How to Remove Write Protection on a Micro SD Card

This article explains how to remove the write protection from a micro SD card.

How to Remove Write Protection From a Micro SD Card

Micro SD cards don’t have built-in physical write protection like full-sized cards, but micro SD card adapters do. If your micro SD card is in an adapter, and you’re seeing a write protection error, the first thing to do is eject the card and check the physical lock.

If the physical lock switch on your adapter is slid toward the back of the card, that means it’s locked. To remove write protection, slide the switch toward the front of the card where the metal contacts are.

If your adapter is already unlocked, or you aren’t using an adapter, then the micro SD card itself is write-protected. To remove write protection, you can either use diskpart or make a change in the Windows Registry Editor.

How to Use Diskpart to Remove Write Protection From a Micro SD Card

Diskpart is a command-line tool, but you don’t need to be a Windows command prompt expert to use it. Just carefully type or copy and paste the commands from the following instructions, and don’t make any changes unless you’re sure you know what you’re doing.

Here’s how to remove write protection from a micro SD card using Diskpart:

1. Open the Command Prompt.

2. Type diskpart and press enter.

   If prompted by User Account Control, click Yes.

3. Type list disk and press enter.

4. Locate your micro SD card in the list, and make note of the disk number, i.e. DISK 1.
   

   If you aren’t sure which is the SD card, check the Size column and locate the one that matches the storage space of your SD card.

5. Type select disk disk_number, replacing disk_number with the number you noted in the previous step, and press enter.

6. Type attributes disk clear readonly, and press enter.

7. Wait until you see the message Disk attributes cleared successfully.

8. Type exit, and press enter to close Diskpart.

How to Use Regedit to Remove Write Protection From a Micro SD Card 

You can also use the Windows Registry to remove write protection from a micro SD card through the Regedit utility.

Here’s how to use regedit to remove write protection from a micro SD card:

1. Open the Command Prompt, then Type regedit and press enter.

2. In the Registry Editor, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Control > StorageDevicePolicies.

   If you don’t see StorageDevicePolicies, check the next section for instructions on how to add it.

3. Right click WriteProtect and select Modify.

4. Change the number in the Value data box to 0 and click OK.

5. Close regedit, and restart your computer.

What to Do If You Don’t See a StorageDevicePolicies Folder

If you don’t see a StorageDevicePolicies folder in the third step of the previous instructions, you’ll have to add it manually. This is also done in the Registry Editor, and you can continue right where you left off in the previous section.

Here’s how to add the StorageDevicePolicies key and WriteProtect DWORD value in the Registry Editor:

1. Open the Registry Editor if necessary, and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Control.

2. Right click any empty space in the right pane, and select New > Key.

3. In the left pane, name the new key StorageDevicePolicies and press enter.

4. With StorageDevicePolicies selected, right click any empty space in the right pane, and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.

5. Name the new value WriteProtect and press enter.

6. Right click WriteProtect and select Modify.

7. Change the number in the Value data box to 0 and click OK.

8. Close regedit, and restart your computer.

What If I Can’t Remove Write Protection on a Micro SD Card?

If you're still having a problem with your micro SD card write protection after using any of the methods outlined above, the disk may be corrupt or it might be starting to fail. When SD cards have been written to and read from a certain number of times they’re automatically switched into write protection mode. The same thing happens if the card starts to fail.

When that happens, the card is permanently in write protection mode and you won’t be able to remove it. The only option is to back up all the data from the card while you still can, and then buy a new one.

In some cases, a micro SD card can also be locked down by a specific device. For example, setting an SD card as internal storage on an Android device can lock it to just that device. If that’s the case, then you can usually format the SD card using that device to remove write protection. Just make sure to back up the files first, because formatting the card removes all the files.

If you have a device with the ability to format a micro SD card, you can also try formatting your card with that device. In some cases, you’ll find that a device like a digital camera can format an SD card even when your computer can't.