Guide to removing write protection from a USB flash drive.

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USB flash drives and microSD memory cards are widely used for temporary storage of data. The files stored on them are easy to delete, but they often leave behind a lot of invisible garbage, which clogs the memory and slows down the reading of information on the USB drive. For deep cleaning memory users resort to formatting flash drives. But quite often, while formatting a flash drive, a notification pops up informing you that it is write-protected.
In our article we will try to figure out how to bypass the protection of a locked flash drive or memory card.

A similar message about disk security can pop up for various reasons, and not only when trying to format a flash drive. It happens that a USB drive has served you faithfully for a long time, but one fine day, when you try to transfer files to it or, conversely, take them from it, such a notification appears. Let's look at the main reasons why such a nuisance can happen:

Physical blocking

• Many USB flash drives and memory cards have a small fuse on their case. It is a standard slider switch that is easy to miss. If you move the switch to a certain position, it will act as a fuse and will not allow you to accidentally delete data from the flash drive. Carefully inspect the body of the flash drive for the presence of a switch slider. If there is one, move it to a different position and try again to delete files from the USB drive.

New flash drive

• If you purchased a new USB flash drive or microSD card, and while writing files to it you receive a message about the security of the disk, then it is most likely that your device was previously formatted in an ancient file system FAT32. To restore order in the file system, it will need to be formatted in the format NTFS. We'll talk about this a little later.
• Other possible reason this error occurs when using new flash drive– virus. Before you, the store clerks where you bought the flash drive could have used the drive and placed a malicious program on it. Just in case, scan your computer and flash drive for viruses with any available antivirus program.

Physical damage

• Quite often the reason for the notification is “ The disc is write protected» is associated with physical damage to the drive. Perhaps, due to a strong impact of the device on the floor, the contact fell off or microcracks appeared. The worst case scenario is damage to the memory chip from impact or natural wear and tear. If, in the case of a fallen contact, you can recover data from a flash drive using special equipment, then if the chip is damaged, you can say goodbye to it.

How to format a write-protected flash drive using standard Windows operating system tools?

Before resorting to using a third party software, you need to try to break the write protection using Windows tricks. Do the following one by one:

• Step 1. Expand menu " StartExecute" In the window that opens, enter “ cmd" and click " Enter" to activate the command line.

• Step 2. In the window that opens, you will need to write the command “ diskpart" and press " Enter» to start a service that works with computer disks.

• Step 3. A new window will open where you will need to write the command “ list disk" and press " Enter» to display existing hard sections disk and USB media. Your flash drive must first be connected to the computer.

• Step 4. A list of partitions will appear on the monitor hard drive and connected storage devices, each of which is assigned its own number. In the same window, write the command “ select disk H", where instead of " H“You need to put the number under which your flash drive is located. Click " Enter».

• Step 5. Once the flash drive is selected, enter the command " attributes disk clear readonly» to clear its attributes. Remember that all files from it will be erased. Click " Enter».

• Step 6. Next, enter the command “ clean" and click " Enter» to clean up the disk.

• Step 7. Since the flash drive has a file system format FAT32, we need to reformat it into the format NTFS. To do this, write the command “ format fs=ntfs" and click " Enter».

• Step 8. The flash drive is formatted and now all that remains is to assign it a letter under which it will be displayed on the computer. To do this, write the command “ assign letter=K" and click " Enter" Instead of " K» You can set any other letter.

If this procedure does not lead to a positive result, then there is a possibility that the USB flash drive has a slightly different write protection system, which can be removed through the editor group policy. To do this, do the following:

• Step 1. Expand menu " Start" and left-click on the item " Execute" In the window that opens, write “ gpedit.msc" and click " Enter».

• Step 2. In the window that opens, go to “ Computer configuration", then " Administrative Templates", then " System" and further in " Access to removable storage devices" In the window on the right, find the line “ Removable drives: Disable write"and look carefully at her condition. If recording prohibition is activated, double-click on the line to bring up the menu and set the status to “ Disabled" To finish, click the " OK».

• Unfortunately, standard Windows tools can't always decide this problem. Sometimes you have to resort to third party utilities, designed to recover and format USB drives. It is best to use the utilities, the disk with which is sold complete with the flash drive. But if you don’t have it, you can use the program HUDS Format Tool which is possible.

