Solved Cannot format USB that previously had RUFUS WIN11 Inst - Write Protected.

Dannydet said:

Use Rufus again to re-format the USB devices.

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antspants said:

Will give it a try. Cheers

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zbook said:

Most often flash drives that display write protected after normal functioning are failed flash drives.

See:

a) if any files can be backed up

b) whether Sea Tools Long generic testing displays pass / fail: SeaTools | Support Seagate US

c) the results running: GRC | ValiDrive

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zbook said:

b) whether Sea Tools Long generic testing displays pass / fail: SeaTools | Support Seagate US

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Ghot said:

Sometimes, I have to delete any partitions on a USB thumb drive.
Then I can use Minitool or EaseUS to format them.

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Dannydet said:

Use Rufus again to re-format the USB devices.

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zbook said:

Nice.

See this video:

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FAQ

The Reliable USB Formatting Utility. Contribute to pbatard/rufus development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Rufus can't detect/format my drive and reports that it is read-only or contains no media​

Rufus can't detect/format my drive and reports that it is read-only or contains no media
I'm afraid your device is most likely dead. 
Or, in some limited cases where the device is reported read-only, it may mean you have a strong 
bitlocker policy enforced on your computer (see last paragraph).

The way a USB drive dies is usually that the flash memory gives out (because it has a limited number 
of rewrites before it's going to fail), and when that happens, the USB controller from the device, 
which is usually a generic microchip that is either the same or similar to the microchips that you 
would find on USB card readers, will detect that it is no longer able to access the memory, and, 
just like a card reader, report either that it is no longer able to detect a memory media or that it 
has become read-only.

In the Rufus log, for the first case, this will usually produce the message: Device eliminated because 
it appears to contain no media.

If you see these issues, it's probably time to purchase a new USB flash drive, because it is very unlikely 
that you will be able to use this one again. And, no, Rufus did not have anything to do with destroying your drive. 
Flash memory does have a very limited life, and things with a limited life tend to fail as you use them. 
See also the previous entry.

Now, if your error is that the device is reported read-only, one last possibility is that you have a strong bitlocker 
policy enforced on Windows (which it needs to be pointed out is not something that is expected to be the case 
for a consumer installation of Windows, especially a standard one, but something that some strict corporate 
environments may add as a global policy), in which case attempts to format or repartition the drive will fail with
 a read-only message and, of course, because of the way the policy is designed, any drive that is not using 
bitlocker is set by the OS as read-only. 
If that is the case then, you either need to disable the bitlocker policy of preventing write access to non-bitlocker 
protected drive or use the drive on a computer that is not subject to this policy.

Potentially, you can try the following, but it needs to be pointed out that doing so will be at your own risks:

Open regedit.exe
Try to go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies.
If you find that the key above doesn't exist, then it means that your problem is not due to a policy being enacted.
If, on the other hand, you find that StorageDevicePolicies exists, then it means that you have custom rules in place 
with regards to USB devices. If that is the case, you should check whether a WriteProtect REG_DWORD value exists 
and if it does, make sure that is is set to zero.

zbook said:

Rufus made comments on Bitlocker.

Was it not in use or in use?

FAQ

The Reliable USB Formatting Utility. Contribute to pbatard/rufus development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Rufus can't detect/format my drive and reports that it is read-only or contains no media​

Code:

Rufus can't detect/format my drive and reports that it is read-only or contains no media
I'm afraid your device is most likely dead.
Or, in some limited cases where the device is reported read-only, it may mean you have a strong
bitlocker policy enforced on your computer (see last paragraph).

The way a USB drive dies is usually that the flash memory gives out (because it has a limited number
of rewrites before it's going to fail), and when that happens, the USB controller from the device,
which is usually a generic microchip that is either the same or similar to the microchips that you
would find on USB card readers, will detect that it is no longer able to access the memory, and,
just like a card reader, report either that it is no longer able to detect a memory media or that it
has become read-only.

In the Rufus log, for the first case, this will usually produce the message: Device eliminated because
it appears to contain no media.

If you see these issues, it's probably time to purchase a new USB flash drive, because it is very unlikely
that you will be able to use this one again. And, no, Rufus did not have anything to do with destroying your drive.
Flash memory does have a very limited life, and things with a limited life tend to fail as you use them.
See also the previous entry.

Now, if your error is that the device is reported read-only, one last possibility is that you have a strong bitlocker
policy enforced on Windows (which it needs to be pointed out is not something that is expected to be the case
for a consumer installation of Windows, especially a standard one, but something that some strict corporate
environments may add as a global policy), in which case attempts to format or repartition the drive will fail with
 a read-only message and, of course, because of the way the policy is designed, any drive that is not using
bitlocker is set by the OS as read-only.
If that is the case then, you either need to disable the bitlocker policy of preventing write access to non-bitlocker
protected drive or use the drive on a computer that is not subject to this policy.

Potentially, you can try the following, but it needs to be pointed out that doing so will be at your own risks:

Open regedit.exe
Try to go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies.
If you find that the key above doesn't exist, then it means that your problem is not due to a policy being enacted.
If, on the other hand, you find that StorageDevicePolicies exists, then it means that you have custom rules in place
with regards to USB devices. If that is the case, you should check whether a WriteProtect REG_DWORD value exists
and if it does, make sure that is is set to zero.

Click to expand...

antspants said:

Halo

I have 2 x 32GB USB drives that have RUFUS created Windows 11 install media on them.
I want to format them for other purposes.

Trying to format them gives me a write protected message. I can’t work it out. The USB’s work fine, I tested by initiating an install.

Thanks

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Wynona said:

Brand? Maybe a pic of them?

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Wynona said:

Never mind . . . I see it's solved.

Wanna mark it solved?

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antspants said:

It already was when you posted this. I marked it as solved at post number 6

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