This problem occurs at the most inopportune moment. During an urgent copying of information, a reading error alert suddenly appears, since the flash drive is protected. You can find a quick solution, within 5 minutes, to this problem from our article.

The instructions will describe several ways to unlocking protection of a USB flash drive, if the disk has write protection, as well as possible reasons for its occurrence.

What causes the “Disk is write protected” message to appear?

How to remove mechanical write protection on a portable USB/SD device

This issue is resolved mechanically in a couple of seconds.

Carefully inspect the flash drive or SD card for the presence of a small switch. Perhaps the toggle switch is located at the end of the device.

If the switch is in the right position, then the device is write-locked, and to remove the protection, return the toggle switch to the left position, and options with the opposite function are also possible - open on the right side, locked on the left. Typically, positions are marked with padlocks or the signature Lock/UnLocked.

Advice! Try file transfer options with different toggle switch positions.

How to remove entry protection in “Registry Editor”

If you do not see a line in the right column named “StorageDevicePolicies”, then you should follow the steps below:

How to remove write protection via Command Line

One way to remove the USB device error when trying to write is to use the “Command Line” to enable recording.

1. In the Windows search engine (next to the “Start” button or in its menu), write cmd and select the requested item. Open it by right-clicking to run as administrator.

   

2. Next in the line you need to enter the command “Diskpart” (write or copy all commands without quotes). Use the Enter key after each command you enter.

   

3. Type "list disk".

   

4. Enter “select disk 1” (1 in this example is a flash drive).

   

5. The entered text “attributes disk clear readonly” will delete all data on the USB drive.

   

6. The new “clean” command will delete all downloaded files from the flash drive.

   

7. To create a partition, use the “create partition primary” command.

   

8. Enter the command “format fs=fat32”, which will format it to FAT32.

   

9. Enter the "exit" command to exit the Command Prompt. Now you can restart your PC and check the USB flash drive by writing some files to it.

How to remove protection through the “Local Group Policy Editor”

This method may also have an effect on fixing a disk write error.

Step 1. To launch the “Policy Editor” menu, use two keys “Win ​​+ R” and enter “gpedit .msc”, activate the command with the Enter key or the “OK” button.

Step 2. In “Local Computer” you should enable “Computer Configuration” and select “Administrative Templates”.

Step 4. On the right side of the editor, select all the “Removable drives” sections one by one and activate the “Disable” value:

Close the Local Group Policy Editor window and restart your PC.

How to recover a Transcend flash drive using JetFlash Recovery Tool

You can download the program if you follow the link: https://www.transcend-info.com/Support/Software-3/ and install it on your computer. This free version is available for download with USB device recovery functions. The utility's interface will be understandable even to an inexperienced PC user, and in a short time, within 5 minutes, you can fix the error that appears when starting a USB flash drive.

In the example, the transcend jetflash v30 2Gb flash drive will be used.

If fatal, a window will appear warning that your flash drive cannot be repaired using the program.

Top 5 programs to disable write protection

Photo	Name	Description
	JetFlash Recovery	The program supports flash drive manufacturers A-DATA, JetFlash, Transcend. System resources are practically not used, due to the simple interface and basic functions of the undemanding utility. Brings significant fixes to restore working functionality of flash drives
	USB Flash Drive Online Recovery	A free utility designed to recover a flash drive. The English version has a simple and intuitive interface. Without an Internet connection, it refuses to scan and correct errors. Requires user registration
	Kingston Format Utility	Fixes all common errors with protection and other bugs. During diagnostics, it permanently clears all files. Supports FAT32 system only. No separate installation of the utility is required, no registration, does not contain advertising and is absolutely free
	HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool	A simple, universal utility with a simple English interface for removing protection from a flash drive. Designed to format a wide range of USB device manufacturers. With the provided application, bootable flash media with MS-DOS OS are created
	AlcorMP	A program for “resurrecting” flash drives from the microchip manufacturer Alcor is more suitable for experienced PC users. The utility analyzes the memory of a USB drive and can be used to reflash the device controller. The developers stopped developing their program, but the released version continues to stably and confidently treat and also restore flash drives, correcting write errors

Video - How to remove write protection from USB flash drives and SD memory cards

Having a problem with a write-protected flash drive? Don't know how to unlock a flash drive and make it readable? You are trying to write some file to a USB drive or SD card, and in response you receive a message: “The flash drive is write-protected.” If you urgently need to copy files to a disk or flash drive, I will show you how to remove protection and format (or clean) the storage medium - for further work, familiar and correct.

