If your pen drive is write-protected, you may not have the ability to modify files or format the drive. There are a few things you can do to remove write protection from a USB drive. However, it’s also possible the drive may be failing or locked with security software making it impossible to write to.
Write protection is a locking mechanism which is used to prevents any edit operation on the devices like USB pen drive, SD card, external hard drive disk. It can be used to protect the data on the device and can also prevent virus infection, but sometimes, corrupted devices can also become corrupted. So, how to remove write protection?
Write Protection Switch on the USB Flash Drive
Some USB flash drives have a switch on the shell, you can check first if your pen drive have that switch when you find your thumb drive get write protection. Turn off the switch, then you can try it on your computer again.
Remove write protection on USB flash drive/pen drive using Regedit.exe
Click “Start”, type: Regedit in the search box, click “Regedit.exe“ to open the Registry editor when you see it is displayed at the top of the list.
Then navigate to the following key:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet
\Control\StorageDevicePolicies
Double-click on the “WriteProtect” value in the right-hand pane of Regedit.exe.
Change the “Value” data from “1” to “0” and click “OK” to save the change.
Close Regedit and restart your computer. Connect your USB flash drive or pen drive again, and you should find the write protection is removed and the device is no longer write protected.
