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Error: The disk is write protected, while accessing SD card

Anonymous
2018-11-25T04:37:24+00:00

I recently received a write protected message from multiple micro SD cards/SD card adapters.

I have edited my registry to remove write protection.

I have gone through command prompt and diskpart to attempt to format them. 

And yes, I have made sure the switch is in the correct position.

So, done all that, tried two different micro SD on two different adapters, on laptop #1 with no luck. I plugged them into laptop #2 and had no issues. I can still edit PRODUO cards on laptop #1.

Both micro SD are SANDISK 32GB Pro and both have been used on a GOPRO previously, less than 5 times of reading/writing/deleting between the two.

I have never had this issue, but I formatted laptop #1 to factory defaults Windows 10 within last 60 days. 

Theories?

***Original title: SD Card write protection issues***

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Devices and drivers

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-12-06T10:00:19+00:00

    Hello,

    Thank you for replying.

    I apologize for the delayed response.

    The issue might be because the read and write ports of the card reader are not working. I suggest you to try using a USB card reader and check if the same error appears.

    Also, you can try re-installing the card reader drivers on the PC.

    1. Press Windows key + R. This will open Run. Alternatively, you can go to Start and search for ‘Run’.
    2. In Run dialog box, type ‘devmgmt.msc’ and hit enter.
    3. Go to ‘Disk drives’ and expand it.
    4. Right click on the card reader driver and click on uninstall.
    5. Check the box Delete the driver software for this device.
    6. Restart the PC.

    Hope it helps.

    Regards,

    Prakhar Khare

    Microsoft Community – Moderator

    10+ people found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2018-12-01T14:24:23+00:00

    Well, I went to the USBTOR subkey, and Start was already set to 3. I clicked accept, closed regedit, and restarted my computer. That didn't seem to solve the issue.

    10+ people found this answer helpful.
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  3. Anonymous
    2018-11-26T04:58:33+00:00

    Sorry, guess my earlier photos weren't clear, but I tried that with no success.

    10+ people found this answer helpful.
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  4. Anonymous
    2018-11-26T03:39:28+00:00

    Hello,

    Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

    Usually, the write protected disks doesn’t allow any user to copy, transfer or format the disk. However, as you are able to use the SD card on another computer, we can try to change the attributes while the SD card is connected to the computer where it shows the write protection.

    1. Click on the search bar on the left hand bottom corner of the taskbar.
    2. Type CMD and right click on it and select on Run as administrator.
    3. Now type diskpart and hit enter.
    4. Type list disk and hit enter
    5. Now, type select disk # (the number of the disk instead of #)
    6. Type attributes disk clear readonly and hit enter.
    7. Type clean and hit enter.

    Note: The clean command will clear all the data on the SD/USB disk. Please back up the data, if you want to clean the disk.

    Hope it helps.

    Regards,

    Prakhar Khare

    Microsoft Community – Moderator

    9 people found this answer helpful.
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  5. Anonymous
    2018-11-29T10:55:29+00:00

    Hello,

    Thank you for replying.

    I apologize for the delayed response.

    I suggest you to try the steps mentioned below and check if that helps.

    Note:  Important this section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs.

    Refer the article on How to back up and restore the registry in Windows.

    1. Press Windows key + R. This will open Run. Alternatively, you can go to Start and search for ‘Run’.
    2. In Run dialog box, type regedit and hit enter.
    3. In the navigation pane, locate the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services
    4. Find the subkey USBSTOR.
    5. In the right pane double click on Start and enter 3.
    6. Close Registry Editor.

    Hope it helps.

    Regards,

    Prakhar Khare

    Microsoft Community – Moderator

    5 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments