Activate the 'Write Protection' mode of USB on Windows 10

You may not know but Windows 10 allows to enable 'Write Protection' mode to protect USB storage devices. After this mode is activated, it will restrict write permissions on portable hard drive devices (USB drives, etc.). This is extremely useful, which is an additional security option on your system.

Activate the USB "Write Protection" mode on Windows 10:

To enable USB "Write Protection" mode on Windows 10, follow the steps below:

1. Open Registry Editor.

To do this, press the Windows + R key combination to open the Run command window, then enter regedit there and press Enter .

If the UAC dialog window appears, click Yes to continue.

2. On the Registry Editor window, navigate to the key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControl

3. Here you create a new subkey and name the key StorageDevicePolicies .

4. At the StorageDevicePolicies key, look to the right pane, right-click any space, select New => DWORD (32-bit) value and name this value DWORD WriteProtect .

Double click on WriteProtecrt to open a new window, where you set the value in the Value data frame to 1 .

5. Connect all USB drives that you have connected to your computer.

After setting the WriteProtect value to 1 and reconnecting the USB drive, the restrictions will apply immediately. All new USB devices connected to your computer will only be read. The commands like New and Delete will also disappear on the Context Menu.

To restore to the original mode, you only need to delete the WriteProtect value .

Also you can refer to the detailed instructions in the video below:

And to save time, you can use the pre-edited Registry.

Download the revised Registry to your computer and install it here.

Good luck!