Windows USB can't format disk because a volume is read-only

English Install/Boot/Login
1

Hi.

I’ve heard Tumbleweed is supposed to be pretty stable, but I’ve found it to be quite buggy. I’m not sure if it’s due to the hardware - though I have AMD graphics; however, I have heard proprietary drivers on Tumbleweed is a bad idea. I tried to switch to open-source, but the tutorial is meant to replace the outdated fglrx. I tried my best to follow the tutorial, just replacing fglrx with amdgpu, but long story short, it only made my operating system unable to use plasma. And also, some of the bugs I found were more functional than just visual. Can outdated driver bugs cause such? (e.g. When I clicked on an icon on the system tray, it would sometimes open the hidden icons, rather than whatever I clicked on) - or me just meddling with the system (though I don’t think I did that badly), but either way.

I’m not here to bash Tumbleweed (though if someone had a response for the above problems, I’d appreciate that), however. Even though I would sell my soul for the blur effect in Plasma 5.13, I’ve decided I’ve had enough of things breaking and just want a solid, usable KDE distro that’s not outdated (which I use for school, and mind you, this is my exam/assignment week). I’d also broken the windows boot files during the installation of Linux so it doesn’t show in grub. All in all, I decided to start fresh. Which is why I had a backup plan with the Windows USB I saved from the last time I broke my system beyond repair (er, oops). So, there I am. I plug it in, and restart my laptop, psychologically readying myself for having to reinstall everything on two operating systems.

So, a windows comes up. Is it the friendly smiley emoticon of windows, or whatever the usb greeting interface is? Nope. It tells me my system isn’t supported by the System Recovery Media.

I panic, but when I click okay, a different dialogue comes up. It says, ‘the disk cannot be written to because it is write protected. Please remove the protection from the volume L07360-011 in drive G:’

Oh, so the problem does have a solution, seemingly. The issue is, I don’t know what that is. As I said, Windows can’t boot. I don’t know what drive G is. I figured it might be a specific partition which mounted as /usr/local, and deleted it, but that didn’t solve the issue. I don’t want to randomly delete too many partitions, because. You know. I don’t want to end up with an unbootable laptop.

So. How do I find out which drive that is, and how do I make it writeable? Because I didn’t see any options in YaST. Maybe GParted? Idk.

I tried the internal system recovery, but that just led to a black screen that remained there until I forced it off. My laptop is HP.

Thank you.

2

Provide us the output from bootinfoscript and the HP model so we can try to help you figure out what is going on.

3

Um. At this point (before the thread started, lol) the system’s internet has pretty much given up on me. And it doesn’t seem to be a wireless thing either, because even connecting to my phone via a USB cable (which worked before) fails to. I might be able through some effort get that on it, but certainly not tonight.

Now, the HP model seems to be HP 15-DB0125AU (15.6").

4

I managed to install bootinfoscript and run it. Here:

https://imgur.com/a/TCejKzP

The output was apparently too big for the post, so I took screenshots. Not sure if all of that is necessary, but eh.

5

I managed to get bootinforscript on my laptop. Here’s the output (I deleted some parts I thought might be unnecessary (e.g. code) and replaced them with ‘…]’, since it would otherwise be too big):

                  Boot Info Script 0.61      [1 April 2012]


============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================

 => No boot loader is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda.
 => No boot loader is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb.

sda1: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7: NTFS
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        

sda2: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7: NTFS
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        

sda3: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7: NTFS
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        /bootmgr /Boot/BCD

sda5: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       btrfs
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        

sda6: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       swap
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 

sdb1: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       vfat
    Boot sector type:  FAT16
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        /efi/boot/bootx64.efi /efi/boot/fallback.efi 
                       /efi/opensuse/grub.efi /efi/opensuse/grubx64.efi 
                       /efi/opensuse/MokManager.efi /efi/opensuse/shim.efi

sdb2: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 
    Mounting failed:   mount: /tmp/BootInfo-rh1ZCNgl/sdb2: unknown filesystem type ''.

sdb3: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7: NTFS
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        /Windows/System32/winload.exe

sdb4: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7: NTFS
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        

sdb5: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       btrfs
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 
    Operating System:  Welcome to openSUSE Tumbleweed 
                       20181122 - Kernel (). eno1: {eno1} {eno1}
    Boot files:        /boot/grub2/grub.cfg /etc/fstab

============================ Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda _____________________________________________________________________
Disk /dev/sda: 931.5 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt

Partition  Boot  Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors  Id System

/dev/sda1                   1 1,953,525,167 1,953,525,167  ee GPT


GUID Partition Table detected.

