Diskpart Has Encountered an Error Access Is Denied | How to Fix

Overview of Diskpart Access Denied Issue

Some users have reported that when they try to clear a USB flash drive with the command prompt and diskpart, they failed midway clean the disk  due to the error message:

Diskpart has encountered an error: Access is denied.
See the System Event Log for more information.

When checking the System Event Log, you might see the error message: Failed to open device \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolume5. Error code: 5@020A0019. It means that the storage device is considered to be blocked (or write-protected), and has to be authorized.

3 Ways to Fix DiskPart Access Denied

To help you get rid of the error message, we have listed 3 solutions below. You can use both the built-in tool and third-party tool to solve this problem. Choose the most appropriate one according to your needs, and try it as instructions. 

1. Run the Command Prompt as Admin

This method is suitable for storage devices that require authorization. First, you need to start a command prompt as an administrator:

Step 1. Click Start, click All Programs, and then click Accessories.
Step 2. Right-click Command prompt, and then click Run as administrator.
Step 3. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.

Run diskpart again. See if the access is denied error disappears.

There are two ways to help remove this error; share these ways with others in need.

2. Remove Write Protection on the Hard Disk, USB Flash Drive or Memory Card

As mentioned above, if your storage device is write-protected, you can also see the "Diskpart has encountered an error: Access is denied" error. Here are the detailed steps of how to fix the disk is write-protected.

1. Open up your start menu and click "Run"
2. Type regedit in the box.
3. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies
4. Now double click the "WriteProtect" key and change the value to 0.

Registry Alternative - Write-Protection Removal Tool

If you don't consider yourself a pro-computer user and you're not familiar with command-lines, don't worry. There are graphical-based solutions to help you remove write-protection from your hard drives, USB drives, and even SD cards.

EaseUS CleanGenius is one of these tools that helps you fix aforementioned issues on your drives without knowing a thing about command-line.

Here's an easy-to-follow guide on how to use this tool to get your issues sorted:

Step 1: DOWNLOAD and install EaseUS CleanGenius (free) on your computer.

Step 2: Run EaseUS CleanGenius on your PC, select Optimization and choose the Write Protection mode.

Step 3: Select the device that is write-protected and click Disable to remove the protection.

Have nowhere to find the specified regedit path? Move on to the final resort.

3. Download Third-Party Format Software to Get Rid of Diskpart Access Denied Problem

Why were you insisting on formatting a disk storage drive or removable storage media in the command prompt with diskpart utility? It's tricky, and not a perfect solution for ordinary Windows users. Reasons are apparent to see. As soon as diskpart encountered errors, besides access is denied, many other similar errors only make users go nut. For example, diskpart has encountered an error, the parameter is incorrect, incorrect function, etc.

Therefore, finding a diskpart alternative should be the best way to tackle the problem that prevents you from formatting a disk, performing a clean, or creating a partition. EaseUS Partition Master free is such an ideal alternative tool that provides all diskpart features for home & office users. Here are some features of this tool:

• Format disk partitions in simple clicks.
• Enable users to well organize hard drives to enhance system performance.
• Migrate OS to SSD to speed up Windows.
• Change disk style from MBR to GPT/primary to logical without data loss, and vice versa.

Download EaseUS free partition manager and follow the instruction to format partitions on your Windows computer.

Applies to: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, XP, and Vista.

Step 1. Launch EaseUS Partition Master, right-click the partition on your external hard drive/USB/SD card which you want to format and choose the "Format" option.

Step 2. Assign a new partition label, file system (NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3/EXT4/exFAT), and cluster size to the selected partition, then click "OK".

Step 3. In the Warning window, click "Yes" to continue.

Step 4. Click the "Execute 1 Task(s)" button in the top-left corner to review the changes, then click "Apply" to start formatting your external hard drive/USB/SD card.