• To format a flash drive using this program, connect the flash drive to your computer, download and run the program. In the window that opens, select your device from the list, set the format file system « NTFS", check the box next to the line " Quick formatting" and click the " Begin" After completing the formatting process, the flash drive should again be usable.
• If none of the above methods helped you, then most likely the problem lies in physical damage to the device and the only way out of this situation is to purchase a new USB flash drive or memory card.

VIDEO: How to remove write protection from a flash drive?

There are often cases when, when it is necessary to enter some information onto a flash drive, suddenly the message “disk is write protected” appears on the computer screen. There is no need to panic in such a situation. There are special programs to remove protection from a flash drive. But first, let’s clarify a little the question of why such protection is installed at all and why it needs to be installed.

Write protection - why is it?

It is impossible to imagine the modern world without the Internet. Its benefits to society are undeniable. However, there was a fly in the ointment. The World Wide Web is teeming with a variety of viruses that penetrate literally any crevice. USB drives are no exception; the information on them must be protected. And in order to protect the flash drive from copying virus files, manufacturers install write protection on it. But this is not the only explanation. Your flash drive can react not only to viruses, but also be full, for example. Or it could be a glitch in the flash drive itself.

Now let’s move on directly to how to remove write protection from a flash drive. There are three main ways to remove protection: software, hardware, and using internal Windows tools.

Hardware method for removing write protection from a USB drive

This method is very simple. Take a good look at your flash drive or micro sd. There should be a small toggle switch on the side. Above it is an open lock or the inscription lock. This is it switch to disable write protection. To unlock the flash drive, move the toggle switch and you're done. The protection has been removed. Unfortunately, such a toggle switch is not available on all flash memory and micro sd models.

Removing write protection using programs

Removing protection using programs allows you to save all the information available there on the drive. Let's look at several programs.

• HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool

Can work with almost any USB flash drive. All you need to do is download the program from the Internet and run it. exe file. The program does not require installation. Then you insert your flash drive into the USB port and the program itself determines all its parameters. All you have to do is choose between file system types and click the “start” button. This program allows you to remove write protection from micro sd flash drives.

• JetFlash Recovery Tool

This program only works with USB flash drives from certain companies. These are Jet Flash, A-DATA and Transcend. After going through several installation steps, you can start working with the program.

• Apacer Repair Program

This software recognizes only Apacer flash drives.

If your flash drive is from this company, download the program and use it.

One of the simplest and most effective programs for eliminating this type of problem. It is downloaded as an archive, which will need to be unpacked first. In the unpacked archive, select the exe file and install the program on your computer. True, this program does not recognize all flash drives, but only running on Alcor MP controller. Pay attention to the name of the flash drive in the line. If it is black, everything is in order, you can start working. If the inscription is red, alas, nothing will happen.

When running all these programs, you need administrator rights. To get them, click once on the software shortcut. A context menu will appear. There, find “Run as administrator” and select it.

Before using the above programs, try some preliminary steps.

1. The reason that your drive does not want to write information may be its virus infection. Scan the flash drive antivirus program. If viruses are found, remove them.
2. If you have two usb ports, move the flash drive to another port. Sometimes this helps and all information is written perfectly from the second port.
3. Try it restart your computer. Sometimes the cause of problems is usb drive There may be glitches in the system.

If all the described actions did not have any result, you should resort to the help of programs. But remember, all information recorded on your flash drive will be deleted.

Removing protection from a flash drive using internal computer resources

How to remove protection in regedit

To open the registry editor, in the Start menu, in the search bar, type regedit in Latin letters. When the regedit icon appears in the search field, right-click on it. In the menu that appears, select “Run as administrator.”

Then we find a folder called StorageDevicePolicies. It is located in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control.

If one does not exist, you will have to create it manually. To do this you need to click right click mouse over the Control folder and select “New”, then “Partition”. New section name StorageDevicePolicies. Right-click on the newly created section. You need to select “New” and “DWORD Value (32 bits)”. Name the selected option WriteProtect. Right-click on WriteProtect and click on “Edit”. In the window that appears, enter 0 in the value line and press “Enter.”

After restarting your computer, the write protection issue will be resolved.