Partition    Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors System
/dev/sda1           2,048   770,170,879   770,168,832 Data partition (Windows/Linux)
/dev/sda2     770,170,880 1,294,458,879   524,288,000 Data partition (Windows/Linux)
/dev/sda3   1,923,604,480 1,953,523,711    29,919,232 Data partition (Windows/Linux)
/dev/sda5   1,504,174,080 1,734,860,799   230,686,720 Data partition (Linux)
/dev/sda6   1,902,632,960 1,923,604,479    20,971,520 Swap partition (Linux)

Drive: sdb _____________________________________________________________________
Disk /dev/sdb: 119.2 GiB, 128035676160 bytes, 250069680 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt

Partition  Boot  Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors  Id System

/dev/sdb1                   1   250,069,679   250,069,679  ee GPT


GUID Partition Table detected.

Partition    Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors System
/dev/sdb1           2,048       534,527       532,480 EFI System partition
/dev/sdb2         534,528       567,295        32,768 Microsoft Reserved Partition (Windows)
/dev/sdb3         567,296   132,706,303   132,139,008 Data partition (Windows/Linux)
/dev/sdb4     248,049,664   250,056,703     2,007,040 Windows Recovery Environment (Windows)
/dev/sdb5     132,706,304   248,049,663   115,343,360 Data partition (Linux)

"blkid" output: ________________________________________________________________

Device           UUID                                   TYPE       LABEL

/dev/sda1        CE80BF5180BF3F31                       ntfs       DATA
/dev/sda2        2CE643A2E6436AE2                       ntfs       Shared Data
/dev/sda3        087CC13C7CC12572                       ntfs       RECOVERY
/dev/sda5        b3c9d40a-2303-4fc9-832e-e9953a994770   btrfs      
/dev/sda6        7ced4d24-a868-4f05-8488-c6369b339198   swap       
/dev/sdb1        ABC6-D6D2                              vfat       
/dev/sdb2                                                          
/dev/sdb3        5C4843034842DB80                       ntfs       Windows
/dev/sdb4        22CA3CB1CA3C8359                       ntfs       Windows RE tools
/dev/sdb5        e4e398e0-70a1-42ff-83bf-6096588bef55   btrfs      

================================ Mount points: =================================

Device           Mount_Point              Type       Options

/dev/sda2        /data/shared             fuseblk    (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=0,group_id=0,allow_other,blksize=4096)
/dev/sda5        /data                    btrfs      (rw,relatime,space_cache,subvolid=5,subvol=/)
/dev/sdb1        /boot/efi                vfat       (rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro)
/dev/sdb5        /boot/grub2/i386-pc      btrfs      (rw,relatime,ssd,space_cache,subvolid=265,subvol=/@/boot/grub2/i386-pc)
/dev/sdb5        /boot/grub2/x86_64-efi   btrfs      (rw,relatime,ssd,space_cache,subvolid=264,subvol=/@/boot/grub2/x86_64-efi)
/dev/sdb5        /home                    btrfs      (rw,relatime,ssd,space_cache,subvolid=263,subvol=/@/home)
/dev/sdb5        /opt                     btrfs      (rw,relatime,ssd,space_cache,subvolid=262,subvol=/@/opt)
/dev/sdb5        /root                    btrfs      (rw,relatime,ssd,space_cache,subvolid=261,subvol=/@/root)
/dev/sdb5        /srv                     btrfs      (rw,relatime,ssd,space_cache,subvolid=260,subvol=/@/srv)
/dev/sdb5        /tmp                     btrfs      (rw,relatime,ssd,space_cache,subvolid=259,subvol=/@/tmp)
/dev/sdb5        /                        btrfs      (rw,relatime,ssd,space_cache,subvolid=293,subvol=/@/.snapshots/7/snapshot)
/dev/sdb5        /var                     btrfs      (rw,relatime,ssd,space_cache,subvolid=258,subvol=/@/var)


========================== sdb5/boot/grub2/grub.cfg: ===========================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub2-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
...]

