write protected usb stick

[jogold]

i have a usb stick with viruses but its write protected. i eve tried diskpart but it wont commit.
i also tried on gandals pe but still no dice.
any advice?
thx
jo

 

[Porthos]

i have a usb stick with viruses but its write protected.

Does it have a physical switch? What kind of drive is it.

 

[jogold]

It's a simple 32gb SanDisk. No switch to lock it

 

[Porthos]

Are you trying to clean it or format it?

 

[Archon Prime]

https://www.easeus.com/partition-master/format-a-write-protected-usb-flash-drive.html

 

[jogold]

i want to format it

the regedit didnt help and
i tried easeus ani get the following error
"the operation did not complete because the media is write protected."

 

[Archon Prime]

well poop... try this one.. few more options besides the reg edit

https://www.techadvisor.co.uk/how-to/storage/remove-write-protection-usb-3633096/

 

[MichaelBits]

What all did you try with diskpart?
Try this:

diskpart
list disk
sel disk # (number of the of your flash drive)
attrib disk

Does it show:
Read-only State: Yes
If So:

attrib disk clear readonly

See if that works...

 

[jogold]

DISKPART> attrib disk clear readonly

Disk attributes cleared successfully.

DISKPART> attrib disk
Current Read-only State : Yes
Read-only : No
Boot Disk : No
Pagefile Disk : No
Hibernation File Disk : No
Crashdump Disk : No
Clustered Disk : No

as you can see the diskpart commands do not work

 

[glennd]

i have a usb stick with viruses but its write protected. i eve tried diskpart but it wont commit.
i also tried on gandals pe but still no dice.
any advice?
thx
jo

throw it away

 

[jogold]

but thats no fun.
i already recovered all the data and sold the client a new stick.
now i want to solve this, it's become personal.

 

[fencepost]

Just be pleased that it failed to a readable state - way too much flash storage is technically supposed to do that (e.g. SSDs at least in theory from what I've read) but instead fails to "brick" status. The components in USB flash drives are not likely to be the top of the line.

 

[jogold]

that's the thing it didnt fail it's been messed up from the virus, it has the kapef.exe kapef.scr
it got under my skin

 

[mr m]

Look for this key: HKLM\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\CONTROL\STORAGEDEVICEPOLICIES\WRITEPROTECT

Change the value from a 1 to a 0. If the key does not exist create it and see what happens.

 

[jogold]

Did that already. Didn't make a difference.

 

[fencepost]

Are you able to boot from something linux based (e.g. Parted Magic) and wipe the drive from there? I'm wondering if there's something still going on with it that's confusing Windows.

 

[TurricanII]

The HP formatter noted in this article has never failed me..

https://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/19258/~/formatting-usb-drives-with-third-party-tools

If that does fail, another vote for bin it!

 

[Sky-Knight]

Just be pleased that it failed to a readable state - way too much flash storage is technically supposed to do that (e.g. SSDs at least in theory from what I've read) but instead fails to "brick" status. The components in USB flash drives are not likely to be the top of the line.

Samsung EVOs fail to brick...
Samsung PROs fail to read only...

Seriously, firmware features...

 

[jogold]

got it, i used
Formatter Silicon Power v.3.7.0.0 (thank you overclockers.forum) and then the HP formatter.
the billable time spent fixing this could have bought a box full but i hate unsolved mysteries.