Windows 11 DiskPart: Check, Set, and Clear Read-Only Disk and Volume Attributes

DiskPart includes commands to display, set, or clear software attributes for disks and volumes in Windows 11. Attributes can exist at the disk level or the volume level, and changing volume attributes behaves differently depending on the partition style of the disk.

Disk-Level and Volume-Level Attributes

According to Microsoft documentation for attributes disk and attributes volume, attribute states can apply to a disk or to a specific volume:

• Basic MBR Disks: On basic master boot record (MBR) disks, the hidden, readonly, and nodefaultdriveletter parameters apply to all volumes on the disk.
• Basic GPT and Dynamic Disks: On basic GUID partition table (GPT) disks, and on dynamic MBR and GPT disks, the hidden, readonly, and nodefaultdriveletter parameters apply only to the selected volume.

Checking and Modifying Disk Attributes

A disk must be selected for the attributes disk command to succeed. Use the select disk command to select a disk and shift focus to it.

Display Current Disk Attributes

To view the attributes of the selected disk, run:

attributes disk

When used to display the current attributes of a disk, the startup disk attribute denotes the disk used to start the computer. For a dynamic mirror, it displays the disk that contains the boot plex of the boot volume.

Set or Clear Disk Read-Only State

To set the selected disk as read-only:

attributes disk set readonly

To clear the read-only attribute on the selected disk:

attributes disk clear readonly

Checking and Modifying Volume Attributes

A volume must be selected for the attributes volume command to succeed. Use the select volume command to select a volume and shift focus to it.

Display Current Volume Attributes

To display the current attributes on the selected volume, run:

attributes volume

Set or Clear Volume Attributes

To set the selected volume as hidden and read-only:

attributes volume set hidden readonly

To remove the hidden and read-only attributes on the selected volume:

attributes volume clear hidden readonly

To clear only the read-only flag on the selected volume:

attributes volume clear readonly

Scripting Parameter

Both attributes disk and attributes volume support the optional noerr parameter for scripting only. When an error is encountered with noerr, DiskPart continues to process commands as if the error did not occur. Without this parameter, an error causes DiskPart to exit with an error code.

Research Method and Limitations

This technical summary was prepared directly from public Microsoft Learn documentation excerpts for the attributes disk and attributes volume commands. No competing coverage or external guides were reviewed. The available excerpts document command syntax, parameter definitions, focus prerequisites, and partition style behavior, but they do not document commands for listing or identifying which disk or volume number to select, nor do they specify administrator privilege requirements.

Source references

• learn.microsoft.com documentation
• learn.microsoft.com documentation