GUI insists USB memory stick is write-protected...

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MarkTheMorose
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GUI insists USB memory stick is write-protected...

Post by MarkTheMorose »

... but I can copy files to it through the terminal.

This and other USB oddities have been around in Mint for some years. It's all the more annoying because the GUI just let me format the damned stick, so how can it be write-protected?

I'd previously used the USB image writer on the same stick to put Linux Mint 16 on it, and it wasn't 'write-protected' then either. Not needing 16 now, I used the Format USB stick tool and formatted the stick to FAT32. When I try to drag files into it, suddenly it's write protected, but only according to the GUI. The terminal tells me it's mounted 'rw', and a quick 'cp -r' etc, etc, and I have 2GB copied across.

And bizzarely, the GUI lets me delete files from the stick, but try to copy one and it's 'destination write protected' again... :evil:

Why does the GUI insist the stick is write-protected?

I can eject and reinsert the stick in different ports all day till I'm blue in the face, it makes no difference, and neither should it.
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karlchen
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Re: GUI insists USB memory stick is write-protected...

Post by karlchen »

Hello, MarkTheMorose.

Can we start diagnosing the root cause by determining which GUI exactly it is that you are talking about? Means kindly post the screen output of the terminal command

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inxi -Sx
(capital S, small x)

Also you might explain a bit more in detail which GUI programme it is or which GUI programmes that return error messages to the effect the pendrive were write protected. Programmes have names.

Can you crosscheck on a second machine that no technical problem affects the USB pendrive? Pendrives do not live forever. They may die a sudden death or slowly causing weird behaviour while they do.

Kind regards,
Karl
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MarkTheMorose
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Re: GUI insists USB memory stick is write-protected...

Post by MarkTheMorose »

Thanks for the reply. By GUI I mean MATE, I'm on Mint 17.

When I try to drag files across from one Caja tab to another - the destination, being the USB stick - I get the write protected message.

I take your point that sticks don't last forever, but after getting the error, I copied the files across successfully using the terminal. I'm quite sure it's not the stick, just how Mint or MATE is dealing with it. It's a seldom-used stick, Kingston 8GB, about one year old.

The output of inxi:

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mark@mark-desktop-lm ~ $ inxi -Sx
System:    Host: mark-desktop-lm Kernel: 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64 (64 bit, gcc: 4.8.2) 
           Desktop: N/A Distro: Linux Mint 17 Qiana
mark@mark-desktop-lm ~ $ 
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karlchen
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Re: GUI insists USB memory stick is write-protected...

Post by karlchen »

Hello, MarkTheMorse.

Seems as if I will have to discard any possible causes which had come up to my mind. :oops: Came across this thread, not by accident, but by trying to find out if there might indeed be a Mint specific bug or a Ubuntu specific bug behind the problem: USB flash drives become read-only This thread in turn leads to a Launchpad bug report which seems to confirm that there must be a programme bug which causes the reported phenomenon: nemo says vfat/fat32 usb flash drive are read-only - not so...

I guess
(a) I have been lucky not to encounter the problem, because I hardly every use Nemo or Thunar for copying, but a two panel file-manager
(b) I should go over to the Ubuntu forums to find out whether similar problem reports exist.

Comment #20 in the Launchpad bug report might suggest that accpeting the latest Linux Mint updates for installation will solve the problem (temporarily? finally? till someone breaks udev again?)

---Note---
In particular cases, where an unclean filesystem on the USB device is the cause, this video tutorial might help solve the issue: How to fix read only USB flash drive in Ubuntu

Kind regards,
Karl
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Re: GUI insists USB memory stick is write-protected...

Post by stoffl »

I just want to report that I have the exactly same problem. I have a USB Stick (QIMONDA) which I formated with FAT32 under Mint. The stick is not writeable from the GUI but works fine on the command line. I've also tried to format it again under Windows 8.1 just to make sure. No difference.

Any news on this issue?

For the record the output of dmesg, after i plug in the stick:

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[37793.843446] usb 1-5: Product: QIMONDA
[37793.843447] usb 1-5: Manufacturer:         
[37793.843449] usb 1-5: SerialNumber: 078416AC0FFB
[37793.843670] usb-storage 1-5:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[37793.844742] scsi9 : usb-storage 1-5:1.0
[37794.843628] scsi 9:0:0:0: Direct-Access              QIMONDA          PMAP PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
[37794.843960] sd 9:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
[37795.851881] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdb] 3915776 512-byte logical blocks: (2.00 GB/1.86 GiB)
[37795.852657] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[37795.852664] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 23 00 00 00
[37795.853388] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdb] No Caching mode page found
[37795.853395] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[37795.856625] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdb] No Caching mode page found
[37795.856632] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[37795.857260]  sdb: sdb1
[37795.860269] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdb] No Caching mode page found
[37795.860278] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[37795.860283] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
bwestrup777
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Re: GUI insists USB memory stick is write-protected...

