WD external drive write protected

I have had no problem with the external drive (My Book) in Windows 7-64x until recently.  The problem is the drive has been write protected and I cannot save or write any data to it.  I have not been able to find a way to remove the write protection to date.  If any one reading this post has a solution, could you please let me know.  Thank you. 

Jean

Try going into the Device Manager and find the drive and delete it’s driver. Then disconnect the drive and reboot system and reconnect the drive. That should load a fresh driver sometime that helps.

Joe

1 Like

I have found another solution and I know it works in Windows 7 for I have used this process.   MY BOOK drive is no longer write protected.  The write protection has occured when an autonomous update for Windows 7 was made by

Microsoft.

The solution is “DiskPart”.

In the search program and files window of START type: Run
Under Programs click on: Run
Type after the Open: DiskPart

At the DISKPART prompt type: list volume (this will list all the drives on your computer and their assigned volume numbers.)

Next you want to set focus on the write protected drive. Enter at the DISKPART prompt: select volume # (where # is the volume for the device of interest.)

Now type “attributes disk clear readonly” and then type “attributes volume clear readonly” at the DISKPART prompt (this will reset the drive attributes.)

Check the drive in question, you should now be able to access the disk with full permissions.

That solution (DiskPart) worked for me.