physical level.
Some models of flash drives and memory cards are equipped with special switches, which are usually located on the side walls of devices or covered with a lid. Check for their presence and, if necessary, set them to the off position (the switch can be marked as Write-protect or Lock). As for combination locks, the situation is much more complicated with them. Here, without entering the correct combination to unlock, you can not do.
Checking the available free space
Further, we will proceed from the fact that mechanical or cryptographic protection on the media is not installed, but when the device is connected to a computer terminal, the system with an enviable constancy reports that the disk is write-protected. What to do in such a situation?
In this case, you need to check the available disk space on the media itself. The fact is that sometimes when you try to copy or move files and folders to a USB flash drive or memory card, the total size of which exceeds the available free volume, the above notification is given, although in fact it does not, by and large, have this situation absolutely no relation.
Scan the media for viruses
Viruses of various kinds of removable media are especially fond of, because sometimes they are the only way to penetrate a computer system. The most common occurrence can be called the presence of threats in the form of autorun.inf autorun files infected or self-created by the virus, which have the hidden attribute and are not displayed in the normal form in the file manager. But as you know, where there is one virus, there is another. Therefore, the presence of some other viral applets on the drive cannot be ruled out. As already clear, blocking access to a USB flash drive or card also leads to the fact that the system informs the user that the disk (flash drive) is write-protected. How to remove protection? Elementary! You just need to get rid of the viruses present on the carriers. But how to do it, because access is limited?
Whoever says anything about portable antivirus utilities like Dr. Web CureIt! or KVRT, despite all its functionality, and they are powerless. In this case, only the boot option from a removable drive will help, on which the scanning and disinfection utility Kaspersky Rescue Disk is recorded, which allows you to check the hard drive, RAM, and external storage media even before the operating system boots.
Note: viruses like autorun.inf can be removed manually, however, you won’t always be able to get rid of other threats that can be present on the media in parallel.
We remove protection at the command line
Now suppose that the previous methods did not work, the viruses were not detected, and the system still writes: “The disk is write-protected. Unprotect or use another drive. ” What can be assumed? Apparently, in this case we are dealing with a set attribute that applies the access level to the drive only at the level of reading the information stored on it without the possibility of changing it or replacing objects (overwriting the contents). Thus, the established restriction needs to be removed. You can’t even count on the properties section, called up through the PCM menu on a USB flash drive or a card in Explorer. Anyway, the attribute settings items are missing there. In this case, it is completely possible to remove protection through the command line (cmd), launched with administrator rights.
In it, you must first enter the diskpart command, then enter list disk and remember the number of the connected device. It is possible to determine that this is a USB flash drive or memory card by total volume.
After that, the select disk N (N - defined volume number), attributes disk clear readonly and exit commands are executed sequentially. The second command, as already understood, completely clears the Read-Only attribute, and the third is needed to complete the diskpart tool.
Editing the registry settings
Now a few words about another situation in which the user is informed that the USB or SD disk is write-protected. If the previous options did not give the desired effect, you can remove protection by editing some parameters of the registry (regedit).
In the editor, you must use the HKLM branch, in which through the SYSTEM section you need to get to the StorageDevicePolicies directory.
On the right, there will be a WriteProtect key, apparently with a value of "1". To remove protection, you must enter the parameter editing (by double-clicking or through the RMB menu), and then change the unit to zero. After rebooting the system, the device will become available.
Note: if the above section does not exist in the registry, create a section in the Control directory through RMB, name it StorageDevicePolicies, create a 32-bit DWORD parameter with WriteProtect name in the new directory on the right through RMB and set it to “0”.
We change group politicians
By and large, in cases where it turns out that the USB drive is write-protected, you can also use an alternative method of unlocking - changing the settings of group policies, which is a complete analogue of actions with the registry, but only with a lower priority (the values set for politician, you can change the registry, on the contrary - no). The Group Policy Editor is invoked by entering the gpedit.msc command in the Run console.
In it, through the sections of the administrative templates and the system, you need to find the access directory to removable devices, and on the right use the edit ban setting for removable drives. In the settings of the specified parameter, a shutdown is established, the changes are saved, and the system, as in the case with actions in the registry, reboots completely.
We use highly targeted utilities
But these were only built-in tools of Windows-systems. For many users, they can be quite difficult to learn and use. Therefore, in the case when the disk (SD card) is write-protected, which applies equally to ordinary flash drives, you can use special programs designed for devices of a particular manufacturer. So, the small JetFlash Recovery Tool fixes access problems on Trascend devices. A larger number of flash drives and memory cards supports the application D-Soft Flash Doctor.
Format media
Finally, if none of the above helps to remove the access lock, and the system again reports that the disk is write-protected, formatting the media may be the solution. Apparently, readers have already guessed that it is not necessary to rely on standard Windows tools in this case, although you can try to format them using them. At the same time, in order to avoid errors, it is better to choose fast formatting.
If this does not work, or at some point an error message is displayed, you can apply a more cardinal method. First, copy all the necessary information from the drive to another location (for example, to the hard disk or to a virtual partition), then perform low-level formatting using the HDD Low Level Format Tool, and then perform normal formatting using the system tools. The use of such a sequence will give an effect precisely, and a notification that the disc is write-protected will not be issued anymore when the system is connected to the device again.
Reflash microcontroller
Finally, sometimes (very rarely) the essence of the problem may consist in the fact that the firmware of the microcontroller of the flash drive or SD card was damaged. In this case, the system may also indicate that the disk is write-protected. In this situation, the output will be a flashing of the device.
First, you will need to find out the VID and PID, using programs like ChipGenius or even the standard “Device Manager”, in which the display of IDs is selected in the properties of the selected equipment on the information tab. After that, according to the values found on the Internet, you should search for the appropriate firmware, download it and install it yourself. In theory, after performing such actions, the problem will be finally solved.
But what if it’s not a drive?
In the end, it remains to add a few words about a completely banal situation in which any user can find himself. A message issued by the system (especially in English) may be misinterpreted by the user himself. It is possible that when you try to move a file to a removable device, protection is set for this particular object, and not for a USB flash drive or card? To fix the problem, simply call the properties of the file or folder through RMB in the "Explorer", and then uncheck the "Read-only" attribute, if one is installed, and then try to move again.
Short afterword
In principle, this is all about the main points associated with blocking access to removable media. Quite rightly, each reader has a question about what kind of problem-solving technique is, so to speak, universal or most effective. By and large, advising one thing is very difficult. But as the first means, it’s better to immediately apply the unlocking via the command line. It is possible that this will work, and the rest of the tools will not be needed.
In the case of viruses (especially undeletable, which also occurs), no matter how regrettable it sounds, formatting is indispensable. In this case, you will have to abandon the fast, and if possible make full formatting. As for low-level formatting, it is advisable to use it only in the most extreme cases, since after carrying out such processes it will be very problematic to restore information that was previously present on the drive, if the user for some reason did not copy it to another location.
It goes without saying that you can deal with changing registry keys and group policy settings, but without knowing the issue or without urgent need, it is better not to use such methods, otherwise you can make such changes that the whole system will stop working (we are talking about registry, for which the preservation or cancellation of changes is not provided).
To simplify your task, if, of course, you have the recovery utility from the manufacturer of the flash drive or card at hand, you can use it. Why not? For ordinary unprepared users, this approach can be called the easiest way to fix problems with removable USB-drives, unless the root cause is hidden much deeper (for example, when changing the file system to RAW-format).