How to Change Permissions for a USB Drive or Memory Card

4 Ways to Change Read-Write Permissions for a Flash Drive/Storage Card

You've gotten the "Current Read-Only State: Yes" error and want to change or remove the write protection. However, in most cases, this is due to a physical issue with the device, which will be unresolvable 99% of the time. If you're in the rare 0.1% where there's no physical issue with your device, try the solutions below to resolve the problem. In other words, if your device has no physical damage, you can use the following methods to change the read and write permissions on your flash drive/memory card.

This guide offers four methods to grant or deny read and write access to your HDD, SSD, or removable storage media.

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Overview of Flash Drive/ Memory Card Read/Write Permissions

As you know, hard disk drives, storage cards, USB sticks, pen drives, and jump drives all have read and write permissions. To gain full access to the drive and its internal data, or to have further control (such as copying, editing, and deleting files, partitioning, and formatting the disk), you must be authorized to use the storage with read and write permissions. In most cases, when people encounter problems reading or writing data as they used to, most of them get confused. Therefore, a comprehensive tutorial on how to change flash drive/storage card read and write permissions is crucial.

Fix 1: Change permissions by flipping the toggle switch

The first solution is that some USB flash drives or memory cards have a physical switch. If the switch is turned on, turning it off will solve the problem.

Flip the physical switch on the memory card:

Get a good look at the object that's not letting you make any changes. Is there a tiny slider switch pointing downward in a lock position? This switch is designed to prevent accidental deletion of photos or unauthorized access to internal data. So, when you find yourself blocked, slide the switch in the opposite direction from the lock position – that is, to the unlock position.

Change the read/write permissions of the flash drive/ memory card by sliding the lock switch

What to do if the lock and unlock switch is broken? Try to recover data from a locked SD card as much as possible.

Toggle the physical switch on the USB flash drive.

Not all flash drives have an actual lock switch, so check for one first. Take out your USB and look for a physical lock switch on the side. If you see one, slide it to the unlocked position.

Fix 2: Manually set drive permissions

However, many removable storage devices do not have an Lock switch. So, where do you change the read/write permissions? The answer is in your computer's settings.

Step 1. Insert the USB drive or SD card into your computer and make sure that Windows detects it.

Step 2. On Windows 10, 8, or 7, press "Windows Key + E" to open File Explorer.

Step 3. Right-click on the drive letter assigned to your device and select "Properties."

Step 4. In the Properties window that appears in the middle, go to the 'Security' tab; there you will see 'To change permissions, click Edit'. Here, you can change the read/write permission for the target disk. So, click on 'Edit,' and immediately the 'Security' window will pop up.

Step 5: Here, you'll see the "Permissions for Verified User," with options to "Allow" or "Deny." To make the drive and its contents read-only, check the "Deny" box next to permissions like "Full Control," "Modify," "Read and Write," and so on. To remove the read-only attribute, check the "Allow" box instead. Click "Apply."

Step 6. Click OK. You should now have successfully changed the permissions to read and write.

Fix 3: Remove Write Protection from USB Flash Drive or SD Card using CMD

If you get error messages like "The disk is write protected" when formatting the drive in Windows, you need to take some advanced measures to remove the write protection.

Step 1. Press the "Windows + R" keys together, type in cmd, and run the "Command Prompt" as an administrator.

Step 2: Type in each of the following commands, and hit Enter after each one.

Here is the translation of the command sequence for using the disk management tool "diskpart" in the Windows operating system: **diskpart** **list disk** **select disk #** **attributes disk clear readonly** The functions of these commands are: 1. **diskpart**: Starts the Disk Management utility. 2. **list disk**: Displays a list of all disks in the system. 3. **select disk #**: Selects the disk you want to operate on, where "#" should be replaced with the specific disk number. 4. **attributes disk clear readonly**: Clears the read-only attribute of the selected disk, allowing read and write operations.

# indicates the number of a write-protected USB flash drive or memory card.

Step 3: Exit the command prompt.

Fix 4: Use CMD Alternative Tool – Write Protection Removal Tool

If you consider yourself not very much of a power user, nor comfortable with the command line, don't worry – there are graphical solutions that will help you unprotect your hard drive, USB drive, or even an SD card.

One such tool is CleanGenius, which can help you fix these issues on your disk without having to resort to the command line.

This is a simple and easy-to-understand guide on how to use this tool to solve your problem:

Step 1: Download and install the free tool CleanGenius on your computer.

Step 2: Run CleanGenius on your computer, select Optimize > and choose Write Protection mode.

Step 3: Select the write-protected device and click Disable to remove the protection.

More help - Managing partitions

I hope at least one of the solutions above helped you resolve the read-only or write-protected issue and change the read/write attribute permissions as needed. Lastly, I would like to introduce you to a powerful Windows Partition Manager, which simplifies disk and partition management in the Windows environment. It's called tools Partition Master. This tool offers excellent management features for various scenarios.

• Resize/Move Partition
• Format write protected disk drive
• Delete Partition on USB Flash Drive in Windows 10
• Recover lost, deleted, or unallocated partition
• Copy partition to create a backup

Try this disk management tool now and discover more great features.

Questions regarding changing read/write permissions

If you're still having issues after trying the above solutions, here are some common problems I've encountered – read on!

How do I change the read/write permissions on my external hard drive?

There are four ways to change the read/write permissions:

Solution 1: Turn off the toggle switch.

< strong > Repair 2: Set Drive Permissions

Solution 3: Remove Write Protection using CMD

Solution 4: Use a write protection removal tool

How do I change a USB drive from read-only to writeable?

If you have a physical lock, you can shut it off. Then try clearing read-only with CMD:

Step 1. Press `Win + R` simultaneously, type `cmd`, and run it as an administrator.

Step 2. Type diskpart, and then press Enter.

Step 3. Type list disk, and press Enter.

4. Type `select disk X`, and press Enter.

5. Type clear readonly in the Disk column, and then press Enter.

Step 6. Close the Command Prompt.

Why has my external hard drive or USB become read-only?

This is due to the file system format, which is NTFS, for compatibility with desktop users, who are more likely to need it.

How to remove write protection from USB?

To remove the write protection, go to the “Security” tab in the middle of the “Properties” window. Click “Edit” to change the permissions. Here, you can change the read and write permissions for your target disk.