How to remove protection from a flash drive or memory card

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Seven ways to solve a problem that may arise at the most inopportune moment.

When the USB stick or memory card is write-protected, you can only view and copy files from the media. Writing data or deleting it from the disk, as well as formatting it, will not work.

You can correct this error by disabling write lock in one of the following ways.

1. Check the physical switch

There may be a switch on the case of SD cards and some USB drives that activates physical write protection. Even knowing about its purpose, users sometimes forget about this detail, which is why they experience difficulties.

If your flash drive has such a switch, disconnect it from the system and slide the lever so that it is not in the Lock position. Then try recording again.

2. Make sure there is free space on the disk

If there is not enough space on the flash drive to copy files, the system usually reports this in plain text. But sometimes, instead of a standard message, the computer writes that the flash drive is write-protected.

Just in case, look at the free space of the drive and, if it is not enough to write new data, or simply too little, delete unnecessary files from the flash drive. After that, try again to write the necessary information to it.

3. Scan the USB flash drive with antivirus

Errors related to write protection can be the result of malware. Check your drive - or even your entire computer - with antivirus software. Perhaps this will solve the problem with the flash drive.

4. Disable write protection in the system registry (Windows)

If protection is turned on as a result of a software failure or a change in Windows settings, the Registry Editor can help you. To open it, press Win + R, enter the command in the field

regedit

and click OK.

Using the sidebar, navigate to the directory: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SYSTEM / CurrentControlSet / Control / StorageDevicePolicies. When you see the WriteProtect parameter, double-click it and make sure its value is zero. Change it if necessary and click OK.

If the system does not have a StorageDevicePolicies directory, create it yourself: right-click on the Control section, select New → Section and name it StorageDevicePolicies.

If the WriteProtect parameter is missing, you can add it as well. Right click on the StorageDevicePolicies section and select New → DWORD Parameter (32 bit) and name it WriteProtect. Then open it and make sure the parameter value is zero.

5. Disable write protection in the command line (Windows)

Protection can also be deactivated using the command line. To open it, type cmd in the search system, right-click on the found element and select "Run as administrator".

1. In the window that appears, enter the command

   diskpart

2. and press Enter.

3. Then enter

   list disk

4. and again - Enter.
5. When the table of disks opens, determine by size which of them is your USB flash drive, and remember its number.

6. Enter the command

   sele disk [number of your flash drive]

7. (a number without square brackets is indicated) and press Enter.

8. Then

   attributes disk clear readonly

9. and again - Enter.

After that, the write protection must be removed and the flash drive will work as it should.

6. Check the USB flash drive in "Disk Utility" (macOS)

The write-protect message on Mac may be caused by a software glitch on the USB flash drive. In this case, it is worth checking the drive using Disk Utility. Open it in Finder → Applications → Utilities.

On the sidebar, select the problematic USB flash drive. Then click in the top menu "First Aid" and click "Run". If the system finds errors on the drive, it will try to restore it.

7. Format the drive

If none of the above steps helps, try formatting the flash drive using built-in tools or third-party utilities. This will erase all contents from it, but you can first copy important data from the drive to your computer.

If you fail to format the disk, you may have to restore the USB flash drive using special utilities from the manufacturers.