The flash drive is write protected, how to fix it. How to remove write protection on a hard drive or removable media? Recovery via command line

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How to remove write protection from a flash drive - here are the coolest ways, read! If the user’s attempts to erase, format, write, edit, save the file, transfer or other similar actions with a flash drive are unsuccessful, then he is probably dealing with a protected flash drive and needs to decide how to remove the protection. The guide below contains all the necessary instructions on the issue at hand.

Causes of the “disk is write-protected” error. Why is the flash drive write protected?

When the PC complains that the disk is write-protected, it is necessary to first clarify the cause of the problem.

Hardware;
Software.

The disc can be write-protected at the request of its owner, simply by using a mechanical switch on the device or by using software tools. Also, the media is often programmatically blocked by the system itself, malicious applications, etc.

Main types of write protection

The first type is mechanical write protection: Manufacturers of flash drives take care to protect the integrity of information stored on their media. The simplest type includes equipping the device with buttons on the body or toggle switches with a “lock” icon.

The second type is software write protection: Software refers to a more reliable type of protection, in which special utilities are used to block access to information.

The easiest way to remove write protection from a flash drive (USB or SD card) in case of mechanical protection

If a USB flash drive or SD is mechanically write-protected, then how to remove the protection in this case?

You should inspect the media itself for the presence of a switch. On some USB flash drives, usually a small toggle switch is located at the end.

Almost all SD cards are equipped with a switch, so before using them, you need to install the switch, as shown in the photo below.

Owners of computers with the “Total Commander” utility installed, in any unclear case, turn to the capabilities of this file harvester, stuffed with many features.
In order to eliminate the problem in question, it is enough to follow several steps:

Click “Configuration”;
After that, click “Settings”;
In the menu that appears, go to the “File Operations” tab and check the box: “Auto select method”;
Click “Apply”;
Click “Ok”;
Ready.

You will need to complete the following steps:

Note: Sometimes the section described in paragraph 11 is missing. In this case, you need to create it. This is done simply: by right-clicking on the mouse in the “Control” subfolder, hovering the cursor over the “Create” line and clicking “Section”.

How to remove protection from a USB flash drive using Diskpart?

If the disk is write-protected, the “Command Line” (CS) will help you quickly unlock it, but the information on the USB drive will be erased.

Steps:

Through “Start”, launch “KS” with extended powers;
Then in “KS” type “Diskpart”;
Click “Enter”;
Type "list disk";
Click "Enter";
Enter “select disk (here indicate the letter that the removable media is designated in the system, no need to insert parentheses)”;
Input;
Then execute “attributes disk clear readonly”;
Enter "clean";
"create partition primary";
"formatfs=fat32";
Input;
"exit";
Input;
Ready.

How to remove protection from a disk using local group policy?

If there are no positive results in deciding how to remove protection from a flash drive using the above methods, you will have to use a complex method and fix the problem through group policies (GP).

Action steps:

If you decide how to remove protection from a USB flash drive, it is more convenient for the user to use “KS”, then you will need to run this tool with extended rights.

Action steps:

In the search line type “cmd” or “KS”;
Right-click on the search result;
Open "KS" with extended rights.

Diskpart;
list disk;
select disk (here indicate the letter that the removable media is designated in the system; no need to insert parentheses);
attributes disk clear readonly;
exit.
Ready.

Programs to resolve the “disk is write-protected” error

All companies that produce USB drives develop software to work with them. However, all these programs can lead to a positive result only when the user is logged in with administrator rights. The second important condition is that the software matches the drive model. In order to obtain accurate information about the media, it is convenient to use the “ChipGenius” utility. It is free and always available on the resource: “mydigit.cn”.

The application displays detailed information about the flash drive, based on which you can accurately determine which software to use.

Having found out the necessary information, it is recommended to visit the page http://flashboot.ru/iflash/, where you can select an application for your flash drive. The last paragraph of this guide provides examples of common software that can effectively solve problems that arise.

How to remove write protection from individual folders or files?

To remove the protection of an individual directory, you need to go to its “Properties” and check the corresponding boxes in the “Security” section.

If there is a ban on editing, for example, a text document, then you can simply copy its contents to another file and save it with normal settings, that is, without protection. Or use the file menu “Save as...”.

