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Thread: Write Protected Disk

  1. #1

    Unhappy Write Protected Disk

    Hi Guys,

    First of all Happy New Year to you all.

    My old home desktop has gone me crazy. It started with someone with infected pen-drive plugging in it. The thing that happened after it --> Whenever I try to copy anything into any pen drive/external HDD, it started to show the message :

    "Cannot copy <filename>: The disk is write protected.

    Remove the write-protection or use another disk"

    I have tried with a half a dozen pen-drives and external HDD like: Transcend 16 GB, Kingston 1 GB, etc... but I can't copy any file from my desktop to them.

    I tried copying files from my laptop to them and it worked fine. But the issue remains with the desktop. I tries searching internet about this issue. Most forums suggest that there's a notch/switch to remove write protected-ness, but all my pen-drives do not have anything like that.

    I suspect a malware or virus, so I ran Spybot S&D and Avast scans but this problem persists.


    Pls. help me out.....

    p.s. : how do you quote things in threads ?

  2. #2
    AOs Resident Troll
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    Nov 2003
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    3,152
    To quote things..

    you can either use the quote button...or by typing [quote]text that you want to quote [/quote.] without the dot..

    As for the disc issue...check the Disk Managment and the properties of the drive...usually every pen drive will be assigned the same drive letter unless changed in Disk Manager.

    Place to start...oh and I am assuming you are using XP???

    MLF
    How people treat you is their karma- how you react is yours-Wayne Dyer

  3. #3
    Many thanks for the reply.

    Yes, I'm using Windows XP. The Disk Manager shows healthy status of the pen-drive. I tried to change the drive letter but doesn't work. In the properties option, I have:

    1. General
    2. Autoplay
    3. Tools
    4. Hardware
    5. Sharing

    Under tools, I tried error checking with automatically fix file system errors but it refuses to run saying the disk is write protected.

    I can't understand why only this desktop is suffering the problem. Whereas all other desktops and laptops are being able to copy files easily into pen-drive.

    Hey.. I just discovered that this desktop is also having problem in burning CD/ DVD... when I try to copy files through the CD/DVD Drive in Explorer... It says that an error occured:


    PROBLEM COPYING (dialog box heading)

    Winsows encountered a problem when trying to copy this folder. What do you want windows to do?

    <file name with folder preview>

    buttons: Retry, Skip and Cancel

    <tick box> Repeat my answer each time this occurs
    I also tried unstoppable copier (the white cat thing), and it too didn't worked.

  4. #4
    I'd rather be fishing DjM's Avatar
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    There is a Reg hack to make USB storage devices read only, you may what to check to see if the key got created. Instructions on the key are here:
    http://www.worldstart.com/tips/tips.php/3812

    Cheers
    DjM

  5. #5
    Bingo.. it was the registry thing that stopped copying. All I did was went to regedit:

    Key Path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies

    and set the value to 0
    Thanks DjM. Thanks morganlefay.

    Cheers

  6. #6
    AOs Resident Troll
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    Thanks for letting us know what fixed it....

    I wonder what set the bit in the first place??

    MLF
    How people treat you is their karma- how you react is yours-Wayne Dyer

  7. #7
    If it was a virus/malware, it'll probably reset the bit back to 1 the next time you reboot or something.

  8. #8
    I'd rather be fishing DjM's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by morganlefay View Post

    I wonder what set the bit in the first place??

    MLF
    My bet is the malware morgan. You don't just just set the value, you have to create the dword first and then set the value. If it were me, unless you plan on using this feature, I would delete the dword.

    Cheers
    DjM

  9. #9
    Guys.. I had just begun to think its all over... but I'm still facing problem burning CD/DVD from the same desktop. If I drag and drop (or copy and paste) any file into the CD Drive in the Explorer I get the same message. Also burning fails in Nero (I even tried Ashampoo).

    The message is the same:

    PROBLEM COPYING (dialog box heading)

    Winsows encountered a problem when trying to copy this folder. What do you want windows to do?

    <file name with folder preview>

    buttons: Retry, Skip and Cancel

    <tick box> Repeat my answer each time this occurs
    Please help !

  10. #10
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    Please take a look at this and check your settings:

    http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...ptember16.mspx

    Also, I seem to recall that Windows XP doesn't support drag and drop for DVDs? you need burning software.

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