How to remove protection from a file. Removing write protection via FTP. Ways to remove write protection from a flash drive

Any storage device, be it SD-cards, microSDs and USB flash drives, are subject to such an error as the inability to work with saved files, or rather a notification "Storage is write protected"... The question of how to remove this protection on a phone or computer becomes relevant among thousands of users. Next, you will be presented with easy and more complex solutions, but basically everyone can figure them out.

Remove write protection on the phone and memory card

Below we present all the current methods and solutions that you can apply on your device. Choose the easiest one for yourself and go for it.

SD card and microSD

The solution with microSD will mean Android phones (Samsung, Nokia, Xiaomi, etc.), so feel free to apply the described unlocking methods to your smartphone.

If the "Storage is write-protected" notification appears when deleting through the Gallery, try opening folder from the photo and remove the files from there. Most file managers handle this issue as well. For example, Total Commander will present a dialog for removing protection.

Here Video instruction with clear explanations on formatting memory through the command line.

USB stick

Although the described actions can still be applied to any memory card, it is still better to attribute them to a USB flash drive.

  1. Some manufacturers decided to personally tackle the issue of simply removing protection from a flash drive. All this resulted in the creation of data unlocking utilities. Most of them are restored to work through formatting. As an example Hard Disk Low Level Format Tool but there are other programs as well. There is nothing complicated about them, any users will understand.
  2. Another option is to try your luck through Local Group Policy Editor... Drive the command gpedit.msc in the menu called up with WIN + R. A multi-stage editor will open. The first item will be "Computer configuration"... Click on the triangle next to it. The following options will come to the fore. We choose the system and further "Access to removable storage devices"... In the right window we find "Removable drives: Deny reading". Should be "Not set", if not, then enable such a combination by clicking on the parameter.

Conclusion

In the end, the "Storage is write-protected" notice may indicate a technical failure of the media, which indicates its replacement. You can check the operability of the memory in the service center, however, you should make sure that you cannot remove the protection using the above methods.

Computer users are constantly working with different types of files. We, of course, will not list them. We are not interested in all files, but only in certain ones that can be called problematic. There are situations when an object is protected from certain operations. In my practice, I came across information protected from editing (text), less often objects that cannot be deleted. Let's figure out how to remove protection from a file in various situations.

Removing protection from text documents

Blocking this type of information is of the following types:

  1. Impossibility of editing. In this case, the user can only read the document. He cannot change anything in the text, as well as save the text in a different format.
  2. Password protection. Such texts cannot be opened without an established character set.

In the first case, there are two solutions to the problem, and both are fairly simple:

  • Open a document protected from editing, select the text contained in it, copy and paste into another text file;
  • If this method does not suit you, then open the locked document in the program Microsoft Word... Next, open the "file menu", click "save". Then just click allow saving and rejoice.

It is more difficult with documents that are password protected. Of course, this can be very useful to protect information from prying eyes. Some users password-protect the texts themselves, but then they happily forget the installed code. What should be done in this case?

There is only one way out. Exists special programs to remove passwords from documents that have suffered such a sad fate. The most common isOfficePassword Recovery. The program is paid, but, in my opinion, information is more expensive than any money.


So, to unlock the text, we select the desired document in the "file menu", the "open" item. Next, go to the "attack" menu and press start. That's it, then you just have to wait for the program to pick up the password.

Removing protection against object deletion

There are quite a few reasons why the file is not deleted, as well as solutions to eliminate them. Let's consider them in order.

  1. System protection against deletion. Sometimes files are protected by the system itself. In order to solve this problem, you need to right-click on the file, select the item "properties". Next, check if the "read-only" checkbox is checked. If so, just remove it and the problem is solved.
  2. Blocking by third-party programs. It happens that one or more programs use a particular file. Therefore, it cannot be deleted. To fix this problem, close all programs that may be using this process, disable your antivirus.

If that doesn't work, restart your computer in Safe Mode. In this case, the process of the file to be deleted will be free.

  1. If none of the above methods helped you, you can turn to a more effective option. There are small programs that can unlock and delete objects, regardless of whether they are used by the operating system or by some application. One of the most effective programs isUnlocker. It is embedded in the context menu of the file manager. To remove a locked object, just select it, then select “Unlocker” through the context menu and apply the “remove” action to the object. After a while, a message with the following content will appear on the screen: "Ready, the object has been deleted."
  2. Such situations are rare, but still. If you are deleting an object from an SD card, and it resists, check the drive. There is a switch on the edge of the adapter that blocks all operations with the card. Switch it to another position and repeat the deletion.
  3. Sometimes users try to delete an object from an optical disc. Some will laugh at this, and some simply do not know that direct recording and deletion for these drives is impossible. For these purposes, there are special programs.

