[FIX] The Disk Is Write Protected Error For USB Drives In Windows 10

For security purpose, the USB drives we use can be set to allow or deny read and write attributes, according to our needs. Sometimes third-party software we use on our Windows operating systems can also change these attributes without our notice. As a results of which we may came around ‘The disk is write protected’ error. If any program you use have denied write permissions to your USB drive, you can’t perform any of the write operations such as formatting the drive, moving/creating new content to it etc.

When you try to format a such USB drive, the The disk is write protected message appears:

While sending files to the USB drive, the action is interrupted with same message and you’re asked to remove the write protection or use another disk:

This might draw you into frustration. Some of you may go ahead with another USB drive and if that works, you’ll term the drive on which you’re facing issue as ‘malfunctioned‘. But there are still some hope and that is to remove write protection. It is quite easy to remove write protection of a removable drive so that can be used as earlier. Here’s how:

FIX : The Disk Is Write Protected Error For USB Drives In Windows 10/8.1/8/7

FIX 1 – Using Command Prompt

1. Right click Start Button and select Command Prompt (Admin).

2. In administrative Command Prompt, type these commands (mentioned in bold) one-by-one and press Enter key after each:

diskpart

list disk

select disk #                 Replace # with your USB disk number (judge by its volume)

attributes disk clear readonly

3. Close Command Prompt window and open File Explorer to check USB drive. The write protected message should no longer appear now.

FIX 2 – Using Registry Editor

1. Press + R and put regedit in Run dialog box to open Registry Editor (if you’re not familiar with Registry Editor, then click here). Click OK.

2. In the Registry Editor window, navigate to following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\RemovableStorageDevices\{53f5630d-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}

3. In the right pane of {53f5630d-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b} key, look for the registry DWORD (REG_DWORD) named Deny_Write which should be corresponding to Value 1 as its Data. Double click on the DWORD to modify its value:

4. Set the Value data to 0 and click OK. Close Registry Editor and reboot. After restarting your machine, you will be able to perform write operations on USB drive.

Hope something helps! See this fix if your USB drives are not detected/recognized in Windows 10.