[autorun] icon=favicon.icoSave this to the root of your USB stick as “autorun.inf”
If you are like me, you’ve done a great bit of searching on the internet to remove Read Only USB partition or to remove CDROM USB partition, and unfortunately the information is very scarce and the information which is out there, isn’t very clear and direct. The only utility we’ve found, is the one used to remove the U3 platform off a retail USB stick made by SanDisk, but chances are you are dealing with a different vendor or stick. In addition, the U3 platform was killed a long time ago by SanDisk because hackers kept using the auto-run function associated with CD-ROM discs to auto-run USB malware.
We found a company that can do this, and they do it in bulk, USBCopier.com is a USB duplication service company that specializes in fixing your problem, like removing a Read Only USB partition. I’m not sure how they do it, but their services worked for us.
As you know, a simple format or delete attempt to the USB device simply doesn’t work…you get the “This disk is write protected” message. The flash drive is configured this way at the chip level, so it’s not a formatting problem. The chip inside the USB flash drive, called the controller, has a configuration setting so the device will appear as a CD-ROM device. Since the vendor commands are not available to access the USB controller chip, you cannot re-configure the device to work like a normal flash drive.
I spoke with USBCopier.com about the issue, and they can remove a USB partition off all types of drives, like USB sticks with Chipsbank controllers, Alcor, SMI, USBest, Innostor and many others. They also said the partition type doesn’t matter, it can be either the Read Only or CDROM and they can remove it. USBCopier also mentioned if they can remove the USB partition, then chances are, they can also recreate it.
The company was a life saver to us and I wanted to pass along the information. It was much cheaper to pay the service fee to remove the USB partition than it was to re-buy all the USB sticks and start from scratch.
Here is the link to their USB duplication service page. Here is the link to their contact page.
If you are in a bit of trouble – I wish you luck – these guys could possibly help.
[autorun] Label=type whatever you want hereFor those of you less familiar with .INF files they are extremely easy to make and use. For the USB Volume name this is what you do: Continue Reading
NOTE: The original article can be found at the bottom of this page — jump there now.
The old method on this page uses an XP-friendly INF/registry trick to flip the removable bit. It was clever, but on modern Windows 10/11 it’s brittle (driver signing, updates) and many tools/policies now check the device’s hardware class, not a label you force with a file edit.
What changed
What works now
Use hardware that natively enumerates as a fixed disk. The device tells Windows “I’m a hard drive,” so Disk Management, BitLocker, and picky installers behave accordingly—no per-PC driver editing.
Product we tested
Nexcopy USB HDD Fixed Disk appears as a Local Disk on any host (controller/firmware set). No utilities, no INF edits, just plug in. It’s suited for tools that require “Local Disk,” imaging, BitLocker, or multi-partition workflows.
Quick self-check
Bottom line
The legacy hack is useful history, but for real-world deployments start with hardware that already identifies as a hard drive. For a full, modern walkthrough, see our new article covering 2025-ready options and workflows.
This is a very valuable tutorial, especially if you are looking to partition a USB stick. Another application for turning a removable drive into a local disk, is that now many software programs can be loaded directly to a USB drive. The first program which comes to mind is iTunes. I know you need My Documents and a Local Disk to install it, so after this tutorial, I’ll try installing iTunes and share the results.
The process of turning a USB stick into a hard drive is fairly easy. However, there are limitations. For example, this works best with Windows XP operating systems. You also need to update the drivers for the device for any computer you are going to use. Typically, this isn’t a big deal as you can easily do this for your work and home computers. However, this isn’t a great solution if you are trying to create a partitions USB stick for distribution to many possible users [say trade show give-away].
Couple of items you’ll need:
What we will do, is connected the USB stick, find the driver code, update the driver code and re-connect the device. Simple.
Here are the details:
There are a large number of computer users out there which need to eliminate the function of their computer going into sleep mode. I was talking to a friend of mine last night who had this exact problem.
The problem was at the corporate level the IT guys started a function that once your computer went idle for 30 minutes the screen saver would pop up requiring a password login. The reason behind such a decision was unclear, but it’s probably related to measuring productivity.
Well, as any good employee would do, you search Google for a work around. Today we found one. The USB shake stick, which doesn’t actually shake, but is a device that keeps your mouse moving in the screen so that sleep mode never turns on.
You can avoid sleep mode through this USB stick by simply connecting it to your computer and setting up the preferences [shake speed of mouse icon].
Although the above example is a great way to circumvent a corporate policy, there are a couple legitimate reasons. For example,
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