Video instruction

We have reviewed all the ways to remove protection from files. Now you know how to deal with these situations.

Hello. In today's lesson, I want to tell you a little about working with Total Comander. More precisely, about one of the errors that occurs when working with him. The text that appears in the notification window is the following: “Error! Failed to write. Remove write protection. " All of this appears under various circumstances.

Here for me, it appeared after I installed Total Commander and wanted to connect an FTP server. As you already understood, I failed to do this. Also, this message may be displayed when changing the settings of the program itself.

Having figured out what the catch is, everything worked out for me. It turned out that the files with the .ini () extension, which are located on the "C: \" drive in the directory of the folder with Total`om, are to blame. In general, the properties of this file had read-only permissions, and now it's not surprising that I couldn't write anything.

Remove write protection in Total Commander

So, now I will give an example of two ways to remove write protection.

1. If you needed to configure the connection to the FTP server once or put a checkmark in front of some setting in the program's configuration, then you can use this method.

Pointing the bear over the icon Total commander click with the right mouse button and in context menu choose "". Total will start, and in this mode it will be possible to change settings and create new FTP connections.

Also, you can put on the shortcut in the compatibility settings permanent launch from the administrator. To do this, call the context menu again, but this time click on " Properties". In the window that opens, go to the tab " Compatibility"And there, going down to the bottom, we mark" Run this program as administrator"And confirm the selection with the button" Apply».

After that, each time you start the program, it will open with administrator rights, which will help to remove the write protection.

2. The second way is to change the access rights of the Total Comander configuration file.

We go along the following path: " My Computer \ C: \ Program Files \ TotalCommande ».

In this folder we are looking for the file wincmd.ini. Hovering the mouse over it, open the context menu and click "Properties"... Here we go to the masonry " Safety". In the form "Groups or users" mark " Users"And click on" Change ". A permissions window will appear, where again we mark users and put a checkmark for full access. We save and try.

If the error: "Remove write protection" appears again, then repeat the same actions with the file wcx_ftp.ini, which is also in the program folder.

The era of floppy disks is long gone, but sometimes when trying to write to a flash drive, the user may encounter a situation known since the days of using floppy disks - the removable disk is locked and cannot be used to write files.

We will consider in detail how to solve this problem in our today's article.

So, you need to write some information to a flash drive, you insert it into the slot and you get a message like "The disk is write-protected, remove protection or use another disk."

This problem can be quickly resolved, and we will talk about it a little later, but now a few words should be said about the purpose of installing write protection on a flash drive.

Note! As a rule, this operation is performed with only one purpose - to protect the flash drive from viruses that can spontaneously copy to removable media without the user's knowledge.

Ways to remove write protection from a flash drive

There are 2 key ways to remove protection from a flash drive: hardware and software.

The hardware method is to install a lock switch, which is present in some models of USB flash drives and SD cards. Typically, the switch is located on the side edge of the drive.

Look closely at your existing drive and look for an open / closed lock icon or Lock sign on it.

Note! Removing the protection is very simple - you need to move the locking lever in the opposite direction. Write protection removed. Insert the flash drive into the appropriate slot and try the file write operation again.

The programmatic method involves programmatic interaction operating system and the controller of the flash drive, which is responsible for the ability to record information.

You can remove write protection programmatically using the command line, registry editor, or local group policy of Windows 7/8. Let's take a closer look at all the methods.

Removing protection with regedit

Step 1."Start", in the search field, enter the name of the Windows registry editor - regedit. Right-click (RMB) on the program and in the context menu go to the item "Run as administrator".

Step 2. Let's move on to the StorageDevicePolicies section:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ StorageDevicePolicies

Important! If there is no such section, you need to create it. To do this, right-click on the section Control - Create - Section. We name the section "StorageDevicePolicies" without quotes.

Create (RMB in the right column of the registry) DWORD parameter (32 bits) in the created registry branch. For convenience, let's call the created element WriteProtect.

Step 3. You need to make sure that the value of the WriteProtect parameter is 0. Right-click on WriteProtect, select "Change". If the value "1" must be changed to "0" and click "OK".

