HOW TO ENABLE AND DISABLE WRITE PROTECTION ON A USB DRIVE ON WINDOWS 10

Write protection is a setting that disables your USB drive from any form of modifications like formatting, adding or removal of any data from it making the storage device completely obsolete. Write protection is used to secure disks for example has lent out and does not want it to be tampered by the other party serving as a very great security tool. setting or either using the command prompt

ENABLE OR DISABLE WRITE PROTECTION USING REGISTRY EDITOR 

Adding any register or modification of the registry is highly risky and recommended for advanced use only for it can cause irreversible effects in your laptop

      1. Use the WINDOWS KEY + R to open the RUN program alternatively you can search for the RUN program in the search tool box at the bottom of the desktop next to the windows icon

     2.Now type the words REGEDIT and click ENTER to open the registry

     3. Now after the registry has been opened now browse the following path

      

              HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\CONTROL

      4.Now right click the CONTROL option then select NEW and click on KEY

     5.   A new folder called DEFAULT will be formed change this name to STORAGEDEVICEPOLICIES

     6. Now select the newly created key then right-click on it then select NEW  and click on DWORD (32 BIT) VALUE

     7. Now name the folder DWORD and press enter

    8.  Next, double-click on the newly created key then change its value from 0 to 1 leave the HEXAGON option checked

     9.Then click OK and restart your laptop now nobody can sniff around your data and modify it

Now someone that tries to gain or copy your data to a USB drive or any other external storage device will get an error message saying that “this disk is write protected” . REMEMBER THAT IF YOU WANT TO REVERT THE CHANGES SIMPLY RETURN THE VALUE TO 0

USING COMMAND PROMPT

Now I am going to show you how to enable write protection using the command prompt this method is one of the easiest methods and carries less risk as compared to using the registry or using the group policies settings

        1. Search for CMD using the search toolbox then run as administrator

       2. Next type the words DISKPART then press enter

       3. Type LIST DISK then press enter, this command will list all the possible storage devices that are connected to you PC

      4. Now search for the storage device that you want to enable write protection, you can identify the storage device using their storage capacity for they are named ‘DISK 1-9”

     5. After identifying you disk now type SELECT DISK X, X standing for the disk number assigned to it, and press ENTER

     6.  Now type the command ATTRIBUTE DISK to list all the attributed of the disk and press enter

     7.  Now to activate the write protection in the disk type the command ATTRIBUTE DISK SET READONLY

and to roll back the type the command ATTRIBUTE DISK CLEAR READONLY and press enter then restart you PC

           ENABLE WRITE PROTECTION USING THE GROUP POLICY

Alternatively, if you don’t feel comfortable using command prompt on the registry, you can use the group policy to deny write permission to any external storage device connected to your PC

To enable this, follow the procedure:

       1.  Press the WINDOWS KEY+ R to open RUN

       2.Type GPEDIT.MSC and click OK to open the Local group policy editor

       3. Now browse the following path

                COMPUTER CONFIGURATION > ADMINISTRATIVE TEMPLATES > SYSTEM > REMOVABLE STORAGE ACCESS

4.Now double click on REMOVABLE DISK: DENY WRITE ACCESS then a box will pop up

  5. Now click on ENABLE option then apply and restart your computer

  6. In case the disable the write protection, select the DISABLE option and you are done

Now if someone tries to access your folder they will get an error saying that “you need administrator permission to copy this folder but even with admin privileges one cannot export data to a removable device

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