Disable Writing To USB Drives

26/06/2011 09:55

A major concern within organizations is allowing users to connect a USB flash drive, as they could then

easily copy corporate data. Since Windows XP SP2, you can disable writing to USB devices

completely using a simple registry hack. But we must also note that if you use

this trick, you must ensure that users are not computer administrators, as

could easily change this setting.

Here it is:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ StorageDevicePolicies]

"WriteProtect" = dword: 00000001
Paste the code into a notepad and then save it as a registry file (file.reg).

Double-click it , they have managed to prevent write access to the USB drive.

When you double-clicked the register, you will need to restart for the changes to take

effect. This works on Windows Vista too. This is the window you get when you try to

write to a USB drive:
If you want to write again, copy and paste this code Code

Notepad file and then save it to the registry file.Double click on it and write access must be enabled

again.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ StorageDevicePolicies]

"WriteProtect" = dword: 00000000 "