Cannot Run CHKDSK Write Protected on Windows 10/8/7
Geeks - If you are unable to run CHKDSK on your Windows 10/8/7 system because it is write-protected, there are a few possible solutions you can try.
First, make sure that the drive you are trying to run CHKDSK on is not actually write-protected. Some external hard drives and USB drives have a physical switch or lever that can be used to enable or disable write protection. If you are using one of these drives, check to see if the switch is set to the "write-protected" position, and change it if necessary.
If the drive does not have a physical write-protection switch, or if the switch is already set to the correct position, you may need to use the diskpart utility to remove the write-protection. To do this, follow these steps:
Open a command prompt as an administrator. To do this, press the Windows key + X on your keyboard, and then select "Command Prompt (Admin)" from the menu that appears.
Type the following command and press Enter: diskpart
Type the following command and press Enter: list disk
Make note of the number of the disk you want to run CHKDSK on (e.g. "Disk 1").
Type the following command, replacing "disk_number" with the number of the disk you want to run CHKDSK on, and press Enter: select disk disk_number
Type the following command and press Enter: attributes disk clear readonly
Type the following command and press Enter: exit
After following these steps, you should be able to run CHKDSK on the selected disk without encountering the write-protection error.
If you are still unable to run CHKDSK, there may be a problem with the file system on the drive. In this case, you may need to use a different utility, such as the "fsck" command on Linux, to repair the file system. You may also need to use a data recovery tool to recover any lost or corrupted data on the drive.