To remove system protection from a file, call up the context menu for it and click “properties”. Uncheck the “read only” box.

Often one file or folder is used by several applications at once and as a result the problem we are considering occurs. You need to close all utilities that use the file or directory. After this, access will be immediately provided.

Sometimes a folder or file is protected with passwords. To hack them, specialists have developed applications, for example, “Office Password Recovery”. This is one of the most effective utilities for cracking access codes. You only need to perform a few sequential steps:

Click “open”;
Go to the “attack” tab;
Click “start”;
Wait until the process completes;
Ready.

You can also access individual directories and files by starting the PC in Safe Mode.
When the described methods do not help, it is recommended to install the “Unlocker” application, which, after installation, will appear in the context menu, so using it to work with individual files is especially convenient.

To do this, you will need to install a paid or free modification of the “HDD Low Level Format Tool” (mainly they differ only in the speed of formatting and the lack of automatic updating).
In addition to flash drives, the program can work with USB hard drives. The installation wizard will help you quickly install the utility on your PC.

If it is not important for the user to receive regular updates and is ready for formatting speed limitations, then it is better to choose the free option.

After installing the program to format a protected flash drive, you must perform the following steps:

Select the flash drive.
Click “Continue”.
Read the information in the first tab of the program menu and go to “Low-level format”.
Confirm your commitment and then click “FORMAT THIS DEVICE”.

After waiting for the process to complete, the mission will be completed, that is, all bytes of information have already been erased. In order to use the device in normal mode in the future, you will need to format it using the tools built into the OS.

Programs for formatting protected flash drives

The following programs have earned a significant number of positive user reviews:

AlcorMP— This utility, in addition to removing protection, does an excellent job of restoring the functionality of a USB drive.
You can select the “Russian” language in the menu, so even for beginners it does not cause difficulties.

HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool— The application is suitable for many flash drives, and it is also available for installation for free on the official resource.
In addition to unlocking and formatting functions, the utility can create bootable flash drives.

JetFlash Recovery Tool— Transcend owners appreciated the speed and simplicity of this program, which is capable of correcting errors in reading write blocks and unlocking protection.
Using this software will not complicate the user, since the built-in wizard will help you perform basic operations with a USB flash drive.

Apacer Repair— Owners of flash drives from Apacer easily cope with blocking, thanks to the proprietary utility.
If it is impossible to format the media using standard OS tools, the program will effortlessly complete the task within a few minutes.

Check Disk— A fully functional modification of the program is distributed freely on the Internet.
In addition to the main formatting function, the utility is used to monitor and correct errors on hard drives and USB drives (including flash drives).

Nowadays, a lot of users ask how to remove protection from a flash drive.

This need arises at the moment when a person wants to write something to his removable storage device or delete some information from it, but cannot do this due to an error. It says that “The disk is write protected,” so nothing can be done with it.

But there are several ways to solve this problem, and some of them are incredibly simple.

1. Pay attention to the switch

Many drives have a standard switch, which, in fact, is responsible for installing protection.

If this switch is set to the “On” position, the user will only be able to view the contents of the flash drive, but not edit it. He will not be able to copy anything to his computer or write anything new to the drive.

Therefore, carefully inspect your flash drive for this very switch. If you find it, change position and try using the media again.

If after this the USB flash drive does not work as expected, you will have to resort to a more complex method of solving the problem.

2. Remove protection via the command line

As you know, Windows has a command line that allows you to very easily and quickly perform various manipulations with the system using text commands. A protected flash drive may also cease to be so if you enter some commands correctly.

In general, you need to do the following:

Launch this same command line, but, very important, do it as an administrator. To do this, go to the “Start” menu, open “All Programs”, then the “Accessories” folder and right-click on the “Command Prompt” item. In the drop-down menu, just click on “Run as administrator”. In Windows 8.1 and 10 there is no need to do this; there you just need to simultaneously press the “Win” and “X” buttons on the keyboard.

Now you need to launch the DiskPart shell by simply typing the word “diskpart” into the command line and pressing Enter on your keyboard. The shell will be launched and ready to use.
Then you need to see which disks are available for use (including flash drives) and remember the number of the one that is write-protected. To do this, enter the command “list disk” and press Enter again. The list we need will appear on the screen. You can find out your drive by its size. In our case, this is “Disk 1”.

