USB drive is write protected - how to fix?

I'm having some trouble with my USB drive. I tried to make it bootable, but I keep getting hit with an error message saying THE DISK IS WRITE PROTECTED. I've already attempted the following steps, but they haven't worked at all 😢

Try modifying a registry key called StorageDevicePolicies.
1. Open Start Menu,
2. Go to Run, type regedit and hit Enter to open the registry editor.
3. Head over to this specific path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies

Can't find the StorageDevicePolicies key? Just skip ahead to step 7.
4. double click The Key WriteProtect in the right Pan and set The value to 0 in The Value dati box and Press ok button
5. EXIT Registry
6. Give your PC a quick reboot.

If that StorageDevicePolicies key wasn't there in step (3), you'll need to build it yourself.

7. Right-click on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ and select New -> Key.
8. enter The name StorageDevicePolicies.
9. Click on The New registry Key StorageDevicePolicies and on the right Pan right-click, select New > DWORD and name it WriteProtect.
10. Double click it and change the value to 0.

Using Diskpart[/B]
1. Start > Run -> type CMD and press enter
2. type diskpart > enter
3. type list disk > enter
4. type select disk # (# is the number of the USB HDD you’ve plugged in )
5. type attributes disk clear readonly

Format your USB drive (your last resort)

A. If you're unable to format the USB drive through My Computer, give this a shot:

Goto start > Run > Type CMD >> Press enter
Type format F:

Just make sure F is actually the correct drive letter for your USB!

B. Windows 7 Users only. If the USB is still showing as write protected, you might need to run a "low-level format" on the drive. You can download some free software specifically designed to perform a "low-level format" on your USB drive.

One heads-up: Once the low-level format is finished, you might need to create a new partition on the drive.

1. Type diskmgmt.msc in the Run box.
2. Inside the Disk Management window, find your flash drive, right-click it, and select Format.
3. Hit OK, and you should be good to go.

The only way I could actually get it to format was by booting into SAFE MODE. But even then, once I restart normally and try to move files over to the USB, it gets to a certain percentage and then—boom—it says THE DISK IS WRITE PROTECTED again.

Does anyone have a fix for this? The USB is a Transcend.

Give this program a shot click

Karen Wright8 said:Give this program a shot click

I've already tried that, plus MFormat Utility, some specialized tool for Transcend USB drives, and honestly, a whole mountain of other stuff—but nothing works.

Flip that Write protect Switch 🙂

Robin Young5 said:

Flip that Write protect Switch 🙂

Hehehe, nope, it’s not even that. This thumb drive looks like this: http://www.nabava.net/slike/proizvod...b_6d03827d.jpg

Timothy Barnes5 said:Hehehe, nope, it’s not even that. This thumb drive looks like this: http://www.nabava.net/slike/proizvod...b_6d03827d.jpg

I finally did it! I’ve officially cracked the code with this OnLineRecovery_V15_v3.0.0.50 program. What a relief!

Can we talk about the Lock? Is anyone else running into this?

Just wanted to bump this thread a bit. 😁

I am having absolutely zero luck trying to format USB stick... It’s a Kingston DataTraveler 111 32. I keep getting hit with this constant error saying it's disk Write protected. Honestly, I feel like I've tried every single thing on the internet, but nothing seems to work. It's incredibly frustrating.

Does anyone have any actual advice? Maybe a tutorial that has been thoroughly Tapatalk tested and actually works?
Thanks a ton.

Best,

Have you tried using Diskpart yet? It’s always been a bit hit-or-miss for me. It's just that CMD utility that comes bundled with Windows. A quick Google search should give you the specifics.

Kate Martin3 said:Have you tried using Diskpart yet? It’s always been a bit hit-or-miss for me. It's just that CMD utility that comes bundled with Windows. A quick Google search should give you the specifics.

Well, I’ve tried everything—from the CMD route to various different programs like Rufus, some HP utility, even one of those Transcend miracles, and so on. All of them were completely useless. I suppose I could eventually try it on a different computer running a different operating system... if I had the energy..

Perhaps you could find me a tutorial that worked for you? That Diskpart thing... maybe I'll give it one more shot.

Thanks in advance,
Best,

maybe give AOMEI Partition Assistant the free version a shot

Thomas Wells5 said:maybe give AOMEI Partition Assistant the free version a shot

I already gave that a shot, but... I guess it doesn't work? It's just not doing anything for me. It won't even show the USB drive when I boot up—I mean, I don't know if I'm supposed to manually input something or what—but all I see are "just" the HDD partitions.