WD Community

Cannot access and unlock external WD Passport

I bought an external USB WD Passport portable drive a few years back. It worked properly for a few months and then would not mount.

I can see the drive is active and still reports data but the unlock feature no longer works.

I get the following error which I don’t understand:

“YOU MUST RUN THE WD DRIVE UNLOCK APPLICATION FROM THE WD DRIVE UNLOCK CD ASSOCIATED WITH THE DRIVE YOU WANT TO UNLOCK”

CLICK EXIT, LOCATE AND OPEN THE RELATED WD DRIVE UNLOCK CD AND THEN RUN WD DRIVE UNLOCK TO UNLOCK THE DESIRED DRIVE."

First of all, I installed this device on my Mac Pro which has no CD drive. I mounted the drive and used the utility that was loaded on the device.

What does this error mean? I downloaded a new copy of the software but the original unlock SW isn’t working and it used to work.

I realize my device is out of date but your product worked for a very short amount of time and I’d like to see if I can get the data off it.

Hello,

Please refer to the following KBA article: External Drive: Remove (disable/hide) the Virtual CD (VCD) on Windows or macOS

Support for Western Digital Hard Drives | Western Digital

Still Need Help?

Reach out to Support for more assistance.

Sign in to Your Support Account

Get up-to-date information about your products.

Western Digital Business Portal

Unlock benefits and tools for your business such as enterprise support, pricing and rebate tools, marketing, loyalty, rewards, and more.