IT'S WORKS

Check out the registry under

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies.

The value 'WriteProtect' should be absent or set to '0'.

Sometimes, while copying files from one disk to another, you may get an error showing
that the disk is write protected. This tutorial is for handling that error.

What is Write protection?

As the term explains itself, Write protection means that the disk is protected against
write operations. i.e., you cant write on the disk. You are only allowed to read and copy
data from that disk, but unable to write or delete any content of that disk.

Why this happens to USB drives?

This can happen because of any one of these two reasons.

1. Virus attack. Viruses sometimes change the access to be write protected, which may
lead to this problem.
2. Enabling the Lock switch. Some USB device has a lock switch. If you lock that using
the switch, then it will make the access restricted from write.

Way to remove/disable Write protection

A. Searching for the Lock Switch
If you have locked the switch by mistake then, the only way is to search for the switch
and unlock it. There is no other way to remove the write protection from that device.

B. Registry Editing
If plan A fails, then there comes plan B. You have to do a small registry editing to
disable Write Protection.

Steps to be followed:
1. Press Windows + R to open the Run Window an then type regedit and
pressEnter to open the
Registry Editor.

2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrrentControlSet ->

Control. Search for StorageDevicePolicies.
If that doesnt exist, then add add a new key named StorageDevicePolicies. Now
navigate to that and create a new D-WORD(32 bit), WriteProtect.
3. Change the value of the key WriteProtect to 0.

C. Formatting the USB Drive

You can also format the USB drive to make it write protection free. But here, first you
have to Low level Format and then format normally. For Low level format, you can
use this software.

1. Now open the Device Manager by right clicking on My Computer icon and
selecting Manage.
2. Select Disk Management from left pane. Now right click on the drive and
selectFormat.

D. Another Low Level Formatting tool

If you are still facing the problem, even after following previous three methods. You
may use HDD LLF Low Level Format Tool to format your USB Flash Drive. Many
users have found this tool very useful. You can find a link to this tool, below in the
comment section.

D. Solutions suggested by our Visitors

A. One of our visitors Tom has suggested a method to solve this problem. You can find
the method in the comment section.

B. You can also see the Steps suggested by one of our visitors, John Mitchell Here

Conclusion :
Some faults of USB Flash Drives can be caused by different hardware issues like broken
circuitry, misalignment of input contacts etc. In that case you can also have write
protection problem. Actually in Flash drive data is stored in an array of memory cells
(each memory cell contains a binary 1 or 0). To write a 1, a threshold voltage is
applied to a memory cell, where no applied voltage means 0. This writing operation
can be blocked by using a lock switch, changing Operating Software configuration or if
Flash drivess write circuity is broken. Only for the first two cases the problem can be
solved by following above mentioned methods.

If you have any other method to solve this type of problem, you may add your solution
in the comment section.
How to remove a write protection from your USB memory Stick if there is no Write protection ON or OFF
button on stick then

1. Shutdown your computer or laptop

2. Insert USB Memory Stick into your laptop or Computer
3. Turn on laptop and then immediately start pressing (F8) key then Advanced Boot Options screen will
come up
4. Select Safe Mode with Command Prompt
5. After loading files if your USB Memory Stick drive letter is (G) for example then write as
6. C:\windows\system32>G: and press enter
7. G:\>format G: and press enter
8. If ask you (Y/N) then press (Y) and press enter
9. Now a full format will start which remove write protection from USB Memory Stick.
Note:
Before removing USB from your computer, Always remove it safely by going into to my computer then
right click on USB and click eject.