[clug] linux Digest, Vol 192, Issue 3

[Bob Edwards]

On 8/12/18 7:25 am, Branimir Topic via linux wrote:
> Thanks Bob!
> Pretty good advice after all.
> 
> My email came out of desperation after trying everything to wipe Windows 10 installer USB stick. After all the effort it appears that it has factory read-only setting, which didn't occurred to me at the start.
> 
> I don't know about the other people experience, but it wasn't the first time that USB plugged in Linux box, appears to be read only. So I desperately wanted to change it to wipe out tow partitions that were there. After trying all option I was familiar with, it kept on telling me that device is read only, hence my conclusion.
> 
> Regards,
> Branimir

Sorry Branimir - I completely mis-read your question. You want to
remove the read-only bootable Windows partition? I thought you were
asking about re-sizing a bootable Windows partition - my bad.

There is a bit of work going on with reprogramming the controllers
in USB memory sticks to do various nefarious things. I would suppose
that the "read-only"ness is coming from something in the code on
the microcontroller. If you search for "Bad USB" and your USB memory
stick's vendor codes, you may find some way of un-doing the read-only
function.

Peter Filmore and Edward Farrell each did talks at C-Sides last year
on these sorts of issues (https://bsidesau.com.au/2018/csides.html,
July and August 2017 talks).

cheers,
Bob Edwards.

> 
>> On 7 Dec 2018, at 23:00, linux-request at lists.samba.org wrote:
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>> Today's Topics:
>>
>>    1. usb read only (Branimir Topic)
>>    2. Re: usb read only (Bob Edwards)
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 1
>> Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2018 23:18:57 +1100
>> From: Branimir Topic <branimir.topic at gmail.com>
>> To: linux at lists.samba.org
>> Subject: [clug] usb read only
>> Message-ID: <FDD750B6-F4A3-4BC0-A471-D470D11B0D10 at gmail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain;    charset=us-ascii
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I'm wondering if anyone had any experience with a read only error when attempting to repartition Windows10 bootable usb?
>>
>> Cheers
>> Bran
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 2
>> Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2018 08:45:31 +1100
>> From: Bob Edwards <bob at cs.anu.edu.au>
>> To: linux at lists.samba.org
>> Subject: Re: [clug] usb read only
>> Message-ID: <35111aae-4c64-e2a6-fc9c-a1576edff435 at cs.anu.edu.au>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
>>
>>> On 6/12/18 11:18 pm, Branimir Topic via linux wrote:
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> I'm wondering if anyone had any experience with a read only error when attempting to repartition Windows10 bootable usb?
>>>
>>> Cheers
>>> Bran
>>>
>>
>> Hmmm - not sure what your use case is, but it looks a little like
>> Windows - not really a normal topic of discussion for a Linux
>> users group mailing list...
>>
>> Having said that, I normally wouldn't bother re-partitioning
>> USB devices (assuming we're talking about a <$30 flash drive).
>> I'd just partition up a new one the way I wanted it and copy
>> over the stuff from the old one. Then re-purpose the old one
>> for some fancy new project, or throw it out if it is faulty.
>>
>> cheers,
>>
>> Bob Edwards.
>>
>>
>>
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>> ------------------------------
>>
>> End of linux Digest, Vol 192, Issue 3
>> *************************************
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