Next, you need to select a flash drive to work with. In our case, the command will look like “select disk 1” (since in the previous step we determined that our storage medium was identified in the system as Disk 1).
Actually, now all that remains is to enter the command to remove write protection. It looks like this: “attributes disk clear readonly”. Do this and wait a little while the system removes the protection.

To exit, you need to enter the “exit” command.

It is worth saying that this method is quite strong and helps in most cases. But if all else fails, use the Registry Editor.

3. Remove protection through the registry editor

This method is also considered quite effective and efficient.

It involves the following actions:

Open a registry editor program. The most convenient way to do this is by opening the program launch window. To use this, press the “Win” and “R” buttons on your keyboard. When it opens, enter the word “regedit” in one single field and press Enter or the “OK” button in the same window.

Next, in the left panel, go to the following folders: “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE”, after “SYSTEM”, then “CurrentControlSet” and finally “Control”.
Right-click on the “Control” folder. In the menu that appears, click on “Create” and then “Section”. This will cause a window to create a new partition in this folder to appear.

A new untitled folder will appear in the Control folder. Enter "StorageDevicePolicies" as its name. This will be a new section that will automatically open in the panel on the right.
Now in the newly created one, open the function menu (right mouse button), select “Create”, then click on “DWORD parameter (32 bit)” (for 32-bit OS) and “QWORD parameter (64 bit)” (for those , who have a 64-bit OS).

A new parameter will be created, the name of which should be entered “WriteProtect”. Open it. In the window that appears for changing the parameter, enter 0 in the “Value” field. Click the “OK” button at the bottom of this window.

Close Registry Editor and try using the drive that was previously not working.

If this method does not help, you can use the Group Policy Editor.

4. Remove protection through the Group Policy Editor

This method involves the following steps:

Launch the same program execution window that we already opened in the previous method. Write “gpedit.msc” and click “OK” in the opened window. The editor we actually need will launch.

Next, open the “Computer Configuration” folder in the left panel. Then open the "Administrative Templates" and "System" sections.
In the panel on the right you should find a parameter that concerns recording prohibition. Open it.

In the open window, check the box next to “Disable”. Click on the “OK” button and close all windows.

It is quite possible that this method will not help either. Then all that remains is to format the flash drive. Then absolutely all its parameters will be removed, including write protection. How to do this is clearly shown in the video below.

If you have any problems or questions regarding all the steps described above, write about it in the comments.

Nowadays, more and more people prefer to use a flash drive to store information. But what if you want to write a document to it, but instead a message appears: “You do not have access to the target folder” or “You do not have permission to save files.” Let's start figuring out how to remove protection from a flash drive. (How to put a password on a flash drive)

Move the switch

First, check to see if there is a small mechanical switch on the flash drive. If it is present, check that it is not in the “Lock” position - in this case, the flash drive is write protected. We put the switch in the open position and everything should work.

If there is no such switch on the flash drive, we move on to more radical methods.

Using the command line

Using this method will allow you to remove protection from the flash drive and save information on it, and working with the command line is not difficult.

In the Start menu, enter “cmd” in the search field and open the command line at the top.

Now, in place of the cursor, enter the Diskpart command and press “Enter”.

Now you need to check which disk number corresponds to the flash drive. You can check the memory capacity of the flash drive. For me this is Disc 2. Remember the number “2” and move on.

In the command line, enter Select Disk 2, you put the number that you defined above, and press “Enter”.

To exit Diskpart, write exit – “Enter”. Close the command line window.

Now you need to restart your computer, and then try to write something to the USB flash drive.

Using formatting

This method will easily restore the functionality of your flash drive, but you should use it only if you don’t mind losing the information stored on it. We will perform formatting not using operating system tools, but using the utility hard disk low level format tool.

The program will do "deep formatting"– that is, at the physical level, each memory cell will be remagnetized and they will be assigned “0”. Zeros are also assigned to those cells that are responsible for protection.

Download a program to remove protection from a flash drive and install it on your computer (download hard disk low lewel format tool), connect the flash drive that we will format to the computer. We run the program as administrator. In the next window, select the device that needs to be formatted. Click “Continue”.

Then you can format the flash drive using the operating system. As a result, all data is erased, and you can copy files to a flash drive, change them, and rename them.

