How to Disable Write Protection on a USB Drive

This guide provides step-by-step instructions to disable write protection on USB drives under different circumstances.

General Methods to Disable Write Protection

Method 1: Check Physical Lock

Some USB sticks have a physical write-protection switch. Make sure it is set to "unlocked" or "off".

Method 2: Using Diskpart (Windows)

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator.

2. Type diskpart and press Enter.

3. Enter list disk to see all connected drives.

4. Identify your USB drive by its size.

5. Run:

   select disk #
   attributes disk clear readonly

   Replace # with your USB disk number.

6. Type exit to close Diskpart.

Method 3: Registry Editor (Windows)

1. Press Windows + R, type regedit, and press Enter.
2. Navigate to:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies
3. If WriteProtect exists, set its value to 0.
4. If not, create a DWORD (32-bit) value named WriteProtect and set it to 0.
5. Restart your computer.

Method 4: Use Disk Management

• Right-click Start > Disk Management.
• Locate your USB stick.
• If it shows as "Unallocated", right-click and create a new simple volume.
• If it's formatted but write-protected, formatting might still fail.

Method 5: Manufacturer Utility

Check if the USB manufacturer provides a specific tool:

• SanDisk: SanDisk USB Repair Tool
• WD: Western Digital Dashboard
• Kingston: Kingston Format Utility

Special Case: Dell Recovery USB Drives

Dell’s recovery USB drives are intentionally write-protected at the hardware or firmware level.

Can You Disable Write Protection?

No. These drives are locked by design to prevent modification and ensure recovery integrity.

What Can You Do Instead?

1. Copy Files from the Drive: The content can be read and copied.
2. Create a New Writable USB: Use the Dell OS Recovery Tool to make a new bootable recovery USB on a standard drive.
   • Download from: https://www.dell.com/support/osrecovery (opens in a new tab)
3. Use Another USB Drive: Dell recovery USBs cannot be reused for general storage.

Conclusion

Write protection can sometimes be cleared using Diskpart or the Registry Editor, but manufacturer-imposed or hardware-level protections (like Dell’s recovery USBs) usually cannot be disabled.