7 ways to fix, fix 'Write Protection' error on USB

During the use of USB to store data, you will occasionally get an error message from USB "The disk is write protected. Remove the write protection or use another disk" or the same message does not allow viewing, editing or delete the data in your USB.

In this case the majority of users will think their USB has a physical error and this USB cannot be used anymore, but in fact it is just a USB error message to prevent the data from being changed unexpectedly. And you can fix that error by following these steps:

1. Check the virus for USB

Please install a reliable, popular antivirus program such as Avast, Avira, AVG, Norton, Kaspersky, Microsoft Security Essentials . Antivirus software will protect your computer and peripheral devices against malicious software . Especially for autorun programs on USB is the source of virus infection from computer to USB and vice versa.

Every time you plug in a USB device, antivirus programs will automatically scan all data on the USB to prevent infection. Also, when you often use USB in public computers, it becomes easier for USB to be infected with the virus. Usually, the virus will create nonsensical files that are curious for users who click on it and this can cause your USB drive to have a Write Protected error .

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Antiviruss are usually integrated into right-click menus, so virus scanning is also easier.

2. Check if the USB button is turned on

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Some USB devices have lock / unlock switch to protect the reading and writing mechanism on USB. When USB is in lock mode, all recording and deleting operations are not possible, forcing you to turn on the switch to unlock mode.

3. Check to make sure the USB is full of data

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One thing is very simple but sometimes we do not pay attention to it is to check how much USB is used, is full or not. Maybe because USB capacity is getting bigger and bigger, the price is decreasing so buying a USB 8GB, 16GB or higher is not a big problem so users forget to check the USB capacity regularly. , resulting in a USB disk space is full.

4. Check which data is in the mode

Make sure that the files you want to burn or delete are not enabled for Read-only mode, if this mode is enabled with one or more files, you cannot record or delete them.

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To remove this mode, just right-click on one or more files to remove this mode, select Properties, in the selected Attributes section in Read-only, click OK to save the settings.

Sometimes only the file name is corrupted. Long filenames are an old Windows feature, from MS-DOS architecture. If the name has a number of characters that exceed 255 characters, it is a long name, and then you will encounter all sorts of problems with it. Here is how to delete the long name file, please refer.

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5. Use the DiskPart command line tool

Press Windows + X key, and select Command Prompt (Admin) from the menu. Type diskpart , and press Enter (1 in the picture below). Next, type list disk , and press Enter. You will see a list of drives currently connected to the computer (2 in the picture below):

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Make sure you can see your USB drive. In this example, Disk 4. Record your drive number. Now enter the following command:

select disk [drive number]

After being selected, enter the command:

attributes disk clear readonly

The above command has deleted all the read-only properties of the file on the USB drive.

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6. Registry intervention

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This step will disable the protection of peripheral storage devices on your computer. To do this click on the Start button, type regedit.exe into the search box and then Enter. The Register Editor window is opened, browse to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SYSTEM CurrentControlSet Control StorageDevicePolicies branch, then navigate to the key named WriteProtect.

Right-click this key, select Modify . Now, you will see the default value at Value data is 0, which means your device is protected. So switch this value to 1, then save this setting.

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Close the Registry Edtitor, unplug the USB from the computer and plug it back in and see if your USB output still shows the same error.

If you've tried the above steps and still can't fix the error message, then the final step is to reformat the USB.

7. Format USB

USB Format is the last resort. However, this method will help you to read and write data to USB. Before formatting the USB, see if the file system type is NTFS or FAT32 and format the USB to that type.

Note: Make sure that you have backed up all the documents on the USB to another USB or copy them to your computer before formatting.

You press Windows + E key or open any folder, in the left-hand pane, browse to This PC (Windows 8 / 8.1), My PC (Windows 10), Computer (Windows 7 or lower), select your USB drive You, right-click it, select Properties , look at File system :

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Close the Properties window. Now, right click on the USB drive again, then select Format . The Format window contains a number of options, such as File system, Allocation unit size, Volume Label and Quick Format.

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Change the Volume label to something you want. If you suspect USB has a hardware problem, uncheck Quick Format. That will force the format to check the USB drive besides deleting the files. For example, if there is a bad sector on this USB drive, the format will report an error.

Format will not take much time, but the bigger the USB drive, the longer you have to wait. Assuming there are no physical problems, your USB drive will be formatted, cleaned and ready for use.

8. Write Protection error on SD memory card

The ways to fix Write Protection on USB can be applied to SD memory cards, so you can just try it in turn. But unlike USB, most SD cards have a lock button to prevent writing to the memory card, please turn it off before trying the above steps.

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With these simple steps, I hope you can fix the Write Protect error of the USB, a fairly simple error but it will take you a long time if you don't know how to fix it.

Good luck!