We use programs to format memory cards and USB flash drives

Some flash drives come with proprietary software. It works better than standard Windows formatting tools. These programs - not always, but nevertheless - will help remove protection. The downside of this approach is that you lose all the data on the media. So if this is unacceptable to you, move on to the next chapter.

2. A more universal way to force format a USB flash drive / SD card is to use formatting utilities like the Hp Disk Format Tool. You can select the file system and formatting type.

Restoring access to a flash drive through the Registry

The method of removing write protection is quite simple, but requires minimal skill and careful handling of the registry editor. If you are not 100% sure of your actions, make a backup copy of the Windows Registry using the RegOrganizer program.

1. Open the Registry Editor (Start – regedit).

2. Go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ directory. If there is no StorageDevicePolicies folder inside this directory, create it. For this:

3. Right-click on the current directory Control

4. From the menu, select New - Partition and name it StorageDevicePolicies.

5. Right-click on StorageDevicePolicies and select a new value for the DWORD(32-bit) parameter for a 32-bit OS or DWORD(64-bit) for a 64-bit OS, respectively.

6. Rename the dword parameter to WriteProtect, double-click on the line, specify the value 0 (HEX).

7. Safely remove the flash drive and restart your computer.

8. Connect the USB flash drive. If necessary, format it.

Video version of the instructions:

Another solution to remove protection from a disk: use the diskpart utility

diskpart is a console utility included in Windows XP and higher, which allows you to flexibly manage hard drives, file volumes and partitions at an advanced access level.

We will try to access the problematic flash drive via the console, and then format the write-protected flash drive.

1. Open a command prompt (cmd.exe). Type "diskpart" to open the utility.

2. Type "list disk" to display a list of available disks on the system.

3. Determine where your USB drive is in the list. Enter "SELECT DISK n", where n is your USB flash drive with a write-protected disk.

Be very careful! Selecting the wrong media will result in you losing all data on the selected drive.

4. Type "clean" (you may have to repeat this command twice or three times). If nothing works, try other ways to unlock the flash drive.

5. Enter "create partition primary" to create a new partition on the USB flash drive.

6. Enter "select partition" to select a partition on the disk

7. Type "active" to make the drive active

8. Enter "format fs=ntfs" to format to NTFS (before formatting the flash drive, make sure you have selected the correct storage medium!).

By the way, the diskpart option is one of the best methods to format a write-protected flash drive without resorting to third-party tools.

Another way to remove protection from a memory card/flash drive. Diskmgmt.msc utility

The protection removal method is suitable for both SD memory cards and USB flash drives. To implement it, we will need a standard Windows component for disk management - diskmgmt.msc.

1. Start – Run. Type diskmgmt.msc into the text line and press Enter
2. Right button on the partition you want to format (the letter and partition will help you determine)
3. Select "Delete volume..." and confirm the operation
4. In the context menu, select the "Create Volume" command
5. Select primary partition
6. Leave all parameters as default
7. Click ok

Removing protection from a flash drive through the Windows Group Policy Editor

In some cases, access to a flash drive is limited by local Windows Group Policy rights. We tell you how to remove protection in such a situation:

1. Start – Run – .
2. In the panel that opens, go to the following section: “Computer Configuration - Administrative Templates - System - Access to Removable Storage Devices.”
3. Next, you need to deactivate the “Removable drives: Deny read” option by switching to the “Disable” state.

Other working methods for removing file write protection

If none of the above recipes helped, well, other methods on how to remove protection from a flash drive will probably work (the list will grow over time).