Step 4. Close the registry editor, remove the flash drive and restart the computer. We insert the flash drive. Now the flash drive works as usual, allowing you to write files.

Removing protection with Diskpart

If the USB flash drive could not be unlocked using the registry, we will try to do this using the Diskpart command interpreter, which allows you to manage disks and partitions using commands entered by the user in the command line.

Step 1."Start", in the search field enter the name of the command Windows strings- cmd. Right click in the program, in the context menu we carry out "Run as administrator".

Step 2. Now you need to enter the commands: diskpart and list disk, and after entering each of them, press the Enter key.

Step 3. In the above list, you need to determine which serial number in the name of the flash drive.

This can be done based on the specified size, in our case an 8 GB flash drive is presented in the table as "Disk 1" with a volume of 7441 MB.

Step 4. Select the disk with the "select" command, clear the attributes that allow only reading "attributes disk clear readonly".

If the flash drive needs to be formatted, enter the following "clean" commands, create a "create partition primary" partition, format it in NTFS "format fs = ntfs" or FAT "format fs = fat".

Remove Protection Using Local Group Policy Editor

Step 1. We open the editor by pressing the key combination Win + R, after which you should enter the command gpedit.msc and press "OK" or Enter.

Step 2. In the editor, open the branch: Computer configuration - Administrative templates - System - Access to removable storage devices. And we look at the status of the parameter "Removable drives: Deny reading".

If the parameter is enabled, you must disable it.

Step 3. To disable the recording restriction, double-click on the parameter and in the window that appears, select "Disable", "OK".

If all the above methods did not help to solve the problem with recording, you can try to go to the official website of the manufacturer of the flash drive and look for proprietary utilities for working with the drive.

It is also possible that a flash drive has exhausted its resource (there is a limit on the number of overwrites, after which the drive is switched to read-only mode) and the only way out of the situation is to buy a new flash drive.

If the user's attempts to erase, format, write, edit, save the file, make a transfer or other similar actions with the flash drive were unsuccessful, then, probably, he is dealing with a protected flash drive and needs to decide how to remove the protection. The guide below contains all the necessary instructions for the question posed.

Causes of the "disk is write-protected" error. Why is the USB flash drive write-protected?

When the PC is outraged that the disk is write-protected, you must first clarify the cause of the problem.

  • Hardware;
  • Software.

The disc can be write-protected at the request of its owner, simply by using a mechanical switch on the device or by using software tools. Also, the medium is often programmatically blocked by the system itself, by malicious applications, etc.

Basic types of write protection

The first type is mechanical write protection: Manufacturers of flash drives take care of protecting the integrity of the information stored on their media. The simplest type is equipping the device with buttons on the case or toggle switches with a "lock" icon.

The second type is software write protection: Software refers to a more reliable type of protection, in which special utilities are used to block access to information.

The easiest way to remove write protection from a flash drive (USB or SD card) in case of mechanical protection

If the USB flash drive, SD is mechanically write-protected, then how to remove the protection in this case?

Inspect the media itself for a switch. On some USB flash drives, usually a small toggle switch is located at the end.

Almost all SD cards are equipped with a toggle switch, so you need to set the toggle switch as shown in the photo below before using them.

Owners of computers with the "Total Commander" utility installed, in any incomprehensible case, turn to the capabilities of this file-combine, stuffed with many features.
In order to eliminate the problem in question, it is enough to follow several steps:

  1. Click on "Configuration";
  2. After that, click "Settings";
  3. In the menu that appears, enter the "File operations" tab and check the box: "Auto method selection";
  4. Click "Apply";
  5. Click "Ok";
  6. Ready.

You will need to complete the following steps:

Note: Sometimes the section described in paragraph 11 is missing. In this case, you need to create it. This is done simply: by clicking the right button on the mouse in the Control subfolder, move the cursor over the Create line and click Section.

How to remove protection from a USB flash drive using Diskpart?

If the disc is write-protected, it will help you quickly unlock it " Command line"(KS), but the information on the USB-carrier will be erased.

Steps:

  1. Through the "Start" run "KS" with extended powers;
  2. Then in "KS" type "Diskpart";
  3. Click "Enter";
  4. Print "list disk";
  5. Click "Enter";
  6. Enter "select disk (here, specify the letter that denotes removable media in the system, brackets do not need to be inserted)";
  7. Input;
  8. Then execute "attributes disk clear readonly";
  9. Enter "clean";
  10. "Create partition primary";
  11. "Formatfs = fat32";
  12. Input;
  13. "Exit";
  14. Input;
  15. Ready.

