Aargh! Your USB flash drive is stuck in read-only. Here’s what to do

Have you ever left the copying of your files onto a USB flash drive to the last minute before a meeting? That’s fine if the files copy over promptly, but if you’re in a rush and find that the operation is stalled out, it can be painful.

One reason for that happening is that your drive is in the read-only state, which means you’re never going to be able to copy files to it unless you turn that off. Here’s how to do that.

What to do…

Method 1

First check to see if your flash drive has a physical switch for write protect. If this is on, turn it off. Now try to copy some files to it to see if that has solved the problem. If not try the following:

Method 2

Type run in Windows Search or type Windows + R.
Now type diskpart and press OK.
Now type list disk. You should now see a list of the drives in your PC. The USB should be the last one in the list.
Now type select disk # (# being the number of your USB flash drive).
Type attributes disk to see the current read status of the drive. “On” means the drive is currently in the read-only state.
Now type attr dis clear readonly to turn off the read-only state.
Type attr dis to see the new status of the drive. If you see “off” it’s worked!

Method 3

If either of those things don’t work, try editing the registry as follows:

Connect your flash drive to your PC.
Type Windows + R and then type regedit and click OK.
Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies.
Now click on the write Protection icon. In Value data set the value to 0 and click OK.
Your flash drive should now write data. Check to see that it works.

Tip: If there is no StorageDevicePolicies, you can create the rule yourself. Here’s what to do:

Right click on Control and select New and then Key. Call it StorageDevicePolicies.
Now right click on the white space on the right and select New then DWORD (32-bit) Value. Call it WriteProtect. Now open it and set the value to 0.

Foundry

Method 4

You can also switch off read-only in the command prompt. Here’s how:

Type cmd in Windows Search then right click the Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator.
Type diskpart and Enter, followed by list disk and Enter.
Find the flash drive listed on screen. Type select disk # (# being the number of the drive).
Now type attributes disk clear readonly.

If you’ve used one of these above techniques your flash drive should now be operational again for writing data.

Further reading: Is your USB flash drive trustworthy? These tips will tell you

What is the read-only state for anyway?

Although it can get highly annoying at times, a flash drive’s read-only state does serve a purpose. It can actually be useful if you need to do any of these things:

Protect data: It stops computer processes or malware from your PC deleting or corrupting data.
Secure data: It protects the contents of the drive from accidental deletion and protects sensitive data from easily being copied if you share the drive with others.
Preserve data: Again, if you’re sharing the USB with others, read-only will ensure that there won’t be any change to the data over time.

Further reading: You’re using your USB flash drive wrong. Do this instead