There are situations where you might want to disable USB/CD device access in your computer, if someone wants to copy your files to removable devices (USB stick or CD). In this tutorial we’ll show you 2 ways to block read/write access to USB/CD drive in Windows 10, 8 and 7.
Welcome to Legility. We’re transforming the way legal services are delivered. In the process, we’ve brought together Counsel On Call and DSicovery to offer an even more flexible range of services. Windows USB Blocker is the free tool to quickly Block or Unblock USB Storage Devices on any Windows system. USB devices are one of the primary causes for spreading virus/malware from one system to another without the user knowledge.
Method 1: Using Group Policy
This said, the USB software write blocking in the Registry in Windows (but most probably something similar may exist for Linux) would normally be enough (though I beleive it ony intercepts filesystem level writes, not. PhysicalDrive ones), but as said you will need to validate such solutions yourself. Thumbscrew: Software USB Write Blocker. Thumbscrew is my attempt at a poor man's USB write blocker. When used it allows you to quickly enable or disable writing to all USB mass storage devices on your Windows system. In other words, you can use it to make a USB flash drive, hard drive or IDE / SATA drive in an enclosure read only. SAFE Block is a software-based write blocker that facilitates the quick and safe acquisition and/or analysis of any disk or flash storage media attached directly to your Windows workstation. It is proven to be safe, and significantly faster than hardware write blocking solutions.
- Open up the Run box by press the Windows key + R. Type gpedit.msc and press Enter.
- When the Local Group Policy Editor opens, navigate to the following location:
User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System -> Removable Storage AccessIf you want to block access to removable devices for ALL Windows accounts, navigate to this location instead:
Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System -> Removable Storage Access - In the right pane, there are lots of settings for denying read/write access to removable disk, CD and DVD. If you want to deny read access to all external removable hard drive or USB flash drive, just double-click on the policy “Removable Disks: Deny read access“, and set it to Enabled.
- In order to make your changes take effect immediately, open an administrative Command Prompt and run the following command:
gpupdate /force - Once your group policy takes effect, a user will see the following message box whenever they attempt to open a removable storage device.
Method 2: Using Registry Trick
However, not all editions of Windows has a Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc). If you’re using a Home edition of Windows, you have to use this registry trick to disable the USB/CD drive access. Here’s how:
- Press the Windows key + R to open the Run box. Type regedit and hit Enter.
- In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindowsRemovableStorageDevicesIf you want to block access to removable devices for ALL Windows accounts, navigate to this key instead:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindowsRemovableStorageDevices - In the left pane, right-click on RemovableStorageDevices, select New -> Key and type in {53f5630d-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}.
{53f5630d-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b} is GUID of the generic USB storage device. If you want to block CD/DVD access, type the GUID {53f56308-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b} instead.
- In the right pane, right-click on an empty area and select New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value and type Deny_Read and press Enter, modify its value to 1.
If you want to deny write access, create a new value Deny_Write and set its value to 1.
- Close the Registry Editor. Restart your computer to apply changes.