Clearing write protection on a Windows Server guest operating system

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article provides steps to clear write protection on Windows Server guest operating system.

Symptoms:

• Drive mapping is lost on reboot
• After successful re-mapping of a drive letter, unable to write to the disk as it reports the disk as being write protected

Environment

• VMware ESXi 3.5.x Installable
• VMware ESX Server 3.5.x
• VMware ESX Server 3.0.x
• VMware ESXi 3.5.x Embedded

Resolution

On the Windows Server guest operating system:

1. Ensure the drive letter is mapped.
2. Open Windows command line and run these commands:
   
   diskpart
   
   list volume
    
3. Run this select command for the affected volume.
   
   For example:
   
   select volume 2
    
4. Run this command:
   
   attributes volume clear readonly
    
5. You may need to re-map the drive.