Post by bwestrup777 »

Me to!!

Mint 17 Mate

Used "USB Image writer" and now the thumb drive is read only...seems permanent. Using chmod to change the file permission has no effect and I have ownership of the the drive and files.

Took a simple task and turned it into an ordeal...Why would they include this if it's completely borked???

IMHO Linux Mint has gone down hill...simple things that used to just work, don't anymore.

I'll just do it on a Windows box when I get to work...I've got better things to do with my weekend than chase someone else s rabbit.
zolar1

Re: GUI insists USB memory stick is write-protected...

Post by zolar1 »

I have been fighting friggin usb issues for a long LONG time.

Some USB drives become read only because they failed.

For a GUI issue, try this:

Safely remove USB device.

Restart computer.

Reinsert USB device.

Mount it.

Launch GUI that you want to use to write to the drive.

See if it writes then.

I had to do this sometimes for multisystem program.

Note: some usb drives, particularly Win8 'optimized' sandisk, have issues with writing for bootable reasons. Sandisk has no fix for this and is burned in at the factory. Older and newer drives should be bootable. You have to try to see.

And then there is the PITA U3 issue (repo has a way to remove it).
Mute Ant

Re: GUI insists USB memory stick is write-protected...

Post by Mute Ant »

Common here is that at some time the stick has been made to look like an ISO9660 file system. Subsequent ''formatting'' usually writes to the first 512 bytes and the storage beyond 1MiB...it doesn't wipe the ISO fingerprint which starts at byte 32768. Before you reuse a Live-Session USB, write zeros to the first 1MiB to clear the MBR and the left-over ISO sectors...
EXAMPLE ONLY
sudo shred -s $((2048*512)) -vzn0 /dev/sdX
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all41
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Re: GUI insists USB memory stick is write-protected...

Post by all41 »

Before you reuse a Live-Session USB, write zeros to the first 1MiB to clear the MBR

Code: Select all

sudo shred -s $((2048*512)) -vzn0 /dev/sdX
This sounds like a good approach to know. I have been using:

Code: Select all

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdx
to write zeros to the entire drive after it was used as an install device.
It works--but takes a goodly bit of time.
Everything in life was difficult before it became easy.
zolar1

Re: GUI insists USB memory stick is write-protected...

Post by zolar1 »

I will have to try that on some of my flash drives. Thanks!

Be aware that many of them are crippled at the factory due to Windows 8 requirements. Sandisk Cruzer Mini is one of them (tiny little flash drive), and they were brand new.

I did have 2 flash drives that were not writable. When returning them it was verified that the flash drives were defective.


Seems Microsoft is doing everything it can to prevent FOSS from working.
Mute Ant

Re: GUI insists USB memory stick is write-protected...

Post by Mute Ant »

https://tails.boum.org/support/known_issues/#index1h2
Many SanDisk USB sticks are configured by the manufacturer as a fixed disk, and not as a removable disk [...snip...] SanDisk had begun the production of flash drives configured as fixed disk in 2012 to meet new requirements for Windows 8 Certification, and ended it in mid-2014.
Problems booting perhaps, not a problem writing to a device in the /dev/ folder though.
zolar1

Re: GUI insists USB memory stick is write-protected...

Post by zolar1 »

if the flash drive is crippled at the factory presumably there is one portion of it that you cannot write or erase.
Hence the unbootable condition.

But the other part is fine for data storage read/write
MarkTheMorose
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Re: GUI insists USB memory stick is write-protected...

Post by MarkTheMorose »

Some interesting points, but none which help explain why Caja/the GUI reports a write-protected device, yet a terminal command to copy a file does not. I'm using MATE; does anyone using Cinnamon, or other editions of Mint (XFCE, KDE, LMDE), with their respective GUI's and file managers, have the same problem? Is it possible to use something other than Caja on MATE?
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Flemur
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Re: GUI insists USB memory stick is write-protected...

Post by Flemur »

Is it possible to use something other than Caja on MATE?
Yes. You might try xfe, it works well and is rather self-contained; though you might look at pcmanfm and thunar and see what it wants to install as dependencies.
Please edit your original post title to include [SOLVED] if/when it is solved!
Your data and OS are backed up....right?
zolar1

Re: GUI insists USB memory stick is write-protected...

Post by zolar1 »

I read somewhere that GDISK can wipe even the most stubborn drives. Unless sabotaged by the manufacturer of course.
MarkTheMorose
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Re: GUI insists USB memory stick is write-protected...

Post by MarkTheMorose »

Flemur wrote:
Is it possible to use something other than Caja on MATE?
Yes. You might try xfe,
Thanks.
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