XP pro client refusing to write USB drive

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gbhall

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I have a PC running XP-pro and signed onto a Novell server. The Novell signed-on user has changed to a lower-rights user where it was previously a supervisor user.

Now that client PC will declare that a plugged-in ESB flash memory stick is read-only and will not write to it.

The important thing to note is that the user actually logged in to the local PC is exactly the same as before, and has full admin rights.

Anyone suggest a cure?
 
so the pc/admin is mapping a shared USB device on a Novel Server.

get the server admin to reset the share to allow users to make changes
(which is the Win/* technique), or to mount the device r/w instead of r/o.
 
err, not exactly, the USB device is on the local PC not the server. When the device is plugged in, XP automatically assigns a drive letter (so far, so normal), but in this case the local PC is seeing it read-only. It happens to be letter F: which in the old, old days would be a network drive, but obviously is not now.....
 
>the user actually logged in to the local PC is exactly the same as before, and has full admin rights.

can you verify this?

Also check that the device does not have a LOCK switch on the side of the card--
I have one that does and another that does not.

Drive letters per se have nothing associated with them, not even local vs remote
as those attributes are recorded elsewhere.
 
Can verify the local user, because the appropriate settings are placed in the registry, and the Novell client settings which would automatically reset the local user and password when the Novell user changes have all been turned off. The XP users setting just shows two users Admin and Guest as would be expected. I will, however, double check this.

Re the lock setting, this read-only thing is the same on several (different types of) USB flash memory sticks.

One thing I have not been able to confirm beyond doubt is - did that PC EVER accept a USB stick? It cannot be confirmed that a stick has ever been written, only read.

Another thing is, this PC has always had a reputation for being 'a bit odd' in various indefinable ways. It was not set up by us, but rumour has it it was installed as XP originally by Dell, upgraded to SP1 by others, and then we upgraded it again to SP2.

Fact is, we have always muttered to each other 'it ought to be rebuilt', but it is not actually used by anyone, it just sits there 24/7 being a fax and email server and we are loath to disturb it or lose service. This problem is not serious, just vexing, and if there is a simple answer, lets find it.....
 
consider UNINSTALLING the usb divers, rebooting and letting it be configured
via auto-discovery.
 
ESB flash memory does not use drivers. They are embedded in WXP Professional... but you might want to try all other avenues to reformat, unlock, etc.
If it was read, it can be written, unless defective.
There are huge numbers of defective flash drives.
 
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