- Disk Write Protection Removal Software
- Usb Write Protection Removal Tool
- Usb Drive Write Protected Removal Tool Free Download
Oct 16, 2020 • Filed to: USB Recovery • Proven solutions
How do I remove write protection from a SanDisk flash drive?
Best free usb disk storage format tools download for kingston sandisk usb formatting when the usb disk or flash drive is write protected and cannot be formatted by Windows or Windows failed to complete the format usb. USB WriteProtector is a application that can switch on, switch off and display the state of the USB write protection of the operating system. Tip: The batch file USB Write Protection does the same job. After plugging a drive into your PC to copy or modify a file & folder, a window might pop up with the error: “The disk is write-protected. Remove this write-protection or use another disk”. According to users, the problem may be with Windows 10 Home and SD card built-in slot. When using a USB SD card reader, this problem may not happen. Download SanDisk write protection removal software, install and run this program. On the main console, click the SanDisk USB flash drive, SD card or other devices, choose Format Partition at the left panel. Or right click it, then select Format Partition at the drop down menu.
Hello all, I got a message reading 'The disk is write-protected' whenever I inserted my SanDisk pen drive to my computer. I was unable to disable the write protection on my flash drive. Can anyone help me? Thanks.
What Is a Read-Only Flash Drive?
Once you get similar messages like the following ones when using the SanDisk flash drive, it means the pen drive becomes read-only and write-protected. You're unable to edit data, delete files, or save information on this drive, unless you find the fixes.
- The common error of 'The disk is write-protected' will occur when you trying to format an external disk such as (USB flash drive, SD memory card, or pen drive).
- If you start to copy or modify the files on the drive, the pop-up window show you 'The disk is write-protected. Remove this write-protection or use another disk'.
- A read-only flash drive won't allow you to copy the file. When you want to do that, a message might appear - 'You cannot copy files to the volume'.
Why Is My USB Drive Read Only?
Formating the file system of the flash drive can cause the write protection. Usually, a pen drive uses the NTFS file system on a Windows computer. You can keep writing and reading data stored inside it. However, sometimes you might want to use it on a Mac computer. So you format the flash memory stick to make it compatible with the Mac computer. The file system is indeed readable and the stored data is accessible on a Mac computer due to the Mac feature. However, writing data is not available. The write protection is added on the USB flash drive by default.
How do I disable write protection on a flash drive? Here, we offer both Windows and Mac solutions to help you fix write-protected flash drives easily and quickly.
How to Remove Write Protection from USB Flash Drive on Windows
How do I remove write protection from a USB drive in Windows 10?
If your USB disk gets this error on Windows computer, you may think the USB drive is broken and unable to use. The flash drive becomes a read-only situation, and you cannot manage data on it, like copying, deleting or writing the files on the disk. How to remove the write protection from a read-only flash drive? On the next guide, we will show you how to disable write protection from flash drive, SD card or pen drive in Windows 10/8/7.
Solution 1: Diskpart Command
- Step 1. Connect your flash drive to the computer, and launch a command prompt by searching for cmd.exe or 'Command Prompt' in the Start menu.
- Step 2. Type the following and press Enter after each command: diskpart, list disk, select disk #(# means the name of your write-protected disk), attributes disk clear readonly, clean, create partition primary, format fs=ntfs.
- Step 3. Exit the Command Prompt.
After this, your USB flash drive should now work well. If it doesn't work, you can also follow the next steps to fix write-protected USB drive with Regedit.exe.
Solution 2: Regedit.exe
- Step 1. Press key of Windows Key + R and type regedit in Run dislog box and Enter.
- Step 2. On the pop-up window Registry Editor, go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlStorageDevicePolicies.
- Step 3. Double click the WriteProtect value in the right pane.
- Step 4. You can change the value data from 1 to 0, then click OK to save the change, and close the Regedit window.
- Step 5. Restart your computer and connect the USB drive to it. Check if the drive is working well and no longer write-protected. If it isn't read-only now, you can continue using the USB flash drive.
Solution 3: Open Windows Explorer
- Step 1. Plug in the write-protected disk.
- Step 2. Press 'Windows+E' and right-click on the drive.
- Step 3. By right-clicking on the disk, you can choose 'Properties', and then select 'Security'.
- Step 4. To Edit the permissions, you should now select 'Everyone' from 'Group or user names'.
