# [SOLVED] How to remove write protection on a WD external drive



## mariuccia (Nov 9, 2013)

I want to remove the write protection on a WD external hard drive. I think the problem started when a particular letter was assigned to the that drive. Another person had a similar problem and he solved it by changing the drive properties to USB enumerator. However, I can't figure out how to do that. 

Can someone explain what this is and how to change the drive properties to USB enumerator? Or else how to unassign the drive letter for this hard drive?

Thanks.


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

*Re: How to remove write protection on a WD external drive*

Take ownership of the files inside the drive. Windows 7 Take Ownership & Grant Permissions to Access Files & Folder
To enumerate the drive, you would have to edit the registry, we do not suggest this.


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## jenae (Jun 17, 2008)

*Re: How to remove write protection on a WD external drive*

Hi, I get lots of requests for help on this one, particularly with WD hdd. There appears not to be a definitive answer as the problem has several causes , if permissions don't work it is usually fixed by running a chkdsk on the drive, open a cmd as admin go to start search and type:- cmd, right click on the returned cmd.exe and select "run as administrator" 

Enter the cmd:- chkdsk X:/f (press enter) where x is the drive letter.


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## mariuccia (Nov 9, 2013)

*Re: How to remove write protection on a WD external drive*

Thanks, Jenae. I did exactly what you said, but it still doesn't work. I got the message : Windows cannot run disk checking on this volume because it is write protected.

The WD hard drive works fine on my PC and Toshiba notebook. That's why I think that assigning the letter to the drive has something to do with it. Do you have any other ideas? (Also other external hard drives work fine on this computer--but they don't have an assigned drive letter.)


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## jenae (Jun 17, 2008)

*Re: How to remove write protection on a WD external drive*

Hi, the trick is to run chkdsk on a computer that the drive works on.


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## mariuccia (Nov 9, 2013)

*Re: How to remove write protection on a WD external drive*

Hi Jenae,

I ran the chkdsk on a computer that the drive works on. The report is "Windows has checked the file system and found not problems."

However, the disk is still write-protected on the Toshiba laptop. 

I tried the following below. I got up to *Storage Device Policies* which doesn't exist on my computer (Windows 7 os). So I closed that option.

Insert the flash drive into a USB slot on your computer.
Click on "Start" and type in "regedit" into the search bar. Press "Enter" and click "Yes." The registry editor window will appear.

Navigate to the following registry entry by double-clicking the values located in the left window pane:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies
Locate the "WriteProtect" value in the right window pane. Right-click it and select "Modify."
Input "1" for the "Value data." Click "OK" and close the registry editor. Restart your computer.

Any other ideas?


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## jenae (Jun 17, 2008)

*Re: How to remove write protection on a WD external drive*

Hi, go to start search and type cmd, right click on the returned cmd.exe and select "run as administrator" an elevated cmd prompt will open.

This is an example that I did on my computer, make sure the external hdd is plugged in, then run these cmds (we are using diskpart) , you will need to recognize your external hdd in this case it was disk 5.



```
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6000]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

C:\windows\system32>diskpart

Microsoft DiskPart version 6.0.6000
Copyright (C) 1999-2007 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: VISTATEST

DISKPART> list disk

  Disk ###  Status      Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  --------  ----------  -------  -------  ---  ---
  Disk 0    Online       233 GB  1177 KB
  Disk 1    No Media        0 B      0 B
  Disk 2    No Media        0 B      0 B
  Disk 3    No Media        0 B      0 B
  Disk 4    No Media        0 B      0 B
  Disk 5    Online       298 GB  2000 KB

DISKPART> select disk 5

Disk 5 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> list volume

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 0     I                       Removable       0 B  No Media
  Volume 1     H                       Removable       0 B  No Media
  Volume 2     F                       Removable       0 B  No Media
  Volume 3     D                       DVD-ROM         0 B  No Media
  Volume 4     J   New Volume   NTFS   Partition    298 GB  Healthy
  Volume 5     G                       Removable       0 B  No Media
  Volume 6     C                NTFS   Partition    233 GB  Healthy    System

DISKPART> select volume 4

Volume 4 is the selected volume.

DISKPART> attr disk clear readonly

Microsoft DiskPart version 6.0.6000 [B]NOTE[/B]:- you might simply receive here a message:- Disk attributes cleared successfully (this is fine)

VOLUME      - Manipulate volume attributes.

DISKPART> attr volume clear readonly

Volume attributes cleared successfully.

DISKPART> detail disk

TOSHIBA MK3265GSX USB Device
Disk ID: E9BE1B1F
Type   : USB
Bus    : 0
Target : 0
LUN ID : 0

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
* Volume 4     J   New Volume   NTFS   Partition    298 GB  Healthy

DISKPART> detail volume

  Disk ###  Status      Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  --------  ----------  -------  -------  ---  ---
* Disk 5    Online       298 GB  2000 KB

Read-only              : No
Hidden                 : No
No Default Drive Letter: No
Shadow Copy            : No
Dismounted             : No
BitLocker Encrypted    : No

Volume Capacity        :  298 GB
Volume Free Space      :   35 GB

DISKPART> exit
```


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## mariuccia (Nov 9, 2013)

*Re: How to remove write protection on a WD external drive*

Bless you, Jenae. It worked! I tried it on the PC (where it worked anyway) and got a message "The arguments specified for this command are not valid." Then I tried it on the Toshiba laptop where the problem exists and lo and behold, it worked! I couldn't believe it. I have spent hours on tech support, looking for answers on the internet, etc. 

Thank you so much. I have learned some computer stuff in the process.:flowers:

Mariuccia


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## laranginha (Nov 27, 2015)

*Big thanks jenae!!!!*. you saved my day. In my case, accidentally I formatted the hard disk of my laptop TOSHIBA SATELLITE C45 - ASP4201KL, so I lost the recovery partition of win8 and searching into the toshiba site; they would offer a recovery cd but it would take time to arrive to my country. that option was not possible. my other option was to downgrade to windows 7, but when I tried to install into the hard disk of the laptop, a write-protection message appeared. therefore I couldn't install it. I spent hours and hours trying to find the solution to this. up to I found this thread and your solution did the work. I used same commands that you used (diskpart). now I can install windows 7 with no problem. thank you very much bro. best regards


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## kintsugi (Dec 9, 2015)

jenae, thank you as you have also helped me with my WD Passport. This has worked with my Windows 10 system. 

I logged in so that others would know 
diskpart
list disk
etc
was a successful remedy.

Again, thank you for your cause.


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## rmarossa (Aug 6, 2017)

*Re: How to remove write protection on a WD external drive*

Hi Jenae, thanks a ton. I had the same problem with WD - Win 10. really thanks.
PS WD support very poor...


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