Then right click and select ' Run as Administrator'. To do so: click Start, then type in ' CMD' (no quotes) wait for 'CMD.EXE' or 'Command Prompt' to appear in the list, To remove the write protect, begin by launching an administrative command line

As I mentioned there is no write protect switch or tab on the device, so this means the My Book drive was write protected through software or firmware (though as I mentioned, I'm not sure how it was done in the first place).How to Fix: WD My Book Read Only (Remove Write Protect) After more research I discovered it is possible to unlock the partition using the 'diskpart'īelow I'll explain what I did to fix the issue. I also tried a registry fix to unlock usb write protected drives. I came across a few posts that suggested third party ' usb unlock freeware utilities' could unlock the My Book drive, but this did not work. From all the articles I came across, the write protect / read only issue appears to be a widespread problem that happens to users randomly, for no apparent reason.

I asked Larry if he would like me to connect to his system to have a closer look using my remote desktop support service, and he agreed.Īfter researching the issue, it appears that the Western Digital My Book drives use software called ' WD Discovery' to lock and unlock the drive, though I could not find an option to disable the write protection. I have searched for 'wd my book read only remove write protect' in Google but I can't seem to find the answer. Also, if I right click the drive partition in Disk Management, the delete option is missing. I have also tried formatting the drive with Windows Disk Management but it fails. I have looked but there is no tab or switch on the USB drive to unlock orĭisable the write protect.

I have tried formatting the My Book drive using File Explorer, but it tells me the drive is write protected. I don't know what's going on but all my files on my external western digital 'My Book' are marked as ' READ ONLY'.

How to format wd elements on mac