How to Remove Write Protection on Micro SD Card – 8 Ways [MiniTool Tips]

When you try to add or modify a file on the miso SD card but get an error message “The SD card is write protected”, you can check the 8 fixes below for how to remove write protection on micro SD card so that you can smoothly write data on it.

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How to Remove Write Protection on Micro SD Card – 8 Ways

SD card can be write protected due to physical or logical reasons. Below we list some possible solutions to help you remove write protection from SD card on Windows 10 computer.

Fix 1. Unlock the Micro SD Card

Some micro SD cards or memory cards have a physical write protection switch. The first step to fix SD card write protected issue is to check the SD card lock switch. Make sure the lock switch is moved to the unlocking status.

If the micro SD card is write protected but not locked, continue to try other solutions below.

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Fix 2. Remove Write Protection from SD Card with Diskpart

You can easily remove the write protection attribute from micro SD card using CMD on Windows 10. Check how to do it below.

Step 1. Open Command Prompt. You can press Windows + R, type cmd in Run dialog, and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter. Click Yes in the pop-up UAC window to open elevated Command Prompt on Windows 10.

Step 2. Open Diskpart tool. Next you can type diskpart in Command Prompt window, and press Enter to open Diskpart utility. Diskpart is a Windows built-in command-line tool letting you manage your disk.

Step 3. Type the command lines below and press Enter after each line to clear write protection on the micro SD card. You need to connect the SD card to computer beforehand.

• list disk (this command will list all detected disks on your computer)
• select disk * (replace “*” with the disk number of the micro SD card)
• attributes disk clear readonly

By doing so, the SD card should not be write-protected any longer. But if you still can’t write data onto the SD card, try other possible methods below.

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Fix 3. Edit Registry to Fix SD Card Write Protected

Before you use Registry Editor to fix disk write protected error, it’s advised that you back up registry first since it’s dangerous if you make some mistakes in editing registry. (Check: Backup and Restore Registry).

Learn how to turn off write protection on the micro SD card below.

Step 1. Use an SD card reader to connect the SD card to your Windows computer. (Related: Fix SD card not showing up)

Step 2. Press Windows + R to open Run dialog, type regedit, and press Enter. Click Yes in the pop-up UAC window to open Registry Editor on Windows 10.

Step 3. Next expand the folder in the left panel as the following path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control. And click StorageDevicePolicies folder.

If you don’t see this folder, then you can right-click Control folder and click New -> Key to create a new key named StorageDevicePolicies. Right-click StorageDevicePolicies folder and click New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value to create a new value named WriteProtect.

Step 4. Then double-click WriteProtect key in the right window and set is value data as 0 and click OK.

Step 5. Close Registry Editor window and restart your computer to make these changes take effect.

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Fix 4. Run CHKDSK to Repair a Corrupted SD Card

If the micro SD card is corrupt or has some bad sectors, it may cause SD card stops working issue and make it impossible to write data onto the SD card. You can run CHKDSK to check and fix errors on the disk.

Step 1. Open Command Prompt window. Press Windows + R, type cmd, and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to run Command Prompt as administrator.

Step 2. Next type chkdsk /f /r command with the drive letter of the SD card, e.g. chkdsk h: /f /r, and press Enter to run CHKDSK to check and fix errors as well as mark bad sectors on the SD card.

Fix 5. Perform a Virus Scan for the Micro SD Card

If the micro SD card is infected by malware or virus, it may cause the SD card write protected and not working issue. To fix this, you can run the antivirus software on your Windows computer to check and remove possible malware or virus on the SD card.

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Fix 6. Recover Data from Corrupt SD Card

If the SD card has errors and you lost some files on it, you can use a top data recovery software to easily recover files from SD card.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery is a professional data recovery program for Windows users. You can use it to easily recover files from micro SD card, SD card, memory card, USB drive, external HDD, SSD, and Windows computer.

You can even use MiniTool Power Data Recovery to recover data from corrupt or formatted SD card. It is a 100% clean and safe program. Download and install MiniTool Power Data Recovery below.

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Step 1. Connect the micro SD card to your Windows computer using the SD card adapter and SD card reader.

Step 2. Launch MiniTool Power Data Recovery on Windows computer. Select the target SD card drive under Logical Drives and click Scan. Or you can click Devices tab to select the SD card to scan.

Step 3. After this software finishes scanning all data on the SD card, you can check the recovery result to find needed files, and click Save button to store them to a new place.

Fix 7. Reformat the Micro SD or Memory Card

For how to remove protection on the micro SD card, you can reformat it with SD card formatter. But before you format it, you should back up all needed data. If you lost some important data because of SD card corruption, you can try Fix 6 to recover SD card data first.

Check how to format the SD/memory card with MiniTool Partition Manager that is a top free disk partition manager for Windows users. Download and install MiniTool Partition Manager below.

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• Still, connect the SD card to your Windows computer. Launch MiniTool Partition Manager.
• Right-click the partition on the SD card and select Format option in the menu list.
• Select a file system format for the SD card like FAT32 or NTFS to continue formatting the SD card.

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Fix 8. Change a New Micro SD Card

If the SD card still can’t work, then you may change a new micro SD card for your device.

Possible Causes of SD Card Write Protected Problem

• The SD card is locked by the Lock switch on the side of the SD card.
• SD card is infected by malware or virus.
• SD card is corrupt and has some logical errors.
• SD card has some physical damage.
• You accidentally made the memory card read-only.

Conclusion

As for how to remove write protection on micro SD card, this post provides 8 possible solutions. If you have better way to fix micro SD card write protected issue, you can share with us.

Encounter problems when using the software from MiniTool? Please contact our official support team: [email protected].

How to Remove Write Protection on Micro SD Card FAQ