"Write Protection" Removal

[tosim]

Somehow, one of my flash drives, SanDisk Micro Cruzer-1GB, got write protected on my main computer. Any time I try to copy something into it, I receive a pop-up,"Error 19-The media is write protected." No problem copying out from it the files that are already on it. On other computers, the flash drives works properly. How do I remove the write protection? Using XP Pro/SP2. Thank you.

[Panama Red]

Can you format it?

[tosim]

Unable to format, at least in the computer where it is write protected. I did not try to format in other computers.

[tosim]

Now, all of a sudden, my other flash drive has acquired same problem. I'm thinking that it is some program I may have installed, but can't recall which one.

[Blaster3]

might be caused by your media player, check its properties.
could have been a recent update to your media player, or your rip/burn software.

[kilgoretrout]

A lot of sandisk flash drives com with "U3" bundled software that autoinstalls when you first connect the drive:

http://www.u3.com/

Most people find this stuff to be annoying crapware. It may be responsible for your drive's write protected status. Here's an article on how to remove the U3 junk:

http://blog.kgrothoff.net/2006/08/24...b-flash-drive/

You may want to try removing U3 if it's installed and see if that corrects the problem.

[tosim]

Thanks to y'all. These are not U3 drives, just regular flash drives, and my External HD-USB connection.Here is update to my original post:
Somehow, my flash drives, SanDisk Micro Cruzer-1GB,and my USB
external ard drive got writeprotected on my main computer. Any time
I try to copy something into it, I receive a pop-up,"Error 19-The
media is write protected." No problem copying out from it the files
that are already on it. On other computers, the flash drives works
properly. How do I remove the write protection? Using XP Pro/SP2.
Cannot format the flash drives, even in Safe mode, or using Disk
management, or command mode. However, they work properly on other
computers. Am reasonably sure problem was caused by one of the apps
for safety on USB drives, but I thought I checked them all out prior
to uninstalling them. I am wondering if formatting the computer and
reinstalling Windows will do it? Thank you.

[Kuch]

Searching the web, I’ve noticed a number of people having issues similar to this with various types/makes of pen drives. Typically it points to a failure of the drive. One of the contributing factors to the cause of this appears to be removing the stick from the USB port without doing the “you can now safely remove your device” procedure. My only other advice is to return it if it is still under warranty.

[kilgoretrout]

Can you delete the partition on the affected drive in Disk Management? Have you tried formatting the drives on the other computers where they work normally?

Edit: I don't think this is a hardware problem since the devices function properly on other boxes. Just googling around I saw a solution on another forum involving a registry edit. If every usb storage device is giving you the same write protect issue, a problem in the registry seems like a problable cause. Here's the instructions for the edit:

- Start > Run > type ‘regedit’ (without the speachmarks) > Enter - Single-click on ‘My Computer’ > File > Export > save it to the Desktop (Always best to have a backup!!) - Go to the following: My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDe vicePolicies *There seems to be some spaces here in 'StorageDevicePolicies' in the text above, there shouldn't be, OK* - Double click on the string ‘WriteProtect’ and change the ‘Value Data’ box to ‘0’ - Then: File > Export > save somewhere useful as something like ‘StorageDevicePolicies001.reg’ - You also need to do this for the strings in any folders called ‘ControlSet***’ (* = any Digit, i.e. 001, 002) – for example: Everything is the same, just change ‘CurrentControlSet’ to ‘ControlSet***’ My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\StorageDevice Policies *There seems to be some spaces here in 'StorageDevicePolicies' in the text above, there shouldn't be, OK* - Save these to the same place as before as ‘StorageDevicePolicies00*’ The saves are in case it reverts at a later date, just double click (saying ‘yes’ to importing these to the registry) on all of the files and it will all work again!

[tosim]

kilgoretrout-Thank you. Coincidentally I found that fix ,and it works, about 10 minutes ago. Even though you've got it posted, I'm pasting my fix, as it may be a little clearer to those people not familiar with the registry. Thank you again.
Re: Problem with USB flash drive-"Write Protected"
There is a simple solution for thisin the case of windows.
Just do a "regedit" for StorageDevicePolicies key. . Get
into the Registry - Press Start ->Run, enter regedit, press Ok
Click on My Computer. Then press File Export, give some file
name to backup the registry. Just in caseyou ever need to rollback.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/StorageDevicePolicies .
In the right pane select "writeprotect" . RESET the value to '0' Repeat
the same for ControlSet001 and ControlSet002 incase they exist. Now plug
in your USB drives and it should work. Else just reboot the machine and try.

[zebac]

i can not find the file storage...i have done everything as it was writen but that file is missing....please help

[juhsga]

I have tried to go through my registry with the instructions provided but can not find the 'storagedevicepolicies' or 'writeprotect'. I even did a search and couldn't find neither. I have Windows Vista Home Premium, if that makes any difference.

Can anyone tell me where else I should look for disabling the writeprotect so I can format my USB drive? Won't work with conventional methods ......

~J

[BruceSmith]

Hi tosim,
I have the same problem you have and was working from the long time. It was not fixed since long time many of my friend also tried to solve this problem in my pc but couldn't work. The same problem was there with my microsd card the card is write protected when I plug in with my card reader. But trying with your regedit solution both are working fine. I think the big problem of mine is solved and saved my few bugs.
Thanks.

[wamwam]

You can actually restore the drive to full functionality by using the instructions in this article on recovering broken flash drives. Just be sure to follow the instructions really well, and it even provides the free software to restore the drive. Hope this helps.