Removing protection using the Discpart utility

Go to the Start menu and type cmd in the search engine. Right-click and run as administrator. Recruiting teams discpart and list disk. After entering each command, press Enter. A list will appear in which you should determine the number of your USB drive. After selecting the desired disk with the select button, delete the attributes that allow read only “attributes disk clear readonly”.

The measure is radical, because after the flash drive is formatted, everything the data will be deleted from it. So think carefully before formatting your flash drive. Formatting a USB flash drive is very easy. Go to “My Computer” and look for the icon of your flash drive there. Click on the right mouse button and select “Format” in the menu that opens. In the window that opens, click “Start formatting”. The problem will be fixed, there will be no need to do anything else. You can format micro sd in the same way.

Removing write protection from a flash drive is not difficult at all. The main thing to remember is that this may delete the information you need.

Floppy disks are a thing of the past after they were successfully replaced by flash drives. But modern man, when trying to write something onto such a flash drive, you may sometimes encounter a situation that is familiar from the days of using those same floppy disks (floppy disks). It happens that removable disk turns out to be blocked and cannot be used for its intended purpose, that is, to write any files. How to solve such a problem? We will consider this issue in detail in this article.
So, you are faced with a situation: you need to write some information to a removable drive, and when you try to do this, you see a message on the screen like “ The disc is write protected, remove the protection or insert another disc To".

This problem can be eliminated quite quickly, and we will talk about this a little later, but now it’s worth saying a few words about why protection is installed against writing any information to a flash drive.

Please note that most often such an operation is performed solely for one purpose - to protect the flash drive from malware(viruses), which can themselves be copied to various removable media.

Ways to remove write protection from a flash drive

There are two main options for removing protection from a removable drive: hardware and software.

Hardware method

You need to install a lock switch, which is found on some USB flash drives and also on SD cards. Often, such a switch is located on the side edge of a particular drive. Therefore, you need to carefully examine the drive that you have from all sides and look for an open and closed lock icon or the word Lock on it.

Please note that in fact, the protection is not difficult to remove - you just need to move the locking lever in the right direction. After such a simple maneuver, it often turns out that the write protection has already been removed. All that remains is to install the removable drive (flash drive) into the appropriate slot and repeat the entire process of writing files again.

Software method

This method involves software interaction between the OS and the flash drive controller, which is responsible for the ability to record any information. It is possible to remove write protection using this method using the command line, registry editor, or local group policy operating system Windows 7/8/10. Let's now look at all of the options listed in more detail.

Removing protection using regedit

Removing protection using Diskpart

If you couldn’t unlock the flash drive using the registry, you can try to do it using the command interpreter Diskpart. The latter makes it possible to manage disks and partitions using commands that the user enters directly on the command line.

Removing protection using the Local Group Policy Editor

If all the methods listed in this article did not help solve the difficulties with the inability to write to a flash drive, you can also try going to the official website of the manufacturer of your flash drive and find branded original utilities there for working with your specific drive. In addition, a situation is possible when the flash drive has already exhausted its resource (some manufacturers set a limit on the number of repeated writes, after a certain number of which the drive itself switches to a special “read-only” mode). In this case, you will have to purchase a new flash drive.

The era of floppy disks is long gone, but sometimes when trying to write to a flash drive, the user may encounter a situation known since the days of using floppy media - it is blocked and cannot be used.

We will look at how to solve this problem in detail in our article today.

So, you need to write some information to a flash drive, you insert it and receive a message like “The disk is write-protected, remove the protection or use another one.”

This problem can be solved quite quickly, and we will talk about this a little later, but now we should say a few words about the purpose of installing protection from downloading on .

Pay attention! This operation is performed for only one purpose - which can spontaneously be copied to removable media without the user’s knowledge.

Methods for removing write protection from a flash drive

There are 2 key ways to remove protection from a flash drive: hardware and software.

The hardware solution is to install a lock switch, which is present in some drive models, as well as SD cards.

Most often, the toggle switch is located on the side edge of the drive.

Carefully inspect your existing drive and look for an open/closed lock icon or the word Lock on it.

Pay attention! Removing the lock is very simple - just move the lock lever in the opposite direction. That's it. Insert the media into the appropriate slot and repeat the file writing operation again.

