SD cards are a handy tool to store and transfer data from one device to another. They are compact, lightweight, and can hold a large amount of data. However, sometimes SD cards become write-protected, which means that you cannot modify, delete or add any files to them. This can be a frustrating experience, but there are ways to remove write protection on SD cards in Windows.

Method 1: Check the Physical Lock Switch

Many SD cards have a physical lock switch on the side of the card that can protect your data from being erased or overwritten by allowing you to lock or unlock your SD card. Before you begin any other method, check if the physical lock switch on your SD card is in the “unlocked” position. If the switch is in the “locked” position, slide it into the “unlocked” position to remove the write protection.

Method 2: Modify the Registry

Windows Registry is a database that stores configuration settings and options for Windows operating system and applications. If the write protection on your SD card is caused by a registry setting, you can remove the write protection by modifying the registry. Keep in mind that modifying the registry can be risky, and you need to be careful while doing it.

Here are the steps to modify the registry:

Step 1: Open Registry Editor- Press Windows + R keys on your keyboard, type “regedit” in the Run dialog box, and hit Enter.

Step 2: Navigate- In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies

Step 3: Create the key-If the “StorageDevicePolicies” key is not already listed, right-click on “Control” and select “New” > “Key.” Name the new key “StorageDevicePolicies.”

Step 4: Create the value- Right-click on the new “StorageDevicePolicies” key and select “New” > “DWORD Value.” Name the new value “WriteProtect” and set its value data to “0.”

Step 5: Restart computer- Close the Registry Editor and restart the computer. After restarting, check if the SD card is write-protected or not.

Method 3: Use Diskpart

Diskpart is a command-line tool used in Windows to set up and manage disk partitions. This tool can also be used to remove write protection on SD cards.

Here are the steps to use Diskpart:

Step 1: Click on the Start menu- Type “cmd” in the search bar and right-click on “Command Prompt” > “Run as administrator.”

Step 2: Switch to Diskpart- Type “diskpart” in the Command Prompt window and hit Enter. This will switch the command line to Diskpart.

Step 3: Select the SD card- Type “list disk” in the Diskpart window andhit Enter. This command will show all the disks connected to your computer.

Step 4: Clean the disk- Type “select disk X” in the Diskpart window, where X is the number of the disk that corresponds to your SD card. Hit Enter. Next, type “attributes disk clear read-only” and hit Enter. This command will clear the write protection from the SD card.

Step 5: Close Diskpart- Type “exit” in the Diskpart window and hit Enter. This will close Diskpart.