Use Diskpart to Remove Write Protection From USB
Drives
There are many ways to remove write
protection from USB drives in Windows.
One popular method is to change a
Registry key, but this is scary to some
people. A less intimidating method is to use
diskpart.
1. Insert the USB drive into a USB port on
your computer.
2. Press Windows key+X.
3. Select Run.
4. Enter diskpart and then select OK.
The User Account Control dialog box may
appear and ask if you want to allow this app
to make changes to your device.
Select Yes to continue.
5. Next to DISKPART>, enter list disk and
press Enter.
6. In the list of mounted disks, find your
USB drive and note the disk number.
Look at the size column to locate the write
protected flash drive. In this example, the
computer hard drive is 29 GB and the USB
drive is 977 MB.
7. Enter the command select
disk disk_number and then press Enter. If,
for example, your drive number is 1,
enter select disk 1.
8. When the disk is selected, diskpart
displays a message saying the disk is now
the selected disk.
9. Enter the command attributes disk
clear readonly and then press Enter.
10. When write protection has been
removed from the disk, diskpart displays a
message stating the attributes were cleared
successfully and the disk is no longer write
protected.
11. To close the diskpart window when
you’re finished, type exit and press Enter.
Remove Write Protection From USB Drives with
regedit in Windows 10 and Windows 8
If you’d rather use the Windows Registry to
remove write protection from a USB drive or
SD card, use regedit to make the change.
Before making any changes, back up
the Windows Registry. If you make a
mistake and have problems with your
computer, you'll be able to restore the
Registry and return your system to its
original state.
1. Insert the USB drive into a USB port on
your computer.
2. Press the Windows key+X.
3. Select Run.
4. Enter regedit and select OK.
5. In the Registry Editor, navigate
to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM >
CurrentControlSet > Control > StorageD
evicePolicies.
If you can’t find the StorageDevicePolicies
folder, you’ll need to create a
StorageDevicesPolicies key and a
WriteProtect DWORD Value. Keep reading
to learn how.
6. Double-click WriteProtect to open
the Edit DWORD dialog box.
7. In the Value data text box, replace the
number with a 0 (zero).
8. Select OK.
9. Close regedit.
10. Restart your computer.
CREATE STORAGEDEVICESPOLICIES KEY AND WRITEPROTECT
DWORD VALUE
1. Navigate
to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM >
CurrentControlSet > Control.
2. In the File pane on the right, right-click
empty space, point to New, then
select Key.
3. In the Folders pane on the left, name
the key StorageDevicePolicies and
press Enter.
4. In the Folders pane,
select StorageDevicePolicies.
5. In the File pane, right-click empty space,
point to New, then select DWORD (32-bit)
Value.
6. Name the value WriteProtect and
press Enter.
7. Double-click WriteProtect to open
the Edit DWORD dialog box and remove
write protection using the steps above.
Edit the Registry in Windows 7 to Remove Write
Protection
If you use Windows 7, the process to edit
the Windows Registry to remove write
protection is a little different.
1. Press Windows key+R.
2. In the Run dialog box, enter regedit and
press Enter.
3. Navigate
to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM >
CurrentControlSet > Services.
4. Select USBSTOR.
5. Double-click Start.
6. In the dialog box, enter 3.
7. Close the Registry Editor.
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