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_tuned ###
set tuned_params=""
set tuned_initrd=""
### END /etc/grub.d/00_tuned ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
...]

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if  -f  ${config_directory}/custom.cfg ]; then
  source ${config_directory}/custom.cfg
elif  -z "${config_directory}" -a -f  $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
  source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/80_suse_btrfs_snapshot ###
### END /etc/grub.d/80_suse_btrfs_snapshot ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/90_persistent ###
### END /etc/grub.d/90_persistent ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/95_textmode ###

    # On EFI systems we can only have graphics *or* serial, so allow the user
    # to switch between the two
    hiddenentry 'Text mode' --hotkey 't' {
    set textmode=true
    terminal_output console
    }
### END /etc/grub.d/95_textmode ###
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=============================== sdb5/etc/fstab: ================================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UUID=e4e398e0-70a1-42ff-83bf-6096588bef55  /                       btrfs  defaults                      0  0
UUID=e4e398e0-70a1-42ff-83bf-6096588bef55  /boot/grub2/x86_64-efi  btrfs  subvol=/@/boot/grub2/x86_64-efi  0  0
UUID=e4e398e0-70a1-42ff-83bf-6096588bef55  /boot/grub2/i386-pc     btrfs  subvol=/@/boot/grub2/i386-pc  0  0
UUID=ABC6-D6D2                             /boot/efi               vfat   defaults                      0  0
UUID=e4e398e0-70a1-42ff-83bf-6096588bef55  /var                    btrfs  subvol=/@/var                 0  0
UUID=e4e398e0-70a1-42ff-83bf-6096588bef55  /tmp                    btrfs  subvol=/@/tmp                 0  0
UUID=e4e398e0-70a1-42ff-83bf-6096588bef55  /srv                    btrfs  subvol=/@/srv                 0  0
UUID=e4e398e0-70a1-42ff-83bf-6096588bef55  /root                   btrfs  subvol=/@/root                0  0
UUID=e4e398e0-70a1-42ff-83bf-6096588bef55  /opt                    btrfs  subvol=/@/opt                 0  0
UUID=e4e398e0-70a1-42ff-83bf-6096588bef55  /home                   btrfs  subvol=/@/home                0  0
UUID=b3c9d40a-2303-4fc9-832e-e9953a994770  /data                   btrfs  defaults                      0  0
UUID=7ced4d24-a868-4f05-8488-c6369b339198  swap                    swap   defaults                      0  0
/dev/sda2                                  /data/shared            ntfs   defaults                      0  0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=================== sdb5: Location of files loaded by Grub: ====================

           GiB - GB             File                                 Fragment(s)


=============================== StdErr Messages: ===============================

cat: /tmp/BootInfo-rh1ZCNgl/Tmp_Log: No such file or directory
mdadm: No arrays found in config file or automatically
6

You have to a unmodified binary copy to the device NOT to a partition on the disk. ie the ISO is a drive image with all the partitions that will replace the partitioning on the device.

If copying from Linux you can use dd or cp to copy to the device if from windows use https://www.osforensics.com/tools/write-usb-images.html or something like it.

7

Rather than have us try to figure out if you left out anything that matters, upload the whole file. You can do this from a shell prompt with the /usr/bin/susepaste command (install first if necessary), or goto susepaste.org or pastebin.com or elsewhere in a web browser, then post the link to it here.

8

You have to a unmodified binary copy to the device NOT to a partition on the disk. ie the ISO is a drive image with all the partitions that will replace the partitioning on the device.

If copying from Linux you can use dd or cp to copy to the device if from windows use Tools for OSForensics - ImageUSB - Write an image to multiple USB Flash Drives or something like it.

Sorry, I’m not sure I understand what you mean?

Rather than have us try to figure out if you left out anything that matters, upload the whole file. You can do this from a shell prompt with the /usr/bin/susepaste command (install first if necessary), or goto susepaste.org or pastebin.com or elsewhere in a web browser, then post the link to it here.

Yeah, thank you. Hosting it on an external URL was my original idea but I couldn’t find any sites for that. Here: SUSE Paste
(Don’t say ‘goto’ though it’ll upset the programmers)