I recently decided to load an ISO onto a USB drive, but I was hit with an error message that left me scratching my head: “0xC00305B4 This Operation returned because the time out period expired.” Initially I thought it was due to Rufus, so I attempted the same process with BalenaEtcher which had a write failed outcome.
As it turned out, this error was caused by a Windows security feature that prevented me from writing to the USB. Despite my attempts to use two different Samsung USB drives (both 64gb USB 3.1, type A), both failed with the same error message, leaving me wondering if my USB drives were corrupted.
I tried with Rufus (my usual go-to application for writing images) and also BalenaEtcher which was a first time for me.
My Rufus settings:
It would fail and leave me with a “You need to format” error:
I had recently installed Microsoft Defender, so I decided to turn it off to see if that would help. Then, to my surprise, I noticed a notification in my Windows notifications that said “Unauthorized changes blocked.” Why hadn’t I seen this when I was trying to write to the USBs? There were a ton of errors in the notification, but I clicked on it and it took me to the ‘Windows Security settings’ and ‘Protection History’. It was there that I was finally able to allow write changes to the USB drives. Success!
Here are the windows settings that allowed me to permit the application to write to the USBs:
From there I can see the specific error and possible “Actions”
Finally, after “allowing on device” – I could write the flash drives.
The moral of the story is to always be aware of your notifications. Windows security is constantly evolving, and its behaviour may change. I’ve been writing images to discs, flash drives, and CDs for over 20 years and I’ve never had this issue before. While added security is always welcome, it would be great to receive more equivalent communication from Windows to avoid these kinds of problems. At least now I can let others know – Good luck!