How To Enable Write Protection of USB Devices Under Windows

How To Enable Write Protection Of USB Devices Under Windows -
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How To Enable Write Protection Of USB Devices Under Windows

By Martin Brinkmann on March 18, 2011 - Tags:usb, windows registry, Windows tips You have probably seen the following scenario in multiple thriller and spy movies; A spy connects an USB stick to a computer to copy data from the computer to the device. Movies do not necessarily reflect reality but there is some truth to this scenario after all. It is indeed possible to connect an USB device to a computer running Windows to copy data from that computer to the removable storage device. It is sometimes in the best interest of companies, organizations and individuals to protect the data on their computer from being copied this way. Microsoft has added options to the Windows operating system (more precisely to Windows XP and newer operating systems) to write protect all USB devices that are connected to it. This indicates that it may not always be possible to protect the computer this way, for instance if data needs to be written to USB devices regularly. Write Protection adds another layer of defense to the computer. The system is not fool proof on its own, as it is still possible to copy data, for instance by uploading it to the Internet or a network connection.
Write Protecting USB Devices

You can enable or disable write protection of all USB devices that are connected to the Windows operating system. Both settings are configured in the Windows Registry. Here is how this is done. Open the Windows Registry editor with the shortcut Windows-r, enter regedit into the form and press the return key on the keyboard.
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Navigate to the following Registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies Please note that you may need to create the key StorageDevicePolicies if it does not exist. Select the key afterwards and right-click into the right window. Select New > Dword (32-bit) Value from the context menu and name the entry WriteProtect. Double-click the new entry afterwards and change the value from 0 to 1. A value of 1 disables writing to all connected USB devices. If you want to enable writing again you need to change the value of the key to 0.
The new setting takes effect immediately. Every user who tries to copy data to USB devices with write protection enabled receives the following notification window.
It reads Copy File
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The disk is write-protected Remove the write-protection or use another disk. I have created two Registry files to enable or disable write protection. You can download a zip file that contains both files here: write protect This way you can disable write protection with a click on a file, and enable it again when you have copied files to the USB device. Enjoyed the article?: Then sign-up for our free newsletter or RSS feed to kick off your day with the latest technology news and tips, or share the article with your friends and contacts on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ using the icons below.
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About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter. Previous Post: Focus Keyboard Improves Your Firefox Workflow Next Post: How To Configure Account Time Limits Under Windows 7
Responses so far:
1. will says: March 18, 2011 at 6:29 pm Made a tool in assembly to do this
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http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/4653/blocker.png http://whatsmypass.com/USBStopper.exe Reply 2. Eyric says: September 6, 2011 at 7:22 am thanks for that application.. my problem is my transcend 8gb flash drive is write protected even though it does not have a switch for write protected and unprotected. i tried to fiz the registry, the device manager, but it has no effect. i tried transcend online format but it says that no flash drive detected. any body can help me? Reply 3. Becky says: December 15, 2011 at 1:39 am I tried this to disable write protection on my flash drive but it didnt work. Reply 4. Jude says: January 6, 2012 at 1:16 pm I followed all your instructions here, yet it didnt work. What do I do next? Reply 5. Shohag B. says: January 13, 2012 at 7:20 am I cant find "StorageDevicePolicies"...im using xp 2005. any one ? Reply 6. Gideon says: January 26, 2012 at 8:35 am I have tried to remove the write protection using windows and its not working? what next? Reply 7. UT says: January 28, 2012 at 8:41 am You guys would like to check out the solution given on this page. If this didnt work then your disk might be corrupted. This sounds hard but I fear that this might be the only reason. Mine Kingston DataTraveller also failed like this, so I am also in shock. Here is the link: http://techsalsa.com /solution-to-remove-write-protection-from-usb-pen-drive/ Hope this helps. Reply
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8. eljo says: February 9, 2012 at 11:26 am It worked in my office pc where writing to usb stick was disabled. Thanks a Lot!!!! Reply 9. rups says: February 18, 2012 at 1:02 pm hi dear thanks for suggestion for my problem i am solve problem Reply 10. md says: February 21, 2012 at 6:38 am tq, it worked, after 2 wks of search i finally got the ans, tq again Reply 11. Ganesh says: March 30, 2012 at 10:57 am Thanks Reply 12. Mohammed says: April 4, 2012 at 12:56 pm I have 4 GB Sony pen drive usb 2.0. I try to open getting pop msg--> Do you want to formate. After formate again getting msg like --> The operation did not complete because the media WRITE PROTECTED. I try from Manage--> Disk Management also --> windows not succesfull formate... Its very challenging to us. could you plz help me on this. Reply uniqboy says: March 20, 2013 at 2:13 pm Try using Diskpart: open command prompt Type Diskpart-> list disk -> select disk ->attributes disk clear readonly ->exit Done! for details, check: tech-soln.blogspot.in/2013/02/how-to-enable-or-disable-write.html Reply 13. Jude says: April 5, 2012 at 6:44 pm I think the problem is due to virus infection. If you tried all the above without success, just throw it away. Reply
