One of the many common situations that concerns storage units, say hard drives or USB memories, also called pendrive, is write protection, leading to be one of the most frustrating errors for users because no operation can be done on the data on the drives. So, today we are going to explain how to remove write protection in Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10.
Usually almost All these devices have a write protection button included, thus preventing the data in the memory or hard disk from being modified on the computer, even preventing being able to copy them and carry out other operations.
Steps on how to remove write protection from a storage drive in Windows 7, 8 and 10, and be able to format it
It should be noted that this is a tool used in a large number of storage drives in order to protect them against viruses and malware. On the other hand, activating the lock on multiple occasions is really simple, but quite the opposite when you want to remove it.
Because of this, There are multiple ways to eliminate the blockage of the USB memory or hard disk, which we will provide you .
To perform the process of removing write protection, perform each of the ways that we will explain below:
How to remove write protection in Windows using diskpart command
The first solution is “Using the Diskpart command”,, It should be noted that this is one of the most effective ways to remove the information blockage from the device. Especially if it is the end of all this is to be able to format the device.
In this way, We are going to explain this process step by step through this command:
- First, it must be executed as “Administrator” command prompt or “PowerShell”.
- Then the key combination is pressed “Windows + X” to be able to start the options of the “Start Menu”.
- In this menu you must select “PowerShell (Administrator)” to start its execution.
- In the new command window that appears, you must put the following: “Diskpart” and the key is pressed Enter.
- Once the command is written, the tool begins to run.
- At this time with storage unit inserted on the computer, you type “List disk” and it is pressed “Enter”.
- A new window opens with a list of drives. At this point you must identify which storage unit you want to unlock. One element to take into account is to know the storage capacity of the USB memory or the hard disk.
- Once found, select the corresponding disc number to the device and placed in the command “Select disk
“ . - Then this command is written to enable reading and writing on the device “Attributes disk clear readonly”.
- At this time the new partition is created on the “Disk partition table” for this the following command is used: “Create partition primary”.
- Partition number 1 is selected by writing “Select partition 1”.
- The command is used “Format fs =
” to be able to format said device. In the format you must place “NTFS” if the drive is an external hard drive, and “FAT32” or “FAT” if it is a smaller drive such as USB. - Once this is done, the option must be activated to assign it a letter and ensure its proper functioning. For this you use the commands “Active” and subsequently “Assign letter =
“ . - Once this is done, the process will be over and the device can start to be used again.
How to remove write protection in Windows using Regedit.exe
Another way that can be available to try to solve this type of situation in storage units is to the graphical interface of Windows 10. Keep in mind that this situation is causing the unit to crash may be due to a bad configuration in the system registry. So that, in this case, Regedit.exe will be used to try to solve this situation.
Here are the steps to follow:
- To start you must press the arrow keys. “Windows + R “ and the tool will come out “Run”.
- A window opens where we write “Regedit”.
- At this moment within the “Registry Editor” The following path must be placed to progress with the process: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINES SYSTEM CurrentControlSet Control StorageDevicePolicies.
- In this step 2 things can happen, the first would be that the value key does not exist. If so, you must create it yourself or you yes it exists. In the case that it is found, a value called “WriteProtect” and double click on said value and put a “0”.
- At this moment, if this value does not exist, it must be created, for this it is necessary to perform right click on the window.
- Later it is selected “New” and “Key”. There you must put the name of “StorageDevicePolicies”.
- At this time inside the new created value key, and in the right part of the window you right-click on the white space.
- Choose the option of “New” “Dword (32-bit) Value”. And it is assigned the name of “WriteProtect”.
- Continuation will be to open it and write on it the number “0” Same as in the previous case.
Once the above steps have been completed, the following would be Restart your computer. When the system has turned on again, insert USB drive in one of the ports. At this time the device should be recognized and the error should have been fixed.
Now everything is ready to start formatting the write-protected storage drive, and we explain it to you below:
- Go to “My team”.
- Search for the device and right-click on it to select the option for “Format”.
- The next thing will be to choose the parameters that appear on the screen “NTFS or FAT” and click on “Start”.
- Once this process has finished, the device will have been formatted and is ready for use.
With the command «prompt»
If by chance the error continues despite having done the previous method, then the command «prompt», in this case we will explain below:
- First of all you have to connect the storage drive to the computer through one of the USB ports.
- Then you access the registry editor of the computer, for this you must select “Start”> “Run”> “We write the CMD command” and press “Enter” this in the case that you are working on a device Windows 7 or lower.
- In the event that you are working in Windows 8, 8.1 and 10 you can press the keys “Windows + R” and enter the command “CMD” and then press Enter.
- Once the above is done, a new window opens, similar to the one in MS-DOS, where you have to type the command “Diskpart” and press “Enter”, automatically displays a new window on screen.
- In the new window that appears on the screen, very similar to the previous one, you have to type the command: “List Disk” and the key is pressed Enter.
- At this moment some settings are shown on the screen, here the device is selected using the command “Select disk x”, it must be taken into account that the “X” it must be replaced by the number that represents that unit.
- Once the unit is selected, the command must be entered Attributes disk clear readonly “ , and the “Enter “.
- In this way you can remove write protection from drive.
Format the drive before Windows starts
There’s another way remove write lock from storage drives , this is about formatting the storage drive before it the windows operating system start. Next we present the steps to follow:
- The first thing to do is turn off the computer.
- When the computer is off, connect the storage unit to one of the ports on the computer.
- Now we proceed to turn on the computer. While the equipment is turning on, press the f8 key continuously so that the computer can start the “Advanced boot”.
- Keep in mind that you should NOT choose the safe mode using the keyboard, if you do, you have to go to the storage unit as soon as you load the file.
- When starting the process, the following will appear: C: Windows system32>.
- The drive to which the storage drive is attached should be written at this point. An example of this is, if the drive is connected as drive C you must write the letter “C” and press Enter.
- Later it will be enter C: format C and the key is pressed “AND” in order to continue with the process.
- This way the storage drive will be formatted before it Windows operating system starts, a very easy way to be able to remove the write protection in USB storage drives.
If you want to know more about system32, I invite you to read the article.