1. Check your flash drive for viruses. Some malicious applications establish their own control over files; as a result, the flash drive is protected from writing data belonging to viruses. How to remove protection in this case? We recommend using the best antivirus software for scanning.
2. Check if the flash drive has a hardware button that allows you to physically unlock it (there is a switch on the side that needs to be moved towards the open lock). However, today such USB flash drives and SD cards are very rare - these are mostly old device models.
3. Update the firmware of the flash drive, you can find the exact model on Google by chip vendor and chip vendor model, see Device Manager.

Conclusion. Although it is not always possible to determine why a flash drive is write-protected, of the many methods described, at least one works. If none of the methods for removing protection from a flash drive helped you, all that remains is to replace the USB drive - in other words, buy a new one.

However, ask questions on the topic - you can do this through the sidebar on our website. We'll try to help.

The media is write protected: what to do? Questions and Answers

32 GB flash drive WANSENDA when formatted. When you try to delete a file, it asks you to remove write protection from the disk or use another one. What to do, how to remove write protection? I can’t delete or transfer files to a flash drive.

Answer. Try removing protection from your flash drive through the Registry, using the diskpart or diskmgmt.msc utilities (included in Windows). Format the flash drive with special programs - Low level format or Disk format tool (see the beginning of the guide).

All my formatting attempts produce the same result: remove the protection, the card is write-protected. I removed the protection in every possible way, but it comes back, I can’t do anything. The phone displays information about a card malfunction and cannot format it in any way. The computer and laptop accept it, but formatting fails.

Can you tell me what to do, how to remove protection from the SD card? Other phones and a digital camera did not help.

Answer. Try resetting the protection using the methods described in the article and immediately format the memory card to FAT32. Check if there is a switch on the SD card (it may be set in the wrong position, so the memory card is write protected).

I can’t format a SONY 64GB flash drive, copy or delete files to it. The system says that the disk is write protected. What to do? I tried everything you have. Does not help. I bought Flash from Mvideo about 3 months ago, it worked fine before.

Answer. Some users can remove protection using the proprietary JetFlash Recovery utility. It allows you to format a flash drive at a low access level. If that doesn't help, try removing write protection from the disk through the registry or command line. After this, restart your computer.

I have a Samsung S3600 phone, it has stopped writing files to the card. The most interesting thing is that there are two photos and one video left on the card - there is NO way to delete them at all. They are deleted from the computer, but then they appear again on the map. I can’t write anything on the card - at first it’s as if everything is there, but on the phone there’s nothing... like nothing. I didn’t drop the phone, I didn’t drown it, the card just suddenly stopped working, and in such a weird way. He sees the card, but does not write anything to it and does not delete anything from it... How to remove write protection on a flash drive?

Answer. You can remove write protection on a flash drive through forced formatting. This can be done through the console utility diskpart for Windows or various graphical utilities like SDFormatter or Hp disk format tool.

It is possible that files are not deleted due to errors in reading the sectors on which the files that cannot be deleted are written. You can check the flash drive for errors via Properties - Tools - Check in Explorer.

After navigating with ADRplayer, I can’t delete files (including write-protected ones) from the SD card. In Windows it is recognized as a 118 MB disk with the ADRplayer program on it. The files are all played by this program. Formatting is not possible in Windows.

Answer. Since the SD card's disk is write-protected, you need to format it to NTFS via the command line (using the diskpart utility) or using the diskmgmt.msc system utility. In addition, there is a wonderful program for SD cards called SDFormatter - it removes write protection.

It’s not clear what happened to the flash card, when you connect the card to the computer it says “To use the disk in drive J, first format it.” You start formatting in fat32 format without quick cleaning and tried with quick cleaning, it says the disk is write protected. I tried the described ones the options didn't help.

The method via diskmgmt.msc after right-clicking on the flash drive does not allow “delete volume” and other actions are simply not active. The file system of the flash card is Raw, and the system says that it is working. What to do, how to remove write protection from a flash drive and revive it?

