I wrote a Chromium OS image to my 4GB HP USB flash drive with Win32 Disk Imager. But now I cannot reformat my USB flash drive. It tells me that the USB flash drive is write-protected. And there is no physical switch. I have tried some methods, like disk management, diskpart, and Disk Storage Format Tool. But all of that did not work. How should I remove the HP USB flash drive from write protection? Help.
Based on your description, I can learn that your USB flash drive has been write-protected, and you cannot modify or delete any data on it. Therefore, it is impossible for you to reformat your HP USB flash drive. What you need do is to remove the write protection for your HP USB flash drive, and then you can reformat it.
Actually, some USB flash drives have write-protect switches, which are very well hidden. Therefore, you need to ensure whether it has a physical switch. If it indeed doesn't have, here are some methods for you.
Firstly, you can remove disk write protection using the registry editor.
Registry Editor can work to fix USB flash drives, SD cards, or external HDD or SSD write-protected errors. It is an advanced-level procedure, and if you aren't sure what you're doing, you should avoid using this method as much as possible because a wrong operation to your computer's registry will cause more issues.
Remember to be cautious with this method on your computer, and here are some steps for you as follows:
Step 1. Connect your HP USB flash drive to the PC.
Step 2. Press Windows + R to open the Registry Editor, type regedit in the run box, and select Enter.
Step 3. Select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and expand the System.
Step 4. Select Current Control Set, and select Control.
Step 5. Check Storage Device Policies, and change the DWORD value to 0. After that, select OK.
Step 6. Exit the Registry Editor, and then restart your PC.
Wait for some minutes. Then, check if your USB flash drive is accessible.
But if you think the first method is difficult for you to operate, the second method is recommended: Qiling Disk Master.
Compared with the first method, the second one, as a third-party tool, is more friendly for inexperienced users. By using this software, you can fix your error in a quick way with simple clicks.
Some steps for you are as follows:
Step 1. Download and install the Qiling Disk Master.
Step 2. Enter the Toolkit section, and click "Write Protection."
Step 3. Select your write-protected HP USB flash drive, and click "Disable."
It only takes three simple steps, and you can remove the write protection for your USB flash drive. Besides the above function, the Qiling Disk Master also provides you with other functions as follows:
If you have other issues to fix in the future, the third-party tool is believed to be a good option for you. Now you can try to remove the write protection for the HP USB flash drive. After that, then you can reformat your HP USB flash drive.