The disk write protection is one of the most used and successful function that helps in keeping the suspicious files and other types of viruses away from the computer. But at the same time, these sometimes cause hindrances while editing the files. Thus, you receive the error message of “the disk is write protected”. The reason is that some hardware problem has accrued to the computer.
What are the causes of this USB Write protected error?
There are various reasons behind it and some of them are as follows-
- When USB flash drive or pen drive is full.
- When the USB flash drives and SD cards are set to write protected.
- Due to the virus attack, it gets infected.
- Maybe, drive is corrupted or broken.
Methods to fix this error-
Now, we know the reasons behind the error. The question next comes is how to get rid of it. So, there are a lot of ways by which this issue can be resolved. There are various ways by which you can get rid of the error and some of them are as follows-
Solution 1: Disk Write Protection Removal Using Command Prompt
Step 1:- Head to the search box of your windows, and then type Command and choose the best match then click right on the best match and select Run As Administrator.
Step 2:- After this, write diskpart and hit the enter key from the Keyboard.
Step 3:- Next, write a list disk and then again hit the enter key from the Keyboard.
Step 4:- Then, to select the disk which is write protected type Select Disk #, for instance Select Disk 1. Later on, hit the enter key.
Step 5:- Now, to change the properties of disk type attributes disk clear readonly and press Enter.
Step 6:- Thereafter, input Exit and hit the Enter key at two times to close the diskpart and Command Prompt simultaneously.
Thus, after going through these steps see if the issue is resolved or not. If not, then try the next solutions listed below.
Solution 2: Edit The Registry To Turn Off The Write Protection
To do this, follow the steps given below-
Step 1:- Instantly open the Run dialog box by pressing the Win and R key simultaneously. Then, type regedit and hit the enter key from the Keyboard.
Step 2:- This will open the registry editor window, now scroll down or up on the left side entries to locate the following source:-
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control
Step 3:- After this, right-click on the control folder then click on the New, thereafter click on the Key. Now, name the new key.
Step 4:- After creating and naming the new key, click right on the right side of the block and then select New, next, click on DWORD 32-bit value.
Step 5:- Thereafter, name the new Dword writeprotect.
Step 6:- Now, click double on the recently created DWORD and set its value from 1 to 0. After this, click on Ok to save the changes.
See if the issue is resolved or not, if not, then try the next fix listed below.
Solution 3- Remove Write Protection with Physical Switch (SD Card/USB)
This is the next method by which you can get rid of the issue. To do this, follow the steps given below-
Step 1. Find the physical switch on your USB or SD card.
Step 2. Remove the physical switch from ON to OFF and unlock the device.
Unlock SD card with the physical switch
Unlock USB with the physical switch
Solution 4- Uncheck Read-only Status to Remove Write Protection
Step 1. Right-click the file with write protection and select “Properties”.
Step 2. Check the options on the bottom, ensure that the “Read-only” option is unchecked. Then, click “Apply” to let this change effective.
See if the issue is resolved or not, if not, then try the next fix.
Solution 5- Run CMD to Clear Write Protection
Step 1. Press Windows + R simultaneously, type cmd, and run administrative “Command Prompt”.
Step 2. Type the following command lines and hit “Enter” after each command line.
diskpart
list disk
select disk #
attributes disk clear readonly
# is the number of the write-protected flash drive or memory card.
Step 3. Exit the Command Prompt.
See, if the issue is resolved or not, if not, then try the next fix.
Solution 6. Edit The Registry to Remove Write Protection
Step 1. Press Win+R and then type Regedit to open Registry Editor.
Step 2. Navigate to the following location to look for a key named WriteProtect:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies
Step 3. If this key exists, right-click it to select “Modify” to change the value from 1 to 0
So, by doing this, you will get rid of the issue, and all the errors related to the computer owing to the write disk will get resolved.
Conclusion
Thus, you see these are some of the ways by which you can easily get rid of the error. All these steps are simple and without any problem will enable you to get rid of the error. Further, you need not perform all the functions simultaneously, but even if you get rid of the error by performing one step, you can get rid of the error. Further, whenever you are trying to follow some steps, make sure that you have saved important files so that they are not lost.