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14. Vinz says: April 14, 2012 at 12:04 pm Please Help Me To Remove The Write Protection Of My Genx 32gb Flash Drive... Thanks Reply 15. schn00 says: April 18, 2012 at 3:53 pm Thanks bro.......it works for me very well:D Reply 16. MAYIL says: April 22, 2012 at 8:34 am i follow those above steps but still itis write protect only hoe to disable it help me Reply 17. chetan patil says: June 2, 2012 at 7:35 am I tried that app but didnt work Reply 18. eone says: June 21, 2012 at 12:27 pm you need to replug the usb device to make it work Reply 19. Manoj Baghele says: June 23, 2012 at 1:28 pm Every trick didnt work bakwas:-) Reply 20. Erick Koston says: August 10, 2012 at 7:16 am peoples, you can resolve this if you put a windows cd-rom and put to format the Hard-Drive, in the list of hard drive you select the pen-drive write protec and format him, only format, dont instal nothing, or you can put to put windows in the usb and in the middle of instalation put out the usb, this will cause a corrupt usb, in a RAW format, now in the windows, enter in disk management and create a new simple volume ! its easy !! hugs ! Reply 21. shhain says: October 10, 2012 at 11:53 am thank u very much Reply 22. jasmine says: October 20, 2012 at 6:42 pm
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May i know how to go to window registry? Ive just bought a new 8 GB pendrive, it works fine for the past 1 week. However, its write protected now. I couldnt delete files in the pendrive nor copy new files into it. I couldnt format the disk too. Ive downloaded UFIX, however, i couldnt execute the disk in control disk. Please help to recover my pendrive, suggestion highly appreciated. Thanks Reply 23. hafiz says: October 23, 2012 at 8:27 pm nothing happen after i tried all the trick..please help me. Reply 24. KHURRAM PAKISTANI says: November 1, 2012 at 12:18 pm GREAT GREAT GREAT, THE GREATEST IDEA. THANKS A LOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT Reply 25. sai says: November 4, 2012 at 6:10 pm So Thanks Reply 26. Contractor says: November 15, 2012 at 9:15 am The Registry will not allow me to change the value from 1 to 0. I tried to do this via Group Policy which is how this has been implemented but it sill does not allow the read only registry section to be modified. Hence only read access to any USB device is permitted as per policy. Reply 27. Vicky says: November 17, 2012 at 9:12 am Thnx alott guys...................it worked 4 me..................! Reply 28. UsbThieve says: November 19, 2012 at 2:47 pm i just stole this Skyblue 8gb usb but its write protected...cant solve using u rec. help..... Reply 29. Dwayne says: November 19, 2012 at 10:46 am Hey guys the low level format works try it
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Reply 30. Charitha says: November 20, 2012 at 8:09 pm Thanx a lot.... It was resolved write protect issue of my Kingston 32GB pen drive. I have download that registry files and just run it. After that my issue was solved. Thanx again...... :) Reply 31. B. Graham says: December 8, 2012 at 12:30 pm THANK YOU! Reply 32. kumar says: December 9, 2012 at 7:01 am In the regedit, storage dive policies option is not available. My new 16GB sandisk pendrive is having write protected problem. If anyone could find a solution, please mail it to satishkmr@gmail.com Reply 33. Lucien says: December 9, 2012 at 12:01 pm THIS DOESNT WORK !! Reply 34. boris says: December 18, 2012 at 5:49 pm txh this solved my problem :) didnt read the comments, but i downloaded the file and in the registry i changed value from 1 to 0, and worked perfectly Reply 35. Jayawikrama says: December 19, 2012 at 12:43 pm This works: 1. While no usb inserted, change the registry -> protect disable ->0 2. insert the SD card 3. Tested for sample file, it could be written. Thanks for the tip. p.s. I had to do this 2, 3 time to work out. Reply 36. Frank says:
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December 25, 2012 at 8:12 am hey, i found nothing,, i cant access "right click" i cant access "run" i cant access "task manager" (try to hack Online game centre) :D can you help me out? Reply 37. Nim says: December 27, 2012 at 5:40 pm Thanks a lot! Worked perfectly when I changed the value! Reply 38. gurjar says: January 8, 2013 at 6:00 pm you can also enable write protection by cmd for this run cmd as administrator then type command 1- diskpart 2 - list disk 3 - select disk # | where # is the no of your flash drive say 1 4 - attributes disk set readonly | for removing write protection "attributes disk clear readonly" 5 -exit now your flash drive is write protected for more detail watch this video http://www.youtube.com /watch?v=xw_qkW98Qqs Reply 39. Simon says: January 15, 2013 at 8:27 pm Brilliant. Thank you! thank you! thank you! Problem solved (SanDisk 32 GB) Reply larry says: February 5, 2013 at 5:48 pm strong stuff man,strong stuff,works perfectly!!!! Reply 40. Anusha says: January 28, 2013 at 8:42 am my mobile memory card (transcend 2GB) is write protected and i cant able to copy anything to it. I am using samsung mobile. I have checked many of the samsung users, all of their memory cards are write protected. Please provide me the solution to remove write protection.
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Reply 41. sia says: February 7, 2013 at 10:29 am thank you Reply Name Mail (will not be published) Website Notify me of followup comments via e-mail
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How To Enable Write Protection of USB Devices Under Windows

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