Answer. In addition to diskmgmt.msc, try removing write protection on the flash drive through the Registry or using the console utility diskpart. For formatting, use not standard Windows tools, but, for example, Low level format. If after these manipulations the disk is still write-protected, try opening the flash drive in another operating system, use third-party software to manage disks on the flash drive - say, Acronis Disk Director.

I bought a mini sd for a 128gig SanDisk phone. I insert it into my Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016), it works for a while and then it blocks recording to it. No matter what I did: I formatted it via a PC, and via a phone - it was all to no avail, it would work for a while and then it would block the recording again. How to format a protected flash drive?

Answer. The file table on the memory card may be damaged, making it impossible to write new data. In such cases, it is recommended to check the disk for errors using the standard chkdsk tool (Start - Run - chkdsk). If that doesn't help, format the SD card using the sd formatter desktop application. Judging by the reviews, the utility has helped many users when formatting a flash drive. You can also format the SD card through the Recovery menu by rebooting the phone in the appropriate mode and selecting the Wipe cache partition option.

I ordered a USB flash memory from the Internet. I initially formatted it, but I didn’t like that she didn’t read or see all the formats. I decided to format it completely, without a check mark, just (table of contents). Now a laptop with Windows 10 OS sees it, but requires formatting it. I format it, but the flash drive is not formatted - the disk is write-protected. I have already tried to do something (download programs), but I don’t understand, I’m still far from it.

Answer. In your case, it is advisable to format a USB flash drive not using standard Windows tools, but using specialized software - fortunately, the choice is wide. First of all, look for programs specifically for your flash drive on the manufacturer’s website. If not found, use HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool or any disk manager like Acronis Disk Director. Specify NTFS or exFAT as the file system.

1) Sandisk ultra USB 3.0 flash drive 16 GB. I tried everything, from renaming the letter to cleaning the registry. As soon as you start formatting (including through partition management), a message pops up that Windows cannot do this and the flash drive disappears from view. I also tried HDD Low Level Format Tool v4.40 Final - the same thing happens as described above. How to format a write-protected flash drive?

2) I can't format the micro SD card. Writes: “Windows was unable to complete the formatting.” I’ve already tried with different programs and the command line. It still doesn’t format. I can’t even delete the files. I click “delete,” removed the flash drive and put it back. The file that was deleted is there again I can neither delete nor format.

Answer. Try other formatting programs: SDFormatter or software available on the developer’s website (sometimes you can use them to format a flash drive to bypass system errors). In addition to Disk Management, you can use any disk manager like Partition Magic or Acronis Disk Director.

You can also assume that the problem is related to Windows or the computer configuration. Try formatting the flash drive on another computer or in a different OS environment (Windows/Mac OS/Linux).

Most users have flash drives (usb sd, transcend, microsd, kingston, sandisk, cd, flash, qumo, microsd, apacer, verbatim, sdhc, psp), hard drive d (hdd), dvd or any other removable or local storage .

You probably use them with great regularity. They allow you to copy your media, photos and important documents.

Despite their high resistance to mechanical damage and the ability to store data for many years, like all other gadgets, they deteriorate.

One of the most common errors that can affect USB flash drives, memory cards or disks is an annoying message: the “Disk is write-protected” error.

Those who have ever had a similar problem know exactly what I mean.

Inability to copy/add/delete any files - this can lead to frenzy.

After trying hard to repair, most end up giving up on the fixes and buying new ones.

What should I do if the system writes the disk is write protected? How to remove this notorious protection?

Here are some simple but effective solutions to restore a disk or flash drive to a working state.

Use these simple tips and simply forget about the message: “the disk is write-protected,” although there is one point here that I have encountered more than once.

Sometimes the system displays damaged media (flash drive, disk) as write-protected. How to revive drives

It's a microprocessor issue. If it fails, even partially - you can read it - you can copy or format it - no), then only a utility from the drive manufacturer can fix it, and even then not always.

Let's start unlocking disks and flash drives

You have a USB flash drive connected to your computer and you want to copy some files.

