Remove the “Read-Only” State from an SSD or USB Flash Drive when Windows won’t let you format It

Problem: You try copying files to, deleting items from, or formatting an SSD or USB flash drive, but Windows throws the error “The disk is write-protected”. In File Explorer, the Format and Delete options are either greyed out or fail.

Solution (Step-by-Step via Diskpart):

1. Press Win + R, type cmd, and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to run as Administrator.
2. Launch the disk management utility:

1. DOS
  
  diskpart
2. List all connected drives:
  DOS
  
  list disk
3. Select the drive exhibiting the issue (e.g., Disk 1):
  DOS
  
  select disk 1
4. Check and clear the read-only attribute:
  DOS
  
  attributes disk clear readonly
5. Exit the utility by typing:
  DOS
  
  exit
Effect: If the write lock was triggered by a logical state flag in the drive’s registry attributes (rather than permanent hardware failure or a physical write-protect switch), the drive immediately becomes writable and formatable again.

Permanent