I also advise you to read the article:. It describes four more ways to solve this issue.

Use one of the methods to remove protection from a flash drive and start using it 100%.

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Webmaster. Higher education with a degree in Information Security. Author of most articles and computer literacy lessons

Quite often, users encounter such a problem that when they try to copy some information from removable media, an error appears. It indicates that " Disc is write protected" This message may appear when formatting, deleting, or other operations are performed. Accordingly, the flash drive is not formatted, is not overwritten and generally turns out to be absolutely useless.

But there are several ways to solve this problem and unlock the drive. It is worth saying that you can find more similar methods on the Internet, but they will not work. We took only practice-tested methods.

To disable protection, you can use standard tools in the Windows operating system or special programs. If you have a different OS, it’s better to go to a friend with Windows and perform this operation for him. As for special programs, as you know, almost every company has its own software. Many specialized utilities allow you to format, restore a flash drive and remove protection from it.

Method 1: Physically disabling protection

The fact is that some removable media have a physical switch that is responsible for write protection. If you put it in the " Included", it turns out that not a single file will be deleted or written, which makes the drive itself practically useless. The contents of the flash drive can only be viewed, but not edited. So first check if this switch is turned on.

Method 2: Special programs

In this section, we will look at the proprietary software that the manufacturer produces and with which you can remove write protection. For example, Transcend has a proprietary program called JetFlash Online Recovery. You can read more about it in the article on restoring drives from this company (method 2).

After downloading and launching this program, you should select the option “ Repair drive and keep all data" and click on the button " Start" After this, the removable media will be restored.

As for A-Data flash drives, the best option would be to use USB Flash Drive Online Recovery. More details are written in the lesson regarding the devices of this company.

Verbatim also has its own disk formatting software. Read about using this in the article on restoring USB drives.

SanDisk has SanDisk RescuePRO, also proprietary software that allows you to recover removable media.

As for Silicon Power devices, there is a Silicon Power Recover Tool for them. In the lesson on formatting equipment from this company, the first method describes the process of using this program.

Kingston users will be best served by using the Kingston Format Utility. The lesson on media from this company also describes how you can format the device using a standard Windows tool (method 6).

Try using one of the specialized utilities. If there is no company whose drives you use above, find the desired program using the iFlash service of the website. How to do this is also described in the lesson on working with Kingston devices (method 5).

Method 3: Use the Windows command line

Method 4: Registry Editor

Method 5: Local Group Policy Editor

Using the program launcher, launch " gpedit.msc" To do this, enter the appropriate command in the only field and click the “ OK».

Then proceed step by step along the following path:

Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / System

This is done in the panel on the left. Find the option called " Removable drives: Disable write" Click on it with the left mouse button twice.

In the window that opens, check the box next to “ Disable" Click " OK" at the bottom, exit the Group Policy Editor.

Restart your computer and try to use your removable media again.

One of these methods should definitely help restore the functionality of the flash drive. If all else fails, although this is unlikely, you will have to buy a new removable drive.

Some flash drives have a protection function that prevents users from writing anything to a removable disk or, conversely, deleting data from it. Let's figure out what this function is, what it's for, and how to remove it if necessary.

What is write protection on a flash drive?

The write protection function is used in flash cards to make it impossible to delete or add files to the flash drive.

This function can be configured both on the flash drive itself, using a special physical slider, and by software. In addition, there is a special write protection: system. If you enable such protection on your computer, it will be basically impossible to transfer anything from the computer to a flash drive or any other recording device. Used, for example, on office computers.

How to remove write protection?

If, when you try to copy something to a flash drive, delete some files from it, or change them, a message appears stating that the flash card is write-protected, then you have a write ban enabled. And to continue working with the flash drive, the function must be disabled.

Protection enabled via built-in switch

The simplest case: the slider on the flash drive is moved to the Lock position, that is, write protection is enabled. Inspect your flash card, find such a slider (most often found on SD cards; rare on USB flash drives). If there is such a slider, and it is moved to the Lock position (a locked lock may be drawn instead of the Lock inscription), then move it back. The write protection function will be disabled and you will be able to fully work with the flash drive.

System write protection enabled

If there is no mechanical switch on the flash drive or it is in the desired position, then the protection may be in the system itself. To verify this, try inserting another flash drive into your computer. If it is impossible to write anything to it, then the problem really is in the system protection.

