Select the product you need help with

Error "Protected Contents" when trying to delete media from an SD card on your Windows Phone 8

Article ID: 2771339 - View products that this article applies to.

Symptoms

When you try to delete media content from an SD card that's being used in a Windows Phone 8, you get a Protected Contents error message.

Back to the top | Give Feedback

When you transfer media content from a PC directly to an SD card using an SD card reader, and then insert that card into a Windows Phone 8, you can't delete content from the phone, (or access the files on the phone through the PC's File Explorer window, which is the Libraries folder where you store all of your media content).

The reason for this is that Microsoft Windows adds hidden files to a media folder (like the artist jpg file, or an indexing file) to optimize functionality of the folder on the PC. The result is that these hidden files are protected, and can't be deleted on a peripheral device like a Windows Phone 8.

Back to the top | Give Feedback

Things to Try

Re-insert the SD card into your PC's card reader, where the files originated, and then delete the files and folders.

Additionally, if you continue to have problems deleting the items from the SD card, or you get additional errors, try running chkdsk. Here's how:

From the Start screen, start typing Command Prompt.
In the Command Prompt window, type the following instruction line, starting where the cursor is:
chkdsk [your sd card drive letter]: /rchkdsk [sd card drive letter]: /r
Now, try deleting the items from your computer again.

Back to the top | Give Feedback