Here a surprise awaits you: “The disk is write protected. Please remove write protection or use another drive."

Then you say, "...fuck, how did this happen"? Don't panic - take a deep breath and remain calm.

This is just an error message. Now we will go through a few simple steps together to remove write protection on a USB flash drive. It's just technology and we can fix a lot of things.

Step 1 - Check your USB drive for viruses

Every time you connect a USB drive to your computer, you should automatically scan for viruses - especially if you used it on computers that you don't own.

Viruses often fill USB drives with their files - this can cause a message: write protected.

Depending on your antivirus software, it can be configured to automatically scan USB drives when they are connected.

If you don’t have such a tool, you’ll have to do the scanning manually, it’s not difficult.

If you find a virus, eliminate it using antivirus programs.

Most likely, where there is one virus, there are two or more. For such work, the free utilities Doctor Web and AVG have good recommendations.

Step 2 – Check the enclosure of the USB flash drive

Some USB flash drives are equipped with a mechanical switch that allows you to set them to the write-protected position.

This can be a very small slider switch that can switch on its own in a pocket or computer case (if it is an adapter).

If this is your situation, then simply move the switch to the open position and try copying the files again.

Today there are not many USB drives with such locks. So there's a good chance that this isn't your problem.

On the other hand, if this is not the question, then the following fixes are a little more complicated.

Step 3 - Make sure the disk is not full

If your USB drive is full, you may also receive a writing error message.

So find your USB drive, right-click on it and select Properties.

This will give you a nice pie chart of how much is being used and how much free space is available on your drive.

Step 4 – File System

Make sure you are not using a file that is write-protected. Yes, you will receive a different error message, but perhaps you jumped to conclusions and thought that it was the entire USB flash drive that was blocked. This happens.

Right click on the file you are trying to burn and then on "properties" and the "security" tab.

You will now see several options at the bottom of this window, and one of them is read-only.

Make sure that the checkbox is unchecked or unchecked, and then click on the Apply button. You should now be able to write to this file.

Step 5 - Diskpart Command Line Utility

Have you ever worked on the Windows command line? This is not as scary as one might think, and as such it is the next logical step to remove protection.

Click on and enter the word CMD in the field: search for programs and files.

Now, click on the top (black icon). You will see the following window:

Enter the command “DiskPart” into it and press Enter. Diskpart is a tool that is built into Windows and is accessible through a command line utility. With it we can change the values ​​associated with your USB drive.

Make sure this is really your USB drive. Now type the command Select Disk 3, assuming your USB is number 3, and hit Enter.

Now paste another command there - disk clear ReadOnly - and then click on Enter.

This way you have cleared any read-only attributes that might be on that USB drive.

Now close the command prompt and try writing to the USB drive again. If the protection continues to block access, move on.

Step 6 - to the registry

If none of the previous steps worked for you, then you should do something a little dangerous - enter the registry.

If you are not satisfied with the registry, you can proceed to step 7, to format the USB drive.

Or maybe have a friend who is a computer technician and will check the registry for you.

Try it yourself - it's a fairly simple registry change and you can do it.

Click on the Start menu and enter the command – regedit – in the Search programs and files field. You will see something like the picture in the box below.

Click on the icon at the top and the Registry Editor window will open. By clicking on the arrows next to the menu items, navigate to the branch

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies

and find the key named - WriteProtect.

If such an entry exists, right-click on it and click on "Edit".

Now, you will probably find that this parameter is set to 1. 1 means yes and 0 means no. Now change the value to 0 and click on the OK button.

Close Registry Editor, remove the USB device, and then connect it again. You should now be able to record to your USB drive. If not, then the disk will have to be formatted.

Step 7 - Format the USB Drive

WARNING: Make sure you have backed up all files and information on your USB drive. All data will be lost after formatting.

Formatting your hard drive is a last resort. However, it should make your USB capable of reading and writing.

Before formatting a USB drive, determine which file system it already has - NTFS or FAT32.