System protection can be enabled in several ways; let's look at how to disable each of them.

Via the registry

To disable registry write protection:

First, open the “Registry Editor” (Win + R, enter regedit in the window);
Then the folder HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Control;
Find the StorageDevicePolicies folder;
The folder contains the WriteProtect parameter;
1 - protection is enabled, 0 - disabled (if there is no StorageDevicePolicies folder, then protection is not enabled);
Disconnect, reboot and try transferring the file to the USB flash drive, it should work.

Deny through Group Policy settings

You can write-protect a flash drive by changing local group policy settings. Here's what you need to do to re-enable writing to external drives:

You need to open the “Local Group Policy Editor” (Win+R, enter gpedit.msc in the window);
Then open the folder “Computer Configuration” -> “Administrative Templates” -> “System” -> “Access to Removable Storage Devices”;
Find the "Removable drives: Do not write" option. If the parameter has the status “Enabled”, double-click on it and switch the status to “Not configured” or “Disabled”.
Click "Apply" and try writing something to the flash drive, it should work.

Security is enabled by setting access rights

When formatting a flash drive, you can set access rights for different user groups. For example, allow only administrators to write files to a flash drive. To check whether your flash drive has such protection:

Open the properties of the flash drive (right-click on the icon of your flash drive in “My Computer”, then “Properties”);
Open the “Security” tab;
The page will contain a list of different user groups. By clicking on one of them, you can see which actions are allowed for this group and which are not. The list of permissions is located directly below the list of user groups.
If permissions have been set on your computer, you can change the permissions by selecting the desired user group and clicking the "Change" button. To completely remove the write ban, select the “Everyone” group, click “Edit” and check all actions in the “Allow” column.
If the rights were not set on your computer, but you do not have access to the desired computer (or you basically do not know on which computer this was done), then only formatting the flash drive will help, which will lead to loss of data on it. Of course, if the ban is only on writing, and not on reading from a flash drive, then important files can be saved on the computer’s hard drive.

How to format a flash drive, if necessary:

Open “My Computer” (either “Computer” or “This PC”, depending on your version of Windows);
Find the icon of your flash drive, right-click on it and select “Format...”;
Then select the file system into which you want to reformat the flash drive (if you don’t understand, select FAT32 - the standard Windows file system);
Click the "Start" button. A warning will appear stating that formatting will erase all data from the device, close the dialog box and wait until formatting is completed.
Ready.

Disable write prohibition using the command line

You can solve the problem through the command line. This will not help in all cases, but in many.

Open a command line (Win+R, type cmd in the window);
Type the command Diskpart, then disk list. A list of all connected drives will appear, find the number of your flash drive.
Enter the command select disk *flash drive number*;
Enter attributes disk clear readonly;
Close the command line, restart your computer and try copying something to the USB flash drive.

Video: how to remove write protection

Disable write protection using special programs

There are several programs that can remove write protection from flash cards. Some flash drive manufacturers produce such programs for their products. However, the usefulness of these programs tends to zero, since the principle on which they work is formatting a flash drive. Naturally, with the removal of all data. Any user can do the same independently by right-clicking on the flash drive icon in “My Computer” and clicking “Format...”.

But perhaps such software can help inexperienced users, so let’s look at the existing software.

JetFlash Recovery Tool

The program was developed by Transcend and can only work with flash drives from Transcend and A-Data. To format a flash drive, download the program from the official website, install it, then run it. The program itself will detect your flash drive, all you have to do is click “Start”.

Apacer Repair

A program from Apacer that can only work with flash drives from its manufacturer. The operating algorithm is as follows: download the program, open the exe file, click Repair or Format. The Repair function automatically detects the problem, the Format function formats the flash drive.

HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool

The program was developed by HP, but can work with flash cards from all manufacturers, but you cannot download it separately: it is preinstalled in HP laptops. To format a flash drive, launch the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool, select the name of your flash drive in the first field, then the desired file system and click “Start”.

As we found out, the problem of prohibiting recording is completely solvable. There are many ways to deal with it, but sometimes it is impossible to disable the protection without losing the data stored on the flash drive. There is only one piece of advice: don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Don't rely on a flash card; save important data both on your computer and in cloud services. It will be more reliable this way.