I can manipulate my USB flash memory with diskpart utility of Windows (I have full access to it) but when I want to create a bootable usb by using Win32 Disk Imager or rufus, both of them fails with an access denied error.
how can I fix this?
what I have tried with no success :
- clean the USB disk by
diskpart.
6 Answers
From what I think, this solution is not specific to the above problem. However, it relates to a similar scenario; one that I ,in fact, faced myself.
Rufus was being denied access to all USB flash drives that I tried(about 4), and I tried a lot of solutions(including using "diskpart") but that didn't work.
To solve my particular problem all I had to do was turn off ESET Antivirus' device control.
1For me, it was Windows 10's Ransomware Protection, that I enabled at some point in the past.
It is supposed to prevent encryption of personal files (mostly to extort money), so it seems to prevent low-level access to drives.
To check and disable it in Windows 10, go to the Windows Settings (The cog wheel in the Start Menu), then to "Updates and Security", "Windows Security" (on the left), "Virus protection". Then at the bottom, there is "Ransomware protection". Click on it, then turn off "Controlled folder access". (This of course leaves your files vulnerable, should there be undetected Ransomware on your machine, but you have a backup anyway, don't you?)
In its FAQ, Rufus provides a non-exhaustive list of software that can prevent access (mostly security solutions), so you may want to check if you're not using one of these.
The problem is that some security solutions consider that USB Flash Drive access to reformat or change partition data is the sign of a malware infection, and make no provision for legitimate access such as the one from Win32 disk imager or Rufus (they may whitelist diskpart so that it won't produce an error, but that's about it).
Alternatively, some poorly designed software appear to keep a handle to removable drives (basically they are telling the OS: "Please keep that drive open for me, I may need it"), instead of just reopening the drive when actually required, which may also result in Access Denied.
If you are seeing consistent Access Denied issues, then you need to try to identify what software you have installed is the one that may be preventing access.
I encountered a similar problem while installing ParrotOs. However, things worked out after using the default Rufus rather than the portable version. The portable version causes such issues sometimes.
I encountered the same issue, although for the very first time. Running using Compatibility settings applied worked for me.
Like others said, something can block access to drives, to verify that run Windows in Safe Mode. I had similar problem with Rufus 3.14, tryied portable and nonportable version, compatibility modes and closing almost all processes but it didn't help, the one that solve it was Safe Mode.
If you don't do this all the time it could be the trick.
