Write-protected device when creating bootable windows USB drive

[knzkn34]

Hi,

I tried to make a bootable USB drive for windows 7 following this thread : [HowTo] Use Manjaro to create a bootable Windows USB

And everything went fine until trying to mount the iso :

sudo mount -o loop /path/to/windows/iso/filename.iso ~/winiso

Where I was stopped by the write protection of the device (a SanDisk USB drive) :

mount: /home/user/winiso: WARNING: device write-protected, mounted read-only.

which makes me unable to copy the files later in the process.

I tried several things after googling it, including hdparm, and reformatting, but it doesn't seem to work and at this point I think I've done more harm than good, I can't even create a sdb1 partition anymore and I will still get this 'read-only' warning.

So I think I need to start from the beginning again and try to fully understand what I'm doing. So if any of you could explain how to turn off this protection and take a clean start it would be awesome

Thanks guys

[AJSlye]

Why didn't you just post in the other thread?

If you just need a windows install usb, then all you need is woeusb, the Windows DVD, or an ISO image of the windows DVD. You would then select the iso image, or dvd drive, and have woeusb create the usb stick for you from that. https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/woeusb/

[knzkn34]

Why didn't you just post in the other thread?

The thread is locked, I guess you have to be an admin to reply there

You're right I should have used woeusb since the beginning. However the write-protection prevented copying files, even when using woeusb or the windows installer. I somehow managed to create a new partition for my drive using a friend's windows computer with the command lines and Disk part. And then I was able to use woeusb/the windows installer without any problem or sign of this write-protection, so I guess it was removed during the process.

I don't have an explanation though, it seems to be a SanDisk-related issue and reformatting/recreating a partition on windows using DiskPart was probably what worked.

Anyway, thanks for your help !