How to Fix 'The Disk is Write Protected' Error? | Remove Write Protection

A disk suddenly facing write-protected is a very common problem. When your USB/ SD card, internal, or an external hard drive is write protected, you can neither access the saved data nor do any changes to your device. So, how to remove write protection? In this video, we will show you several workable solutions on how to fix this disk is write protected error.

Timestamps:
Solution 1: Physical Check to Find Any Switch 1:40s
Solution 2: Removing Write Protection in Command Prompt 2:21s
Solution 3: Use Registry to Remove Disk Write Protection 3:08s
Solution 4: Remove Individual Files with Write Protection 4:03s
Solution 5: Check the Available Space 4:28s

How to fix “the disk is Write Protected” error?

Solution 1: Physical Check to Find Any Switch
Some USB sticks/SD cards have a mechanical switch on them that puts them into Write Protect mode. If face this situation, then just move the switch to the unlocked position and try to copy files again.

Solution 2: Removing Write Protection in Command Prompt
Hit Windows key + X, and select Command Prompt (Admin) from the menu. In this menu two things such as
1. Type diskpart, and next press Enter
2. Next, type list disk, and press Enter. You should see a list of currently mounted disks
3. Make sure you can see your USB drive on the screen. Make a note of your disk number.
4. Now enter the following command: select disk [your disk number]
5. Once selected, enter the following command: attributes disk clear readonly
6. You’ve cleared any remaining read-only file attributes from the USB Flash Drive/SD Card.

Solution 3: Use Registry to Remove Disk Write Protection
1. Press the Windows key+X, select “Run”
2. In the search box on the taskbar, type regedit and select “OK”. Then, select the top result for Registry Editor
3. Go to the key registry key below: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies
4. left side in the window click Control key, and select New and Key, named StorageDevicePolicies.
5. On the right panel of StorageDevicePolicies, right-click and select New DWORD and give it name as WriteProtect.
6. Double-click the WriteProtect value in the right pane of StorageDevicePolicy.
7. Change the Value data from "1" to "0" and click OK to save your changes.

Solution 4: Remove Individual Files with Write Protection
Browse to your USB drive, and find the offending file. Right-click and select Properties. At the bottom of the panel, under Attributes, ensure Read-only is unchecked.

Solution 5: Check the Available Space
Open Windows Explorer and browse to my computer. This gives you an overview of all drives connected to your system. Right-click your USB drives and selects the Properties. Then you can view the size of used space and free space in Windows 7/8/10.
If the size of the used space is too large, this might enable the write protection function. To solve this, you may need to delete unnecessary files to free up space.

Hope those solutions will be helpful for you to fix "this disk is write protected error".

[photocto]

Tried all steps, no luck. Still write protected :(

[jamiessimplybassfishing]

That was great, took about 10 seconds watching your video and 2 seconds to flip the switch on the SD card, thank you so much.

[BeanyBeans]

Oh, thanks! I was able to use the attributes clear to remove the 'write protection' from my 2 terabyte external hard drive. I appreciate how simple and helpful this video was.

[HandlelessTML]

Thanks! I was trying to move some files so I can factory reset my laptop and running command prompt fixed this issue for me.

[Tweenie]

Hi I followed your instruction but still cannot format my usb flash drive . it has the same error The Disk is Write Protected. any other ideas? Thanks

[salvor]

I have a flock of chips that have become write protected with my main computer. Do the methods unwrite protect the system (that drive or any sd card) or just that chip?
I ask this because the same 'write protected' cards are not write protected in another computer.

[aravind]

Not even one option worked for my usb drive. What might be the issue? How to remove write protection or format it? Any idea please share..

[arunv]

simple techniques like this helps a lot

[onkarmundhe]

still unable to remove write protection on my sdcard

[RidiculouslyRandy]

Recoverit can pull the pictures however my SD car is readable but not writable nor is it formatable. I tried what you suggested but none of it works. I can see and open the picture and video files and (right mouse click) copy/paste them but I need a clean SD card and all the space. Help.

[LK-xevn]

silly thing, I used tio have usb 2.0 Manta all in one card reader and here my SD card is readable and can do anything with data on it. Bought on amazon USB 3.1 Lexar card reader and for some reason my card inside is read only. but again I put the same card back to Manta 2.0 and it is readable and same in Lexar says can not copy to it. So what causing that issue? I did not find answer in your video and do not know what should I do.
Regards

[dazz]

Thanks for this excellent video. I have spent hours on the net trying to find a solution to remove the "write protection" on one of the internal hard drives in my desktop and have no idea why it happened.
I was ready to give up on it and then found this video.
It was straight to the point with clear voice and easy to follow procedures.
I used the Command Prompt/ diskpart solution.
Again --- Thank you!!

[rekhakhandelwal]

Hello actually I have a CD that is provided from school and the files in that is useless so I want just that those files will be delete and insert new files

But the problem is that it is write protected and that write protected can't be able to unprotect by command prompt also and in regestry method I to not able to see control option only

So can you please suggest how to resolve this problem please it's very helpfull for me

[ylzqmno]

I have a MicroSD 512gb that the only use was on a nintendo switch oled, and from a day to another, the games failed to start, and i cannot play anything. Until i realise that was becouse the Micro SD, I insert into the Windows machine through a usb dongle, but i followed the diskpart thing, and some software, and even i manage to unlock and write something, but it wasn't writing anything, now the Micro SD is still write protected, there's anything to do for it? Or is a hardware related failure? Thanks

[PoBros.]

Wow! I can't believe all I had to do was move the MicroSD Adapter from Locked to Unlocked. Thank you!

[gilwe]

How does an HDD become write-protected anyway? I have a Seagate that I repartitioned and reformatted a few times. At some point it always becomes write-protected...

[cornycuby]

i havent watched it yet but do you think you can do one for the 2ds how to fix? that would help a lot bekease im trying to download games it wont let me go in the store at all or download games can you help with that??

[heyhow]

1:10 All i needed. Thank you so much!
I thought it locked the micro SD so it wouldn't go out, but it had a different purpose.

[kevinclark]

dose any of this work on external hard drives?

[beyondtheuniverse]

Hi, I have a 16 GB Sony pen drive and it seems to be disk full.But when I go to properties it shows there are 2 GB free space left on my drive.I watched your video on YouTube .Also did that all methods which were described in both in video and your website.But none of them work for me.Please help me .There should be some way to solve this except buying new pen drive :(