Usually the file system he already has will be best suited for him.

Now right-click on the selected USB drive and select “Properties” - there you will see the file system.

Close the Properties window, right-click on the USB drive again and select format.

This describes the built-in Windows tool, but sometimes it is advisable, especially if the integrated functions did not bring the desired result.

In the Formatting window, you have several options. You have already determined which file system you will format into.

I suggest unchecking the “Quick Format” checkbox. This will do more than just erase files.

If there are bad sectors on this USB drive, full formatting will throw an error.

Formatting shouldn't take much time. Of course, the larger the volume, the longer it will take.

Assuming you don't have a physical problem with the drive, it will be formatted and ready to read and write.

Conclusion

Sometimes the problem is simple and can be treated simply. Try the methods above as they are most often correct.

If the problem is deep and requires drastic action, make sure that this is true.

Now you have a lot of troubleshooting tools in your arsenal, you should be able to get your flash drives and drives back up and running, potentially saving you a pretty penny.

Of course, if you have any additional tips, we'd love to read them too. Good luck.

Keywords: usb sd, transcend, microsd, kingston, sandisk, cd, flash, qumo, microsd, apacer, verbatim, sdhc, psp, external, flash drive, dvd.

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 .

Note! 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.

Note! Removing the lock is very simple - just move the lock lever in the opposite direction. That's all. 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 the command line of the 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 the 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 what 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.

Good day.

Recently, several users have contacted me with the same type of problem - when copying information to a flash drive, an error occurred with something like the following: “ The disc is write protected. Remove protection or use another drive«.

This can happen for various reasons and there is no single solution. In this article I will give the main reasons why this error appears and their solution. In most cases, the recommendations from the article will return your drive to normal operation. Let's get started...

1) Mechanical write protection on the flash drive is enabled

The most common reason why a security-related error appears is the switch on the flash drive itself (Lock). Previously, there was something similar on floppy disks: you wrote down something you needed, switched it to read-only mode - and you don’t worry about forgetting and accidentally erasing the data. Such switches are usually found on MicroSD flash drives.

In Fig. 1 shows such a flash drive, if the switch is set to Lock mode, then you can only copy files from the flash drive, it will be impossible to write or format it!

Rice. 1. MicroSD with write protection.

By the way, sometimes you can also find such a switch on some USB flash drives (see Fig. 2). It is worth noting that it is extremely rare and only at little-known Chinese companies.

Fig.2. RiData flash drive with write protection.

In general, by default, Windows does not prohibit copying and writing information to flash drives. But in the event of virus activity (and indeed any malware), or, for example, when using and installing various assemblies from different authors, it is possible that some settings in the registry have been changed.

Therefore, the advice is simple:

1. first check your PC (laptop) for viruses ();
2. check further registry settings And local access policies(more on this later in the article).

1. Checking registry settings

How to enter the registry:

• press the WIN+R button combination;
• then in the Run window that appears, enter regedit;
• press Enter (see Fig. 3.).

By the way, in Windows 7 you can open the Registry Editor through the START menu.

Note. Chapter Control you will have, but the section StorageDevicePolicies- it may not exist... If it doesn’t exist, you need to create it, to do this, just right-click on the section Control and select a section from the drop-down menu, then give it a name - StorageDevicePolicies. Working with sections resembles the most common work with folders in Explorer (see Fig. 4).

Further in the section StorageDevicePolicies create a parameter DWORD 32 bits: To do this, just click on the section StorageDevicePolicies right-click and select the appropriate item from the drop-down menu.

By the way, such a 32-bit DWORD parameter can already be created in this section (if you had one, of course).

Rice. 5. Registry - creating a DWORD 32 parameter (clickable).

Now open this parameter and set it to 0 (as in Figure 6). If you have the parameter DWORD 32 bits has already been created previously, change its value to 0 . Next, close the editor and restart your computer.

Rice. 6. Set the parameter

After restarting the computer, if the reason was in the registry, you can easily write the necessary files to the flash drive.

