My USB drive is protected and I don't know how to open it

[Daniel Z.]

I need to delete all the files in a USB drive but it is protected. plz halp. I use 

WINDOWS 10

[vanished]

Can you not just format it?  Or use a wiping tool like http://www.killdisk.com/killdisk-freeware.htm ?

 

Or, if you don't need it to work ever again, a hammer also works well

[Daniel Z.]

Just now, Ryan_Vickers said:

Can you not just format it?  Or use a wiping tool like http://www.killdisk.com/killdisk-freeware.htm ?

 

Or, if you don't need it to work ever again, a hammer also works well

no, format doesnt work. will try killdisk

 

[Daniel Z.]

1 minute ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Can you not just format it?  Or use a wiping tool like http://www.killdisk.com/killdisk-freeware.htm ?

 

Or, if you don't need it to work ever again, a hammer also works well

the killdisk website looks so sketchy lol

[Tsuki]

you can always remove the write protection tag in the registry then use diskpart as admin to format it

[Windows7ge]

I like the classic CMD environment. Though I've heard even this may not work with protected drives.

 

How did the drive become protected?

[LienusLateTips]

If you want the files, first copy them.

 

 

Then follow this guide:

 

Quote

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. And 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.

After that, you can now format the drive as normal by right-clicking on it in My Computer and choosing Format. "The disk is write protected" error message will no longer pop up.

 

[Daniel Z.]

1 minute ago, Windows7ge said:

I like the classic CMD environment. Though I've heard even this may not work with protected drives.

 

How did the drive become protected?

 

3 minutes ago, Tsuki said:

you can always remove the write protection tag in the registry then use diskpart as admin to format it

 

6 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Can you not just format it?  Or use a wiping tool like http://www.killdisk.com/killdisk-freeware.htm ?

 

Or, if you don't need it to work ever again, a hammer also works well

KILLDISK worked thnx

[Daniel Z.]

6 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Can you not just format it?  Or use a wiping tool like http://www.killdisk.com/killdisk-freeware.htm ?

 

Or, if you don't need it to work ever again, a hammer also works well

nvm, still there

[LienusLateTips]

1 minute ago, Daniel Z. said:

nvm, still there

try my method

[Daniel Z.]

Just now, JDE said:

try my method

where is storage device policies?

[LienusLateTips]

1 minute ago, Daniel Z. said:

where is storage device policies?

regedit

[Daniel Z.]

Just now, JDE said:

regedit

after control I cant find the device polices

[LienusLateTips]

Just now, Daniel Z. said:

after control I cant find the device polices

wondows version?

[Daniel Z.]

Just now, JDE said:

wondows version?

10

[LienusLateTips]

11 minutes ago, Daniel Z. said:

10

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/3548-enable-disable-disk-write-protection-windows.html