Write protection is not a function of the drone or computer. There is a little slide switch on the SD card (or adapter) that enables and disables write protection. Look for that and then try again.
As for it being a PITA you are correct. I just did mine this evening since I haven't flown it for 6 months and it took me two hours to figure it out. Ultimately I had to format the SD card to FAT32 and then put the firmware on it. After that everything worked great. I flew it around the yard for a few minutes and took some pics.
 (DJI_0008.JPG)
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 DJI_0008.JPG (54KB - 300 downloads)
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Phantom 3 pro firmware update failure, need help