- Step 5. Select 'Edit' and go to 'Permissions'
- Step 6. Check all the boxes labeled as 'Allow'
- Step 7. Click 'Apply' and exit. Your disk's write protection has now been removed.
Disk Write Protection Removal Software
Solution 4. Check and Unlock USB Flash Drive
- Check the switch on the drive: some external USB flash drives and pen drives have a mechanical switch which is used to lock or unlock the drive. If your drive gets the switch, check whether the switch is locked or not. If yes, move it.
- You also can check the USB flash drive if it got the virus-infected and attacked. You need to download anti-virus software and scan your flash drive. Once the virus is found, and kill it at once to remove write protection from a read-only flash drive.
How to Remove Write Protection from USB Pen Drive on Mac
If you're working on a Mac computer, you also will receive the 'Read Only' error on the external drive. On the following steps, we will show you how to disable write protection disk on Mac.
Solution 1: Format Write-Protected Pen Drive on Mac
To disable the write-protected disk on Mac, you can follow the next steps to format the drive on macOS:
- Step 1. Open the Disk Utility, and the application window will open.
- Step 2. Click on your USB flash drive on the left pane of Disk Utility.
- Step 3. Click on the Erase tab, then select the format type. Select either 'MS-DOS File System' or 'exFAT' both working well on Windows and Mac.
- Step 4. Then click on the 'Erase' option to start formatting the USB flash drive.
Solution 2: Fix and Repair Permissions
Check if the drive's permissions are corrupted or not. You can fix the error using Disk Utility. Follow the steps below to remove write protection from Read-only USB drive on Mac.
- Step 1. Go to the Disk Utility in the Utilities folder.
- Step 2. Select the device which is ready-only need to remove write protection.
- Step 3. Click on the First Aid and the OS will start to scan your drive.
We hope those solutions could help you fix and remove write protection from USB drive on Windows and Mac. If it still fails to fix out the problem, you should buy a new USB flash drive. Also, if you need to get all USB data back, you can download Recoverit Data Recovery, powerful USB data recovery software, to help you out. Follow the guide to recover files from USB drive easily.
USB Topic
- Recover USB Drive
- Format USB Drive
- Fix/Repair USB Drive
- Know USB Drive
How to remove media write-protected error? What to do when media cannot be formatted when you try to format it with a formatter or DOS bootable usb maker like HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool? See how it appeared in the following editions of HP USB Format Tool v2.0.6 and v2.2.3.
Device media is write protected with HP USB Format Tool v2.0.6
Device media is write protected with HP USB Format Tool v2.2.3
Also read: how to remove write protection, and how to fix can't format usb
3 Efficient Ways to Fix Device Media Write Protected Error(Video guide included in the end)
Way 1 - Turn off the write protection switch if it was locked
![Write Write](https://www.oxhow.com/wp-content/uploads/low-level-format-tool.gif)
Way 2 - Convert the media no matter usb stick or memory card to be MBR with diskpart
Here are some pre-steps that you need to get it done.
- Step1 - open cmd by pressing 'Windows icon + R' on your keyboard to start Run
- Step2 - type 'diskpart' to open the diskpart function
CMD to convert media MBR to get the write protection problem fixed
- Step1 - type 'list disk'
- Step2 - type 'select disk *' (* you may need to replace * with the drive letter of your media)
- Step3 - type 'convert mbr'
Note: if it does not work and reports some message like 'The sepecified disk is not convertible', here is another step that shall be added before the Step3.
- Step2.5 - type 'clean'
The above step2.5 is to fix the error when it was not working with the convert MBR.
Remove hp usb format tool write protected with cmd
Remove hp usb format tool write protected with cmd
Video Guide - how to remove media is write protected error in HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool
Way 3 - Remove the write protection with cmd Attrib disk clean Readonly
Besides the above way2 method, you may also try the following cmd to remove the read-only attribution on your pendrive or disk.
Remove HP usb format tool write protection readonly attribution
Usb Write Protection Removal Tool
You need to get your media connected to your computer at first, and then start cmd and here are the steps.
- list disk
- select disk * (You need to replace * with the drive letter of your media to remove the write protection error)
- attributes disk clear readonly
- exit
Or sometimes you may also use 'attrib disk clear readonly' as an alternative in the above steps when it comes to the step 3.
Did not work? Try more methods on this page: 10 free ways to remove write protection on usb drive
Tired with HP USB Format Tool? Try the following free alternatives
Last updated on 27/10/2020
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