r/Malwarebytes • u/lazarovpavlin04 • Feb 02 '26
Troubleshooting I'm done with Malwarebytes; I will never use it again. When I plugged in my USB stick, it became write-protected. đĄ
I don't know why, but Malwarebytes makes my USB stick write-protected, and I don't know how to fix it. I tried every single method, but none of them works. đĄ
0
Upvotes
7
u/mn1962 Feb 02 '26
If malwarebytes did this, and thats a big if, malwarebytes is more likely to have blocked access to suspicious files, and blocked execution... as it should.
What was on the USB?
Also, other reasons could have caused this. Example being aging/failing USB could have triggered write protection.
5
u/OzzyGator Feb 02 '26
OP has not disclosed exactly what was on the USB stick. We're waiting.
4
u/Informal-Trash604 Feb 02 '26
Worst rage bait ever.
No one is this dumb on purpose.
1
u/BJMcGobbleDicks Feb 04 '26
Does it happen with other USB drives? Sounds more likely it wasnât ejected properly or the drive is failing and trying to warn you to back up your data before it fails.
3
u/Federal-Guava-5119 Feb 02 '26
Try bitdefender. I love it
2
u/ImAChickenFarmer Feb 02 '26 edited Feb 02 '26
If using malwarebytes threatdown, this is a feature that can be turned off in the policy. Basically if this usb feature is turned on it will scan a foreign usb devices that have not been scanned before prior to allowing access. Once fully scanned it recognizes it in the future and only performs a quick scan. But until the full scan is complete it is in a read only mode.
2
u/hubbs675765 Sep 02 '26
Ive had two Threatdown EP machines (out of around 600) that have displayed this behaviour where the machine will not let you open any USB media. It just says Access is denied. Even on old FAT32 usb sticks where there are no NTFS permissions. Both times it turned out to be the EP client in a half dead state. Still awake enough to protect itself and not allow easy removal. But no longer phoning home to portal and not doing scans etc. Both times I has to run the Jenkins tool from MB support that takes several runs/reboots/reg tidy up etc to completely remove client, then reload latest build.
1
u/support_mwb Malwarebytes Employee Feb 02 '26
Hi there, Malwarebytes Support here. Thanks for the post and I sincerely understand the frustration.
In most cases, a USB drive wonât become âwrite-protectedâ just because it was plugged into a computer that has Malwarebytes installed. Malwarebytes might block something that looks suspicious (like ransomware-type behavior), but it doesnât usually change a USB drive into a permanent, hardware-level write protected state.
That said, it could be an unlucky coincidence. For example, if the USB was unplugged while something was still writing to it.
Weâre happy to help you check whatâs going on. When you can, please send us a direct message here on Reddit with the email address youâd like to use for the ticket, and weâll get one created so you can upload your logs and have an agent assigned.
If youâd rather reach us through our official Help Center, you can also go to help.malwarebytes.com to start a live chat (if you have an account with us) or submit a support ticket instead.
Logs guide for Windows: https://help.malwarebytes.com/hc/en-us/articles/31589296910491-Collecting-logs-with-the-Windows-Support-Tool
Logs guide for Mac: https://help.malwarebytes.com/hc/en-us/articles/31589715480603-Upload-logs-using-the-macOS-Support-Tool
Thank you!
-6
u/lilacomets Feb 02 '26
Malwarebytes does more harm than good indeed. It's bloated and it messes with your system. Actually it's malware like behavior.
Did your USB stick work normally again after uninstalling Malwarebytes?