With the rapid development of technology, USB flash drive has become an indispensable data storage tool in our daily life. However, sometimes we may encounter the problem that the USB flash drive is written protection, which brings a lot of inconvenience to our work and study. So, what should we do when the USB flash drive is write-protected?This article will provide you with detailed solutions.
1. Understand the reasons for the write protection of USB flash drive.
Before solving the problem, we first need to understand the reason why the USB flash drive is write protected. Generally speaking, USB flash drive is write-protected in the following situations:
The USB flash drive itself has a write-protection switch and has been toggled to write-protection
The USB flash drive is attacked by viruses or malware, resulting in damage to the file system
The operating system or related software settings are incorrect, resulting in the USB flash drive being mistakenly set to read-only mode.
Second, the solution.
In view of the above reasons, we can take the following measures to solve the problem of USB flash drive being written protection:
Check the write protection switch of the USB flash drive.
First of all, we need to check whether there is a write protection switch on the USB flash drive. If so, toggle it to normal. Normally, this switch is located on the side of the USB flash drive in the shape of a small slider. After flipping the switch, plug and unplug the USB flash drive again to see if the problem is resolved.
Run the disk detection repair command.
If the USB flash drive does not have a write protection switch or the problem is not resolved after flipping the switch, we can try to run the disk detection repair command. The steps are as follows:
1) Use the keyboard shortcut key combination [Win+R] to open the running window, enter "cmd" and click [OK] to enter the command prompt interface
2) Enter "chkdsk h: f" in the command prompt (where "h:" is the drive letter of the U disk, modify it according to your actual situation), and then press the enter key
3) After the command is finished, try to plug and unplug the USB flash drive again to see if the problem has been solved.
Format the USB flash drive.
If none of the above methods work, we can consider formatting the USB flash drive. But please note that formatting will result in the loss of all data on the USB flash drive, so be sure to back up important data before operation. The formatting steps are as follows:
1) Right-click the USB flash drive letter and select [Format].
2) In the pop-up formatting window, select [FAT32] as the file system and select [Quick Format (Q)].
3. Click the Start button to format it
4) After the formatting is completed, plug and unplug the USB flash drive again to see if the problem has been solved.
Change the policy settings.
In some cases, changing the policy settings of the USB flash drive may also solve the write-protected issue. The steps are as follows:
1) Right-click the USB drive letter and select [Properties].
2) In the pop-up properties window, select the Hardware tab
3) Select the USB flash drive device and click Properties
4) In the pop-up device properties window, select the Policies tab
5) Change the policy to "Better Performance" (or "Optimize for Better Performance" on Windows XP);
6) Click OK to save the settings and try to replug the USB flash drive.
Modify the registry (with caution).
If none of the above methods solve the problem, we can also try to modify the registry. However, please note that modifying the registry is risky, so please proceed with caution. The steps are as follows:
1) Use the keyboard shortcut key combination [Win+R] to open the running window, type "regedit" and click [OK] to enter the registry editor
2) Expand the registry path to "hkey local machine system currentcontrolset control storagedevicepolicies".
3) Right-click on the blank space in the right window and select [New] - [DWORD Value], and name it "WriteProtect".
4) Double-click "writeprotect" to set its numeric data to "0".
5) Click OK to save the settings and try to replug the USB flash drive.
3. Summary and Suggestions.
Through the above methods, I believe you have successfully solved the problem that the USB flash drive is written protected. To avoid the recurrence of similar issues, we recommend that you take the following precautions:
Regularly back up important data in the USB flash drive just in case;
Avoid connecting the USB flash drive to devices that may contain viruses or malware
Pay attention to the proper use and maintenance of the USB flash drive to prolong its service life.