How to remove write protection of 32 GB usb flash drive?

Ramesh Sharma · Oct 22, 2024

Hello ,
I have a usb flash drive of capacity 32 gb . It shows write protection message whenever I try to copy some files in it.
It has been divided in two partitions namely Audio Vol 1 (697 mb) and Video Vol 2 (28.6 gb)
I bought it from a shop and is write protected by default. I can copy the audio and video files in it elsewhere.
Is there any trick/software/app/commands to remove the write protection of this usb drive, without clean/format ?
My aim is to modify the usb drive by adding some audio/video files/photos to it.
Thanks for any help.

wiganken · Oct 22, 2024

Could it be a permissions issue? I know the following refers to an external hard drive but maybe the issue is the same?

External Hard Drive Ownership

When i copy a file over to my external hard drive, everything works fine, until i plug it into another computer. All the sudden the files i copied require admin rights to be read or writen to, on all

superuser.com

Dannydet · Oct 22, 2024

Format the flash drive

Ramesh Sharma · Oct 22, 2024

wiganken said:
Could it be a permissions issue? I know the following refers to an external hard drive but maybe the issue is the same?

External Hard Drive Ownership

When i copy a file over to my external hard drive, everything works fine, until i plug it into another computer. All the sudden the files i copied require admin rights to be read or writen to, on all

superuser.com

When I right click video partition>propertites >security it shows everyone in the list with full control.
Does formating the drive remove write protection? Audio partition is FAT32 and VIDEO partition is NTFS.
CMD when run as administrator shows ACL error.

wiganken · Oct 22, 2024

Just guessing here but I notice that the volume colour is red (not blue). I think this means the volume is full so you can't write any more files to it.

I know it shows 773MB Free but that may not be enough for adding large video files.

I stand to be corrected.

Ramesh Sharma · Oct 22, 2024

wiganken said:
Just guessing here but I notice that the volume colour is red (not blue). I think this means the volume is full so you can't write any more files to it.

I know it shows 773MB Free but that may not be enough for adding large video files.

I stand to be corrected.

But what about write protection message? I can not add even 5 MB file to Audio vol K: It shows 100 MB free and blue colour.

cereberus · Oct 22, 2024

Normally when a flash drive is seen as readonly, it means the drive is designed as readonly or the drive has failed.

FreeBooter · Oct 22, 2024

In this video, i will explain how you can fix "The disk is write-protected" error message.

hsehestedt · Oct 22, 2024

You can remove the write protection by using diskpart. Open diskpart and select the disc in question and then run this command:

Attributes disk

Check to see if the read only attribute is set.

If it is then you can use this command to clear that attribute:

Attributes disk clear readonly.

If you need more detailed instructions please do let me know.

Ramesh Sharma · Oct 22, 2024

Thanks everyone for suggestions.
Hello @hsehestedt ,
Yes. Please post commands to remove write protection right from checking the status of drive.
Has anyone created a powershell/cmd scripts having a sequence of commands to remove write protection of such usb flash drives?
K: audio vol is FAT32 and L: is video vol NTFS.

antspants · Oct 22, 2024

You could always try Rufus

Backup the USB content somewhere
Download Rufus
Select USB
Select Non bootable
Click start

You can also Show advanced drive properties

Show advanced format options

Ramesh Sharma · Oct 22, 2024

FreeBooter said:
In this video, i will explain how you can fix "The disk is write-protected" error message.

I downloaded and run UsbWriteProtection bat file. But the usb drive shows write protected message.
Registry trick to HKLM>System>CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies>WriteProtect setting value to 1 does not work.
Thanks @FreeBooter.

wiganken · Oct 22, 2024

Ramesh Sharma said:
But what about write protection message?

Maybe that's Windows way of saying you can't copy new files to the stick because there is not enough free space?

As a test try moving (not deleting) about 10GB of files off the USB stick to create some more space and see if that works. Hopefully you will be able to move the files back but if not then at least you have not lost them.

Ramesh Sharma · Oct 22, 2024

wiganken said:
Maybe that's Windows way of saying you can't copy new files to the stick because there is not enough free space?

As a test try moving (not deleting) about 10GB of files off the USB stick to create some more space and see if that works. Hopefully you will be able to move the files back but if not then at least you have not lost them.

Right clicking any large /small mp4 file shows only two options copy and share. I can not move these files elsewhere because the cut option is grayed.

Bree · Oct 22, 2024

Ramesh Sharma said:
I have a usb flash drive of capacity 32 gb . It shows write protection message whenever I try to copy some files in it.
It has been divided in two partitions namely Audio Vol 1 (697 mb) and Video Vol 2 (28.6 gb)
I bought it from a shop and is write protected by default.

As you bought it with the files already on it, it is quite likely that it is a Write-Once-Read-Many (WORM) USB. This is commonly done for commercial products to protect the contents from illicit tampering. Microsoft do the same thing for all their Windows install USBs, the ones that you would get if you buy a retail box for Windows from a store. If so then there is no possible way to remove the read-only protection.

Write-Once-Read-Many (WORM) storage ensures data immutability and allows data to be written once and then permanently locked, ensuring its authenticity and integrity. This tamper-proof design prevents unauthorised modifications or deletions, making it ideal for archiving sensitive data.
Hardware security – Implemented at the hardware and firmware level
Modern solution – Replaces outdated CD-R/DVD-R disk storages, optical disks, zip disks and WORM tapes
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Apacer industrial AH322-M WORM (Write Once Read Many) Drive is a solid-state Flash memory product that provides data storage protection by allowing data to be written once, preventing it from being erased, modified, or overwritten. This write protection function ensures that the data cannot be tampered with once it is written to the device.
Apacer AH322-M WORM Drive is compatible with USB 2.0 standard and designed to plug in directly to USB-A receptacles.

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Apacer offers high-performance PCIe SSDs that enhance industrial reliability. From high-speed data transmission to data protection, we can provide a range of industrial temperature SSD/DRAM products.

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antspants · Oct 22, 2024

Ramesh Sharma said:
Right clicking any large /small mp4 file shows only two options copy and share. I can not move these files elsewhere because the cut option is grayed.

So just copy the files somewhere and use Rufus to format the USB?
I can’t say 100% that it will work, but I’m not the only member in this forum to have fixed the write protected status of a USB using Rufus.

neemobeer · Oct 22, 2024

Would help to know what kind of flash drive it is. Make and Model if possible.

The flash drive may have a physical dip switch to enable write-protection
The flash drive may have embedded software that enables/disables write-protection
The flash drive has the RO flag set (diskpart can remove)
The flash drive is corruption or other issues (backup and format) to attempt to fix

SIW2 · Oct 22, 2024

You could use something like chipgenius and see if it can identify the controller.

https://www.usbdev.ru/files/phison/mpall/

hsehestedt · Oct 22, 2024

Ramesh Sharma said:
Please post commands to remove write protection right from checking the status of drive.

Run "diskpart"

Once in diskpart, run "list disk". Hopefully you can tell be the size which the correct disk is. If not, you can view details of each disk.

Now run "select disk x" where x is the number of the disk you want to check.

Now run "Attributes disk"

Check to see if the read only attribute is set.

If it is then you can use this command to clear that attribute:

Attributes disk clear readonly.

EDIT: If you really need to script this, let me know. I can do it, just don't want to spend the time if not necessary. After all, how often are you likely to need this? I would submit that it is easier to do this manually.

Ramesh Sharma · Oct 22, 2024

I accept all the suggestions as they are valuable to me. @Bree has enlighten this topic as far as my usb drive is concerned. This must be WORM drive.

How to remove write protection of 32 GB usb flash drive?

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