Many times we want to restrict users from using USB drives in our systems. Suppose you have some important data and a friend comes and takes the data in his USB drive. This tutorial will help you in completely disable the use of USB drives in system.
After applying this tutorial, users will not be able to use USB drives. Windows will not detect it.
The tutorial is divided into 2 parts:
- If the USB storage device is not installed in system
- If the USB storage device is already installed in system
So lets start this tutorial:
If the USB storage device is not installed in system:
1. Type %windir%\inf in Explorer addressbar or RUN dialog box and press Enter. It'll open "inf" folder.
2. Now look for following 2 files:
- usbstor.inf
- usbstor.pnf
3. Now you have to change their user permissions setting. Do as following for each file:
Right-click on the file and select "Properties". Go to "Security" tab and select the desired user or group in "Group or user names" list which you want to restrict from using USB drives. Now in "Permissions for Users" list, click on "Deny" checkbox next to "Full control" option and then click on OK.
NOTE: In Windows Vista, you'll have to click on "Edit" button after selecting the user or group in "Group or user names" list and then again select the same user or group in new dialog box. Now you can click on "Deny" checkbox.
4. That's it. Now users will not be able to install any USB storage device in system.
If the USB storage device is already installed in system:
1. Type regedit in RUN dialog box and press Enter. Now go to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\UsbStor
2. In right-side pane, change value of "Start" to 4
3. Now whenever a user will attach a USB storage device which is already installed in system, Windows will not detect it and it'll not be shown in My Computer.
NOTE: If you want to revert it back to default, then change the value of "Start" to 3
BONUS TIP: If you want to restrict only writing to USB storage devices, then take a look at Point 21 in following tutorial:
All Kinds of Restrictions for Windows
This article was posted by VG in following section: Troubleshooting, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP.
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Deepa
We have Symantec EPP which is thru the intranet. Now they have centrally disabled the usb drive. Is it possible to enable the usb drive from the individual machine? Pls do help
VG
^^ Then its not possible afaik.
Hani
hi V,
i have a problem with my new HP laptop speakers, and i thought i would ask you for some help.
my laptop sound was working just fine, with speakers, with earphones (my headphones are the iphone/ipod earphones with mic inside them). i take it with me to the library, i plug my earphones in and i listen to some music. however, after that, i put the laptop to sleep (after i unplugged the earphones), and i take it home. i open the laptop at home, and the sound is not working. (i've put it to sleep before and never had this problem). i plug the earphones in, and the sound works!. take them out, and it doesn't. here is what baffles me:
the green indicator bar at the volume mixer is active,it's going up and down, but no sound from speakers, i tried setting the speakers to default audio playback device, i tried the stereo mixer, i tried the audio software (HP Beats Audio Settings), i made sure the speakers are set to default, but to no avail, the sound only comes out through earphones.
Now, here is where i messed around with something your field:
i went into the registry and messed around with the audio device entries, i tried to figure out from some of the few words which is for which, messed around with the "Device Status" from 0 to 1 and 1 to 0. nothing happened, BUT! now when right click on the speaker, go to the "Volume Control Options" and select both "Speakers and headphones" and "independent headphones" , i open the volume mixer (they appear both beside each other) and i click on the "independent headphone" adjuster/indicator, the sound plays through the speakers!! but only for 2 seconds, then it goes away.
i've resetted the registry, had a system restore to 3 days before when everything was fine, but nothing worked, the problem remains.
Thus, i've concluded that something is wrong with the jack or switching mechanism between the "line out" wire and the "Speaker" wire which keeps resetting and forcing the system to think there is still a headphone in. what i would like to ask you is to see if there is a way to modify the registry to allow both the speakers and the headphones to work at the same time and create a button that can switch that property off or not. thank you!
VG
^^ Can't help much but I can suggest you to repair Windows using setup disc. You can also try following command in Command Prompt to repair system files:
sfc /scannow
shader
tell any method to unlock usb on guest account ...we are facing problem in our college
sandeep
very usefull things i found in this web site thaksssssssss
sandeep
tell me how to disable users to change ip address
sandeep
tell me how to disable users to change ip address
prutive
thank you very much for all yur support plz update in details ASAP
Trangstar
when I put in my Dcom3g on my computer this msg ocus :There is no disk in the drive.please insert a disk into drive\ device\harddisk1\DR3. Can you help me.thank you so much !