Question Unable to format a USB drive that was used for windows install

[DaronMal]

I had 2 USB drives with windows 11 installs setup and wanted to clear one to a normal USB again, I deleted the files and tried reformatting but it says the drive is write-protected and I essentially cant do anything with it. I tried Googling and a lot of places recommend using diskpart in cmd but that didnt help.

 

[Ralston18]

Make and model USB drives? Capacity?

Source for Windows 11 installs? Edition and version?

 

[DaronMal]

Make and model USB drives? Capacity?

Source for Windows 11 installs? Edition and version?

Its a Sandisk ultra USB 3.0 - 32gb

The WIn11 install was from the official site, I just want it to be a normal drive

 

[USAFRet]

Its a Sandisk ultra USB 3.0 - 32gb

The WIn11 install was from the official site, I just want it to be a normal drive

commandline diskpart, and the clean (or cleanall) command should take care of it.

 

[DaronMal]

commandline diskpart, and the clean (or cleanall) command should take care of it.

Tried :/

 

[stonecarver]

I had 2 USB drives with windows 11 installs setup and wanted to clear one to a normal USB again,

Use Rufus and use it's formatting tool.

Yes Rufus is a tool to also make a bootable OS Windows or Linux from an ISO but bypass that option and just use the drop down menu and choose the format you want the USB drive to be formatted as.

 

[DaronMal]

Use Rufus and use it's formatting tool.

Yes Rufus is a tool to also make a bootable OS Windows or Linux from an ISO but bypass that option and just use the drop down menu and choose the format you want the USB drive to be formatted as.

Also didnt work, gave an error "0xC003045D The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error"

 

[Bob.B]

I had 2 USB drives with windows 11 installs setup and wanted to clear one to a normal USB again, I deleted the files and tried reformatting but it says the drive is write-protected and I essentially cant do anything with it. I tried Googling and a lot of places recommend using diskpart in cmd but that didnt help.

Some reading.
https://www.diskpart.com/articles/usb-drive-read-only-7201.html

 

[DaronMal]

Some reading.
https://www.diskpart.com/articles/usb-drive-read-only-7201.html

Tried all of those, chkdsk doesnt even run because its write protected, theres no switch on its physical body or anything either

 

[USAFRet]

What size/make/model is this drive, and where did it come from?

32GB SanDisk?
Might be time to just let it go. 64GB SanDisk can be had for $8.

 

[Mostly.Peaceful]

Disc manager, delete partition, recreate partition, format, done.