Windows 10: 32GB USB "Suddenly" is Write Protected; Cannot Format or Delete Files?

Discus and support 32GB USB "Suddenly" is Write Protected; Cannot Format or Delete Files? in Windows 10 Support to solve the problem; I don't see a physical switch on the drive to enable/ disable write protection. Depending on how I went about to solve this I either got the message... Discussion in 'Windows 10 Support' started by phaedruspress, Jan 13, 2019.

  1. 32GB USB "Suddenly" is Write Protected; Cannot Format or Delete Files?


    I don't see a physical switch on the drive to enable/ disable write protection. Depending on how I went about to solve this I either got the message Write Protected or Read Only. Generic SanDisk Ultra 32GB stick. It was formatted fat32 and I got the message that I needed to format to NTFS in order to write larger files to it which I did and successfully formatted to NTFS. In the process of writing 2 video files I got an error message for one of the files though I do not recall what it said. One of the video files plays normally the other one it says unsupported. Both of the original files play fine on the computer. I do not recall what if any activity I used the disk for previously. I tried several methods to remove the read only/ write protection:

    https://www.easeus.com/partition-man...indows-10.html

    From the above link I tried the Diskpart command fix which did not work and when I tried the Regedit.exe fix and created a new StorageDevicePolicies key and that did not work.




    32GB USB "Suddenly" is Write Protected; Cannot Format or Delete Files? [​IMG]




    32GB USB "Suddenly" is Write Protected; Cannot Format or Delete Files? [​IMG]




    32GB USB "Suddenly" is Write Protected; Cannot Format or Delete Files? [​IMG]



    And I also tried this:



    32GB USB "Suddenly" is Write Protected; Cannot Format or Delete Files? [​IMG]



    All to no avail. So any further input appreciated. Just to reiterate I want to be able to format and or delete files from the USB flash drive and remove the Read Only and Write Protected. TIA.

    :)
     
    phaedruspress, Jan 13, 2019
    #1
  2. freebird_9924, Jan 13, 2019
    #2
  3. Fernandz Win User
    How To Format A Write Protected Flash Memory ?

    ¿You already tried this one?...

    Run CMD


    1. diskpart
    2. list disk

    Then in the 3º step, put the correct number of disk in the list for the usb flash (if it's listed in disk 3, then you'll have to write select disk 3).

    2. select disk #
    3. clean
    4. create partition primary
    5. select partition 1
    6. active
    7. format fs=fat32
    8. assign
    9. exit

    with that commands you will format the flash drive in fat32, if you have a large drive you can select also "format fs=ntfs" in step 7.

    good luck!
     
    Fernandz, Jan 13, 2019
    #3
  4. Ankit298 Win User

    32GB USB "Suddenly" is Write Protected; Cannot Format or Delete Files?

    WINDOWS IS SUDDENLY WRITE PROTECTING USB DEVICES

    I AM CURRENTLY USING WINDOWS 10 ON MY HP E-024TU LAPTOP. SUDDENLY IT STARTED WRITE PROTECTING MY USB DEVICES. ALSO WHENEVER I TRY TO FORMAT MY USB IT SHOWS DISK IS WRITE PROTECTED AND DO NOT ALLOW ME TO FORMAT. I AM USING KASPERSKY INTERNET SECURITY, SO
    I GUESS CHANCES OF ANY VIRUS IS ALSO MINIMAL. KINDLY SUGGEST WAYS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM.
     
    Ankit298, Jan 13, 2019
    #4
  5. Cecelia New Member
    To fix read only , you can run CHKDSK utility.
    1. Open Run box, input “cmd” and hit Enter.
    2. Input “chkdsk e: /f”, where “e” is letter of partition on your USB.
    PS.: If you are prompted by the message – The operation could not be completed because the volume is dirty, you can try the following command: chkdsk e: /f/r/x to remove dirty bit and write protection on the USB drive.
    After that, you can input “exit” to close this window and format your USB drive.
    If this way can't help you, maybe you can try to format the read only drive to fix the issue. But what you need to pay attention is that format will erase all data on it, thus you can back up it in advance.
     
    Cecelia, Jan 28, 2019
    #5
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32GB USB "Suddenly" is Write Protected; Cannot Format or Delete Files?

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