I have an old USB thumb drive that originally came with my Windows key. It's loaded with Windows 22h2, but that's outdated, and I can't update to the latest Windows 11 version from it. I'd really like to repurpose this drive and install a new version of Windows on it, but it seems to be write-protected. I've tried using diskpart to clear it, but it's still locked. Any suggestions on how to unlock it, or should I just toss it as e-waste?
4 Answers
Since it sounds like it's not worth salvaging, you might as well try opening it up to see if you can manually bypass the write protection. Sometimes there’s a little jumper that you can tweak! Just don’t get your hopes too high—most of the time, they end up being a disappointment.
Honestly, if it's write-protected, it's probably not going to be usable anymore. You might want to look into new drives instead—they're pretty cheap these days!
If you're unable to unlock it with Diskpart, chances are the drive might be done for. It could be a sign of failure, especially if you can't clear the write protection any other way.
You could just grab a new flash drive, too. I've seen 8GB ones for under five bucks on Amazon, especially if you have Prime for free shipping. Why not go for that?
I actually liked your idea to open it up! But sadly, I did that and found nothing useful inside—just a bunch of circuit boards. Pretty disappointing!