- It is locked by physical button.
- Contains bad sectors.
- Contains files or folders marked as “Read Only”.
- It’s damaged.
Whatever the reason why this happens, we are going to see different ways that we have to be able to eliminate this annoying protection that prevents us from making modifications to it.
How to remove protection
Next, we are going to see different ways that we have to be able to end the write protection of our SD card or USB memory.
Check if the SD card is locked with a physical switch
One of the aspects that we must take into account is to verify that the memory card is not protected against writing. Whether it is an SD or micro-SD, we must pay attention to a switch that is usually located on the side in lock or protected mode. If so, this switch will not be preventing us from writing to it.
If so, we must change the switch from on to off in order to unlock the SD card. After this, the write protection should be disabled and we should be able to make changes to it as usual again.
Check your available space and file attributes
Another check that we must carry out, once the card or USB memory is connected to the PC, is to check its properties and available space, to determine if this may be the cause of the problem. To do this, we right-click on its icon to bring up a context menu where we can select the option “Properties”.
This will open a new window in the “General” section. Here we must check that it has free space to be able to work with it, because if it is full, it may be one of the reasons why it gives us problems when using it.
In the same way, we must also look at the attributes of the files and folders that we have saved, making sure that the mode is not activated. “Read only”. If activated, this will prevent us from being able to work with these files or save data in certain folders.
Use an antivirus
It is possible that unknown viruses or some type of malware could have encrypt our device adding write protection to prevent us from modifying the saved data. In this case we can use our antivirus software to eliminate viruses. This is something that we can use from the “Windows Security” section of the operating system, which we can execute by typing its name in the Start menu search box.
Once opened, a new window will appear, with a list of options in its left panel. Here we must select “Antivirus protection against threats” and in the right panel we click on “Scan options”.
On the next screen we can choose between a quick, complete or personalized analysis. We run it to scan the SD card, clean it and remove any viruses.
Reset your attributes
Another aspect that we can test is reset the attributes of the card or USB stick. This way, in case the permissions have been changed for some reason or read-only mode enabled, everything is back to normal.
To do this, it will be necessary to have the device connected to the PC to later open a window of Symbol of the system. This is something we need to do by typing cmd in the Start menu search box and running it with administrator rights. Once its window appears, we write diskpart to open the tool that we are going to use. Later we write list disk to show all the drives connected to the PC.
diskpart
list disk
Later we must find out what our SD card or USB memory is and write down its number. Next, we type the command:
select disk [N]
We just have to make sure to change the N to the letter of our device. Once this is done, we must use the following command to clear its write protection.
attributes disk clear readonly
Once finished we can check if the protection has disappeared and we can use it again normally.
Remove protection using registry
Another way to be able to erase the protection of our SD or USB memory is by using the registry editorwhich we find available natively in both Windows 10 and Windows 11. Of course, we must use it with caution since any unwanted modification can cause stability and performance failures in our system.
The first thing we are going to do is press the keyboard shortcut “Windows + R” to launch the Run command. Subsequently, we write regedit and press Enter or the OK button to start it.
Before modifying anything, we will make a backup, as a preventive measure. To do this, click on “File” and “Export”. We then specify All in the export range, give it a name, select the .reg format, and click Save.
Next, we navigate to the following route:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SYSTEM / CurrentControlSet / Control
Once here, we right-click on “Control”, and select “New” and “Key”, assigning it a name StorageDevicePolicies.
Later we click with the right mouse button on StorageDevicePolicies and click on “New” and “Value DWORD 32 bits” and name it as WriteProtect.
Finally, we double click on WriteProtect, we change the value data to 0 and click OK. All that remains is to close the Editor and restart the PC so that the changes are applied correctly. Once this is done, we reinsert the device into the computer to check if we can access and use it.
Nothing works? format it
In case nothing has worked so far, the only thing left for us to do is make a backup of all our data, for later format memory card. Once all your data has been deleted, it should work normally again.
To do this formatting, we can use a tool like HDD LLF what can we download from the developer’s website. It is a free app for home use. This version is limited to 180 GB per hour with a maximum speed of 50 MB/s. It is compatible from Windows XP to Windows 11.
Once installed and executed, its main menu appears where we must select the card that we want to format and press “Continue”.
On the next screen, in the “LOW-LEVEL FORMAT” tab, uncheck the box “Perform Quick Wipe”, so that you do not perform a quick format. Finally, we click on “FORMAT THI DEVICE” and wait for the process to finish.
Once finished, we can check if we can access it normally and make changes to it.