How Can I Format a Write-Protected USB Flash Drive
My USB flash drive has been write-protected, and I do not know how to format it. So I am finding useful methods to help me format my write-protected USB flash drive. Can anyone help me?
Best Answered by
Cici· Answered on Jul 13, 2025
According to your description, it can be known that your USB has been write-protected, so you can not edit, delete or format it. If you want to format the USB flash drive, you should remove the write protection for your USB flash drive first, and then you will be able to format the USB flash drive.
I would like to share my methods with you to help you fix this issue. Based on my experience, there are some methods for you to remove the write protection for your USB flash drive.
If your USB flash drive has previously been locked, showing its Lock to ON, then your device is in a state of write protection, which means that you cannot format your USB flash drive or make any changes to it.
Here are some steps for you to unlock the write-protected USB:
Step 1. Locate the physical switch on your USB flash drive.
Step 2. Move the switch from ON to OFF.
If your USB doesn't have a physical switch or the system still warns your USB is write-protected, you can follow the second method below to remove the write protection. The second method is to rely on a third-party tool: EaseUS Partition Master. It can help you remove the write protection for your USB flash drive in a quick and simple way. After that, you can still use this software to format your USB flash drive.
Now, here are some steps for you:
Step 1. Download the EaseUS Partition Master, and install it.
Step 2. Enter the Toolkit section, and click "Write Protection."
Step 3. Select your write-protected USB flash drive, and click "Disable."
After finishing the above steps, it is believed that your USB flash drive can be removed from write protection. Next, I would like to give you a detailed guide to formatting your unwrite-protected USB flash drive.
Step 1. Enter EaseUS Partition Master, right-click the partition on your USB flash drive you want to format, and click "Format."
Step 2. You need to assign file system(NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3/EXT4/exFAT), a new partition label, and cluster size to the chosen partition, then click "OK."
Step 3. In the Warning window, choose "Yes."
Step 4. In the top-left corner, click the "Execute 1 Task(s)" to see the changes, then choose "Apply" to format your USB flash drive.
After finishing the formatting process, your device is in a good state, and you can save or store data again.
Besides a USB flash drive, the EaseUS Partition Master also allows you to format other types of write-protected devices, such as a write-protected SD card, after removing the write-protection error. And here are some other functions the EaseUS Partition Master can provide for you:
- Check USB speed
- Copy large files to FAT32 USB
- Fix the USB drive showing the wrong size error
Briefly, the EaseUS Partition Master is a good option for you to remove write protection for your USB flash drive and help you format the USB flash drive. It is an efficient and operable way for you. Now you can try to fix your issue.
