How to Remove Write Protection From My USB Flash Drive

By aOOggy Updated 

 

Write protection is a powerful resource which allows users to ensure the safety and legitimacy of content on a drive. If you've placed important material that shouldn't be altered on a drive that's shared among collaborators or other individuals, write protection can create specific "privileges" for each user and remove a person's ability to alter content on the drive. The time may come, however, when you need to remove write protection on your USB drive or reassign authoring permissions to another individual. Fortunately, removing write protection from USB flash drives can be accomplished quickly and easily using a few simple steps.

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How to Remove Write Protection on USB Drives

Edit Windows Registry Key

When the value of Windows Registry Key is set incorrectly, you can remove write protection using Registry Editor.
1. Type “regedit” in Run dialogue.
2. Navigate to the path below:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies
3. Double click WriteProtect and Changethe value data from 1 to 0. Then, click “OK”.

Note: It is possible that there is no StorageDevicePolicies under Control. If you are in such case, you can right click Control and go to “New”>“Key”. Then name it with StorageDevicePolicies.

At the right-hand pane, right click white space and go to “New”>“DWORD (32-bit) value”. Name it with Write Protect and open it to set the Value data to 0.

4. Close Regedit Editor and check whether the write protection is removed.

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How to Remove Write Protection on Flash Drives

If you have administrator access to your computer and are the original owner of the drive, you can adjust Read/Write settings on the drive itself by right-clicking the USB icon once it's plugged into your computer and selecting "Security" from the "Properties" menu. After entering your administrator password, you should be able to enable "Write" settings for other users as needed.

Keep in mind that you can use these same processes repeatedly as needed in order to modify a user's permission as needed. For example, you can repeatedly lock or unlock a USB drive if allowing collaborators to add or modify content at specific periods of time. It's important to remember, however, that unlocking a drive does allow anyone in possession of the drive to modify all available content as he sees fit.

How to Remove Read-Only From a USB Drive

By aOOggy

If your external USB drive is in "Read-Only" mode, that means that no changes can be made to the contents of the drive. The files can be viewed and opened, but cannot be moved, deleted or edited. If you wish to have full read/write access to the USB drive, you must first adjust the drive's permissions. You will need to log in as the administrator to do so.

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Step 1

Log in to Windows using the administrator account.

Step 2

Connect the USB drive to the computer.

Step 3

Double-click "Computer" on the desktop. Right-click the USB drive, select "Properties."

Step 4

Open the "Security" tab, click "Edit..."

Step 5

Select the user you wish to give write access to, or select "Everyone." Set all permissions to "Allow." This lets the selected user view and edit the contents of the drive.

Step 6

Click "Apply," then "OK."


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