CD-RW Write protected?

I am trying to format a cd that I bought (memorex) vista says it cannot be formatted because of its write protection. Unfortunately this is my only blank cd left so I can't use a new one. Is there a way of forcing a format? Or removing the write protection? thanks

Vista_32bit said:

I am trying to format a cd that I bought (memorex) vista says it cannot be formatted because of its write protection. Unfortunately this is my only blank cd left so I can't use a new one. Is there a way of forcing a format? Or removing the write protection? thanks

Click to expand...

insert it, and right click the Properties of the optical drive, and see if it is write protected.

rive0108 said:

Vista_32bit said:

I am trying to format a cd that I bought (memorex) vista says it cannot be formatted because of its write protection. Unfortunately this is my only blank cd left so I can't use a new one. Is there a way of forcing a format? Or removing the write protection? thanks

Click to expand...

insert it, and right click the Properties of the optical drive, and see if it is write protected.

Click to expand...

It doesn't really say. It only says it is if I try to format.

Why are you trying to format the disk? have you tried just erasing it? is it a cd-r or cd -rw disk?

rive0108 said:

Why are you trying to format the disk? have you tried just erasing it?

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It has songs on it, the songs can not be deleted. As I said when I try to format it says it is write protected, so there is no way for me to add or delete date from it.

The disk may be corrupted, and may be "unfixable". I suggest you go borrow or buy a new pack of cd's/dvd's

Well, I just noticed. Any CD I burn music to from iTunes is write protected. Is there a way in iTunes to make it not protected?

Vista_32bit said:

Well, I just noticed. Any CD I burn music to from iTunes is write protected. Is there a way in iTunes to make it not protected?

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First, are you using CD R disks or CD RW disks? [only CD RW disks (DVD RW/BD RE) disks can be erased)
the following can only be burned to ONCE, and cannot be erased/formated, etc.:
Note- most external players cannot read Re-Writable CD disks

CD R/DVD R/BD R

iTunes DRM only protects the songs- it does not prevent erasing. If you have a "Write Protected Media" error it either is due to a non-rewritable disk/corrupted disk (aborting either the format/burn/erase process will cause disk corruption), or User Corrruption in Vista (i.e., "Access denied")
I suggest you run the built in Administrator Account, and see if you can then erase the CD RW disk. If you can, then you can try taking Ownership, or create a New Admin User Account, As this means your User Account has been corrupted poss through use of a reg cleaner/malware/User error.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/67567-administrator-account.html

Two, Before you burn to the disks in Vista it "autoformats" to either:

LIVE FILE SYSTEM (default- allows files to be added/erased like a flash drive)
or MASTERED (prevents individual files from being deleted afterwords)


What type of disk are you using and what are you formating to before burning?

This is an example of a CD-RW disk that has been corrupted:

Erasing a Disk with Vista: