Some memory cards and USB pen drives have write protection switches, which allows you to prevent files from being deleted, or any new files being written to the device. It also prevents the drive or card from being formatted.
Format a USB drive that is write-protected
Occasionally, you’ll find that a USB flash drive will refuse to format and Windows will tell you that it is write protected, even though there is no switch.
Here are a couple of methods you can try to format the drive and remove the write protection. Bear in mind that there is no guarantee that they will work for you: your drive or memory card may be corrupt or broken and no utility or low-level formatting tool will make it work again. The only solution in this case is to buy a new drive.
Removing write-protection in the Registry using Regedit.exe
In any version of Windows from XP onwards, run Regedit.exe (searching regedit will usually show the program at the top of the list).
Navigate to the following key:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\
CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies
Double-click on the WriteProtect value in the right-hand pane of Regedit.exe. Change the Value data from 1 to 0 and click OK to save the change. Close Regedit and restart your computer. Connect your USB drive again, and you should find it is no longer write protected. You can now format the drive as normal by right-clicking on it in My Computer and choosing Format.
If you can’t find StorageDevicePolicies, you can try creating a key by right-clicking in the white space in the Control folder and choosing New -> Key and carefully entering the name.
Now double-click on the new key (folder) and right-click once again and choose New -> DWORD. Name it WriteProtect and set its value to 0. Click OK, exit Regedit and reboot your computer.
If this method doesn’t work, try the following:
Removing write-protection using Diskpart
With your USB drive plugged in, launch a command prompt. Do this by searching for cmd.exe in the Start menu (or Start screen in Windows 8). In Windows XP, click Start then Run, and type cmd.exe in the box.
NOTE: you may need to run Cmd.exe with administrator privileges if you see an “access is denied” message.
To do that, right-click on the shortcut and choose Run as administrator. In Windows 8, simply choose Command prompt (admin).
Now, type the following, pressing Enter after each command:
diskpart
list disk
select disk x (where x is the number of your USB flash drive – use the capacity to work out which one it is)
attributes disk clear readonly
clean
create partition primary
format fs=fat32 (you can swap fat32 for ntfs if you only need to use the drive with Windows computers)
exit
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Comments
James said: Thank you mate
Usama said: If u are using Micro Sd ADAPTER jacket then just move the lock button in opposite where it is alreadyIt is doneHAve a good day
acerrah said: Use that great software RecoverToolV20028L0920 It can format any write protected flash in seconds
Sidewalker said: Yyyyy sorry but What The Heck D Why youre writing about SD CARD MEMORY CARD When topic is about pendrive D
wan7 said: stil erro I cant formatplzz help me
Amr Ellabban said: thx a lot its work with me thx again
Ashish Khapra said: hiu have solution of usb protected the disk is write protected so pls give a solution of how to remove this problemplzzzzzzzzz
deep said: hey sir i have openSUSE in VMware so if i can remove itThen tell me plz how i can do
Ada said: Please help sir plz plz plz plz plz Im using two methods above but not work My USB flash drive is Sony plz plz plz plz plzThanks
hjhj said: Empty solutions
fred said: Does not work Still gives the same error This is no different to the normal tool in windows
asheria07 said: If it all fails like it did for me Do what you should have done firstcheck to make sure your SD cardmemory card is unlockedhttpkbsandiskcomappanswersdet
Somisa said: Just restart your computer after the first step It worked
roger said: It does work hooray Thank you so much
Anti Orang Goblog said: Thats only happen on Windows but not on GNULinux or NIX OSes Entire filesystem area on Linux NIX OSes is only write-protected if entered by non root-user without root-user privileges or only if the storage drive disk is psychically damage I suggest to use a Linux Live CD with partition manager such as Gparted -- just like Puppy Linux or RIP Live CD to deal with such write-protected storage media FS partition or for do any other file system managements Windows is not an OS for the computer technician so dont be surprised if you cant do something more with the advanced file system management
zah said: Help me guys I ran Command Prompt as the Administrator
ramsharan said: Above 2 methods can not use in my such case any other solution idea
kapil said: none of the method works in my case always show the drive is write protectednow what to doif any other solution is there then pls help
pragya said: USb recovery through USB recovery software is really works and you can recover data easily in few mouse clicks httpwwwrecoverdatatoolsco
gwapa said: i used all these methods and still cant remove the write-protection help