2. Local access policies

Also, local access policies may limit the writing of information to connected drives (including flash drives). To open local access policy editor- just press the buttons Win+R and in the execute line enter gpedit.msc , then the Enter key (see Fig. 7).

Then, on the right, pay attention to the parameter “ Removable drives: disable writing". Open this setting and disable it (or set it to Not Configured).

Actually, after the specified parameters, restart your computer and try to write files to the USB flash drive.

3) Low-level formatting of a flash drive/disk

In some cases, for example, with certain types of viruses, there is nothing left to do but format the drive in order to completely get rid of the malware. Low-level formatting will destroy absolutely ALL DATA on the flash drive (you will no longer be able to recover it using various utilities), and at the same time, it helps to bring back to life a flash drive (or hard drive), which many have already given up on...

What utilities can be used.

In general, there are more than enough utilities for low-level formatting (in addition, on the website of the flash drive manufacturer you can also find 1-2 utilities for “reanimating” the device). Nevertheless, through experience, I came to the conclusion that it is better to use one of the following 2 utilities:

1. HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool. A simple, installation-free utility for formatting USB-Flash drives (the following file systems are supported: NTFS, FAT, FAT32). Works with devices via USB 2.0 port. Developer: http://www.hp.com/
2. HDD LLF Low Level Format Tool. An excellent utility with unique algorithms that allows you to easily and quickly format (including problematic drives that other utilities and Windows cannot see) HDDs and Flash cards. The free version has a speed limit of 50 MB/s (not critical for flash drives). I will show my example below in this utility. Official website: http://hddguru.com/software/HDD-LLF-Low-Level-Format-Tool/

Example of low-level formatting (in HDD LLF Low Level Format Tool)

1. First, copy ALL the NECESSARY files from the flash drive to your computer’s hard drive ( that is, you make a backup copy. After formatting, you will no longer be able to recover anything from this flash drive!).

3. You should see a list of all connected disks and flash drives. Find yours in the list (focus on the device model and its capacity).

Rice. 9. Selecting a flash drive

4. Then open the LOW-LEVE FORMAT tab and click the Format This Device button. The program will ask you again and warn you about deleting everything on the flash drive - just answer in the affirmative.

Rice. 10. Start formatting

5. Next, wait while the formatting is done. The time will depend on the state of the formatted media and the version of the program (paid ones work faster). When the operation is completed, the green progress bar will turn yellow. Now you can close the utility and begin high-level formatting.

Rice. 11. Formatting complete

6. The easiest way is to simply go to “ This computer" (or " My computer"), select the connected flash drive in the list of devices and right-click on it: select the formatting function in the drop-down list. Next, give the flash drive a name and specify the file system (for example, NTFS, since it supports files larger than 4 GB. See Fig. 12).

Rice. 12. My computer / formatting a flash drive

That's all. After this procedure, your flash drive (in most cases, ~97%) will start working as expected ( The exception is cases when software methods will not help the flash drive...).

Why does this error occur, what can I do to prevent it from happening again?

And finally, I’ll give you a few reasons why an error related to write protection appears (using the tips listed below will significantly increase the life of your flash drive).

1. Firstly, when disconnecting a flash drive, always use safe shutdown: right-click in the tray next to the clock on the icon of the connected flash drive and select disable from the menu. According to my personal observations, many users never do this. At the same time, such shutdowns can damage the file system (for example);
2. Secondly, install an antivirus on the computer on which you are working with a flash drive. Of course, I understand that it is impossible to insert a flash drive into a PC with an antivirus everywhere and everywhere - but after receiving it from a friend where they copied files to it (from an educational institution, etc.), when you connect the flash drive to your PC - just check it ;
3. Try not to drop or throw the flash drive. Many people, for example, attach a flash drive to their keys like a keychain. There is nothing special about this - but often the keys are thrown on the table (bedside table) upon arriving home (the keys will do nothing, but the flash drive flies and hits them);

I’ll take my leave for now, if you have anything to add, I’d be grateful. Good luck and less mistakes!