How to remove write protection from a USB flash drive



Flash cards are considered the most convenientportable storage drives, replacing obsolete diskettes and disks. A small USB flash drive can fit in the smallest pocket, while its capacity can at times exceed the amount of stored data of any other mobile digital media. Unfortunately, flash drive users often face situations when the card does not work or is not able to save the necessary information. In this case, we have to talk about the availability of write protection. What is the reason for not being able to write information to the flash card? How to remove the write protection from a USB flash drive? What methods of de-protection exist?







Causes of error



A flash card can be protected from writing andissue an error for a variety of reasons - software or hardware. The protection of the USB flash drive can work at the level of the media itself (for example, a password) or a computer device (protection against copying information on removable media, etc.) Among the most common causes of the error:




  • data encryption;


  • mechanical recording blocking;


  • software prohibition of recording, set by the operating system settings;


  • prohibition of writing to USB from the hardware settings of the computer;


  • overflow memory flash card;


  • incorrect operation of the USB port;


  • file system errors;


  • failure in the microcontroller program;


  • overheating of the card as a result of a strong thermal impact;


  • unstable power supply of the computer device (voltage surges);


  • the result of the work of malicious programs (viruses) and many others. other



How to remove write protection from a USB flash drive



Obviously, such a wide variety of causes requires the most appropriate way of eliminating them in each individual case.



Mechanical removal of write protection from a USB flash drive



Practice shows that the most common reason for the operation of the write protection function is to find a special lever in the "protection" position.



How to remove write protection from a USB flash drive



Such a mechanism can be found on thedifferent models, but it is designed to save information on the storage medium (protection against accidental erasure or rewriting). Eliminate the problem in this case is quite simple: you just need to switch the lever to another position.



How to remove write protection from a USB flash drive



Removing security using the command line



If this method of error elimination is not applicable,it remains to find the software or hardware cause of its occurrence. One of the most suitable methods for this is to remove the protection from the flash drive using the command line (cmd) and the diskpart command by completely formatting the flash drive (removing all the information on it). The sequence of actions in this case should be as follows:




  • Go to the "Start" menu.


  • Select the command line application.


  • Run it with administrator rights.



How to remove write protection from a USB flash drive




  • We enter the Disk part command, after which we specify list disk (this will display all available disks).


  • Find the right disk (flash drive) and write the command attributes disk clear readonly. It will clear all attributes.


  • When the drive is fully formatted, it is necessary to enter clean, create partition primary and format fs = ntfs (format the USB flash drive to NTFS format).


  • Command Exit - we terminate the command line.



How to remove write protection from a USB flash drive



How to remove the write protection from the flash drive using the registry?



Another reliable way to remove write protection from a USB flash drive is to use the registry. You can call the desired panel by pressing Win + R, after which you need to register the regedit command.



How to remove write protection from a USB flash drive



Next, go to the StageDevicePolicies(path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlStorageDevicePolicies). If it's not there, create the section with the same name: press "Control", select "Create", click "Section" and name it StorageDevicePolicies.



How to remove write protection from a USB flash drive



Then create the parameter DWORD (32 bits) and call it WriteProtect.



How to remove write protection from a USB flash drive



After making sure that the value of this parameter is zero (if necessary, change to "0" and save the changes).



How to remove write protection from a USB flash drive



Now we have to leave the registry, extractUSB flash drive from the USB port and restart the computer device. As soon as the computer entered the operating mode, we try to write to the flash drive any information. The protection is removed, so the error should no longer appear.



Software ways to remove write protection from a USB flash drive



The way to remove the protection from recording a flash card ordisk through the registry is called software. They also include a number of other methods that help to solve the problem. So, a frequent reason for blocking can be a ban on recording information on removable devices from the group policy of the file system. You can check it using the same registry:




  • We go to the editor with administrator rights.


  • Specify gpedit.msc (call the "Local Group Policy Editor").


  • Click on "Computer Configuration - Administrative Templates - System - Access to Removable Storage Devices".


  • Check the parameter "Removable drives: Disable recording. " To unprotect it, it must not be set or disabled. To do this, you need to double-click on the parameter, select "Disconnect" and OK. Then there will be only to restart the computer and check the operation of the flash drive.





If you do not dare to format it yourselfdrive, you can resort to the use of utilities, which are designed specifically to remove the protection from recording flash cards. Such programs are freely available, and you can download to your PC directly from official developer sites. Among the most popular applications:




  • Kingston Format Utility (manufacturer-Kingston),


  • JetFlash Recovery (Transcend),


  • USB Flash DriveRecovery (Silicon Power),


  • USB Flash Drive Online Recovery (Adata) идр.



The interface of such utilities is quite simple and understandable, so users of any level of training can work with them.

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