How to Format Write Protected USB Flash Drive and Make it Usable

3 Easy method to Format Write Protected USB Flash Drive 

Have you ever encountered an error Windows was unable to complete the format”. There are several reasons your Windows is unable to format your USB Flash drive. A write protection, Corrupt file system etc.



You are unable to use your PEN drive to write any data on it. The drive is even unable to format the USB drive. In such there are several methods you can actually use to solve the Windows was unable to complete the format” error.

format write protected usb flash drive

1. Format Write protected USB Flash Drive using DiskPart

This is the most successful method to repair a corrupt USB flash drive or remove USB Write Protection and make it usable. Diskpart is a Windows built-in partition manager which used to create and manage disk partitions on Windows. You can also use Diskpart to Create a Bootable USB Flash Drive.

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To format USB Drive using Diskpart

Before we begin make sure to enter your USB Flash drive to the USB port of your Windows PC. Now follow the steps below:

  • Press Windows+R to Open Run Dialogue box.

Format Write protected USB Flash Drive using DiskPart

  • Type Diskpart and press Enter to open Diskpart console.

format USB drive

  • Type list Disk on Diskpart Console to display the list of all disk connected to your computer.

Format Write protected USB Flash Drive using DiskPart

  • Type select disk x. Here x is the number of your USB Flash drive. If you are not sure about the Disk number of your Flash Drive, watch the size of the disk.
  • Now type Clean and press Enter.
  • Create partition primary and press Enter.
  • Format fs=ntfs quick and press Enter to format the USB Flash Drive.
  • Type Assign and press Enter to assign a new disk name to the Newly formatted USB Drive.

This will format the USB flash drive and make it usable. If your USB flash drive is not completely corrupted this method will work for most of the USB drives.


Other Utility to Format Write protected USB Flash drive

If the method explained didn’t worked, you might need to go to Remove Write Protection from USB drive and Cards. However you may try other methods to format write protected USB flash drive if the above method didn’t worked for you. Use third party software to format write protected SD card and USB Drive.

2. Use SD Formatter to Format Write Protected USB Drive

SD Formatter is a freeware utility to help you to recover your corrupt USB pen drive. A number one software to repair a write protected USB Flash and SD Cards. This utility can also help you to repair any corrupt USB drive.

Use SD Formatter  to Format Write Protected USB Drive

Download and Install the software. Simply connect the device to your USB port and follow the instruction.

DownloadSDFormatter (Free)

3. Kingston Format Utility

All two method explained above are effective if you are using Windows 8 or above to recover your corrupt USB-Drive. But if you are using lower version of Windows (Windows XP to Windows 7). Because the framework and services available on Windows 10 are not available on lower version of Windows.



 Kingston Format Utility

Well, in that case here is the tool to format your write protected USB drive or SD-Card.

In order to install the Kingston Format Utility you need to extract the file using any RAR software(WinRAR or WinZIP).

Download the application and extract to a  temporary folder.

Install the application by double clicking Kingston Format Utility.exe.

Open the application and follow the instructions.

DownloadKingston Format Utility (Free)

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Can’t format USB Flash Drive?

If all three methods are not seem to working and you are tired of applying all the method, it’s time to Read : How to Remove Write Protection from USB Flash Drive. Because, most if the USB flash drives come with life time warrant, you can still claim a warranty to get your product replaced. Follow this link to claim your Seagate Warranty.

Conclusion: Here was the top three method to format write protected usb flash drive on your Windows. I hope applying these methods would have solved your problem.


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