Thursday, February 6, 2014

How to disable or block use of USB flash drives to avoid copying in windows

Posted by Aamir
In this post we will be looking at how to block or disable use of USB data storage devices so that no data on your computer gets copied. Once you disable write access to USB ports, any external USB device connected to computer appears as Read only. Here Read only means you will be able to connect and use USB devices like Keyboard, USB mouse, USB joysticks but will not be able to copy data from your computer to external USB storage devices like pen-drives, memory cards and external hard disks. You can disable write access to USB ports either by tweaking Windows Registry which does not require any software or by using any third party Software. The effective way to do this is to Tweak Windows Registry settings as it does not require any software. Below I provided step by step procedure on how to tweak windows registry settings to disable write access to USB ports and also how to block USB ports using a third party software.

disable write access to USB ports

Disable or Block use of USB flash drives to avoid copying in windows

1. Tweak Windows Registry Settings to disable Write access to USB ports

1. First open run dialog box by pressing windows + R key together, then type regedit in that and click on OK. It will open registry editor.

open run dialog box


2. Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, then exapand SYSTEM from the list, then from following list expand current control set, then go to services.

open regedit

3. After expanding services, select USB STOR in follow down list and double click on start in right column.

change values in registry editor

4. Now replace the value 3 in box with 4
     (4 to disable USB ports)
     (3 to enable USB ports)

edit start value in registry editor

5. Now click on OK and close the Registry Editor. The write access to USB port is now disabled.

2. Using third party software to disable write access to USB ports

The software also simulates the process described above. The software called USB Disabler pro disables the write access to USB ports. Only the system administrator can manage the software to disable or enable USB drives. The admin has a option to allow particular flash drive to work.

USB disabler pro

click here to download USB disable pro

 

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