How do I remove protection from a disk using local group policy?

In the absence of positive results in deciding how to remove protection from a flash drive using the above methods, you will have to use a complex method and fix the problem through Group Policy (GP).

Action steps:

If you decide how to remove protection from usb flash drive, it is more convenient for the user to use the "KS", then you will need to run this tool with extended powers.

Action steps:

  1. In the search line, type "cmd" or "KS";
  2. Click on the RMB search result;
  3. Open "KS" with extended rights.
  • Diskpart;
  • list disk;
  • select disk (here, specify the letter that denotes removable media in the system, brackets do not need to be inserted);
  • attributes disk clear readonly;
  • exit.
  • Ready.

Programs for eliminating the error "disk is write-protected"

All companies that produce USB drives develop software to work with them. However, all these programs are capable of producing a positive result only when the user is logged on with administrator rights. The second important condition is that the software matches the drive model. It is convenient to use the ChipGenius utility to obtain accurate information about the media. It's free and always available at mydigit.cn.

The application displays detailed information about the flash drive, guided by which you can accurately determine which software to use.

Having found out the necessary information, it is recommended to visit the page http://flashboot.ru/iflash/, where to choose an application for your flash drive. In the last paragraph of this guide, examples of common software are presented to effectively solve the difficulties encountered.

How to remove write protection from individual folders or files?

To remove the protection of an individual directory, you need to enter its "Properties", set the checkboxes in the appropriate columns of the "Security" section.

If there is a ban on correcting, for example, a text document, then you can simply copy its contents to another file and save it with the usual settings, that is, without protection. Or use the file menu "Save as ...".

To remove protection from a file by the system, call the context menu from it and click "properties". Uncheck the "read-only" box.

Often, one file or folder is used by several applications at once, and as a result, the problem we are considering arises. It is required to close all utilities that use a file or directory. Access will then be provided immediately.

Sometimes a folder or file is protected with passwords. To crack them, specialists have developed applications, for example, "Office Password Recovery". It is one of the most effective tools for cracking access codes. It is required to perform only a few sequential actions:

  1. Click "open";
  2. Enter the "attack" tab;
  3. Click "start";
  4. Wait until the process is complete;
  5. Ready.

Also, access to individual directories and files can be obtained by starting the PC in Safe Mode.
When the described methods do not help, it is recommended to install the "Unlocker" application, which, after installation, will appear in the context menu, so it is especially convenient to use it to work with individual files.

To do this, you will need to install a paid or free modification of the "HDD Low Level Format Tool" (basically, they differ only in the speed of formatting and the absence of automatic updates).
In addition to flash drives, the program can work with USB hard drives. The installation wizard will help you quickly install the utility on your PC.

If the user does not fundamentally receive regular updates and he is ready for limitations in formatting speed, then it is better to choose the free option.

After installing the program to format a protected flash drive, you must do the following:

  1. Select a USB flash drive.
  2. Click "Continue".
  3. Read the information in the first tab of the program menu and switch to "Low-level format".
  4. Confirm your commitment and then click "FORMAT THIS DEVICE".

After waiting for the completion of the process, the mission will be completed, that is, all bytes of information have already been erased. In order to use the device in normal mode in the future, you will need to format it with the means built into the OS.

Programs for formatting protected flash drives

The following programs have earned a significant number of positive user reviews:

AlcorMP- This utility, in addition to removing protection, does an excellent job of restoring the performance of the YUSB carrier.
In the menu, you can select "Russian" language, so even for beginners it does not cause difficulties.

HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool- The application is suitable for many flash drives, and it is also available for installation for free on the official resource.
In addition to unlocking and formatting functions, the utility can create bootable USB drives.

JetFlash Recovery Tool- The owners of "Transcend" appreciated the speed and simplicity of this program, which is able to correct errors in reading write blocks and unlock protection.
Using this software will not make it difficult for the user, since the built-in wizard will help you perform basic operations with a USB flash drive.

Apacer Repair- Owners of flash drives from "Apacer" effortlessly cope with locks, thanks to a proprietary utility.
If it is impossible to format the media using standard OS tools, the program will effortlessly complete the task within a few minutes.

Check Disk- A fully functional modification of the program is freely distributed on the Internet.
In addition to the main formatting function, the utility is used to monitor and fix errors on hard drives and USB media (including flash drives).