The software solution involves the interaction of a flash drive controller, which is responsible for the ability to record information.

You can remove write protection using this method using command line Registry Editor or Local Group Policy.

Learn more about all of the above methods.

Removing protection using regedit

1. Click “Start” and enter - in the search field. Right-click (RMB) on the program and in context menu go to the “Run as administrator” item.

2. Go to the StorageDevicePolicies section:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies

Important! Important! If there is no such thing, you will have to create it. To do this, click on the section Control - New - Section. We call it “StorageDevicePolicies” without quotes. If there is no such section, you need to create it.

Create (RMB in the right column of the registry) a DWORD parameter (32 bits) in the created branch. For convenience, let's call the element WriteProtect.

3. Make sure that the WriteProtect value is 0. Right-click on WriteProtect and select “Change”. If the value is “1” you need to change it to “0” and click “Ok”.

4. Close the registry editor, remove the media and restart the computer. Insert the flash drive. Now the flash drive works as usual, allowing you to write files.

Removing protection using Diskpart

If we were unable to unlock using regedit, let's try to do it using the Diskpart command interpreter, which allows you to manage the commands that the user enters into the command line when working with partitions and disks.

1. “Start”, enter the name - cmd - in the search field. Right-click in the program and select “Run as administrator” in the context menu.

2. Now you should enter the commands: diskpart and list disk, and after entering each of them, press the Enter key.

3. In the list above, determine which serial number in the name the flash drive has.

This can be done based on the specified size, in our case an 8 GB flash drive, presented in the table as “Disk 1” with a capacity of 7441 MB.

4. Select the disk with the “select” command, clear the attributes that allow only reading “attributes disk clear readonly”.

If, you should enter the following commands: “clean”, create a partition “create partition primary”, format it in NTFS “format fs = ntfs” or FAT “format fs = fat”.

Removing protection using the Local Group Policy Editor

1. Open it by pressing the Win + R key combination, after which you should enter the command gpedit.msc and press “OK” or Enter.

Sometimes there are cases when it is impossible to format a USB flash drive or SD card, transfer or write data and information to them. Windows system will give an error, the flash drive will give an error message: " The disc is write protected. Remove protection or use another drive" (The disk is write-protected). Many devices come with a locking lever on the flash drive itself. Make sure that the lever on the drive itself is set to the "unlocked" position. Unfortunately, in some cases, devices can be physically damaged, which will lead to the purchase of a new one If you are sure that everything is in order: the lever is unlocked, the device has not been subjected to physical shock, then we will consider ways to revive the drives and try to remove write protection from flash drives and memory cards.

Remove write protection from a flash drive using Registry Editor

• Press a combination of buttons Win+R and enter regedit to enter the Registry Editor.

Follow the path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies

• If you don't have a parameter StorageDevicePolicies, then create a partition named StorageDevicePolicies by right-clicking on the folder Contorl. If there is a value, then see below what parameters should be.

• Go to the created StorageDevicePolicies folder, select it, and right-click on the empty field with the right mouse button and Create > DWORD value (32 bits). Give it a name WriteProtect and meaning 0 . To assign a value, simply click on the key WriteProtect twice and write 0 in the field. If this method did not help, then see below.

The flash drive is write-protected How to remove protection using CMD

Insert the flash drive into USB port computer and launch the command prompt. To do this, click “search” in the line write “CMD” and right-click on the results “Command Prompt” “Run as administrator”.

Enter the following commands into the command line, you can look at the picture.

• Dial diskpart, after each set, press enter.
• list disk, shows which drives are connected to the computer. The flash drive in my case is located Disc 1 size 7640 MB.
• select disk 1, where 1 is the disk number shown above. Disc 1 in my case this flash drive.
• attributes disk clear readonly- clear the attributes of the flash drive.
• clean- clean the flash drive.
• create partition primary- create a section.
• format fs=fat32- format it in FAT32. (You can change fat32 on ntfs, if you use a flash drive only on Windows systems.)

Remove write protection using Group Policy

Click win+r and type in the line gpedit.msc.

Navigate to the following paths: Computer configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Access to removable storage devices. On the right, find the items " Removable drives" And turn off by double-clicking on the desired line - write, read, execute, if enabled.