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Neil Barton's avatar
Neil Barton
Copper Contributor
Sep 13, 2018

Locking a USB Drive

Windows 10 Pro. Is it possible to lock the USB ports to stop people using them unless they put in a password.  The company have a student doing some work experience and they don't want him copying e...
Akshay_Mane's avatar
Akshay_Mane
Iron Contributor
Jul 15, 2019

 

Yes this can be done in three ways.

Disable USB Ports from Device Manager.

Check out for any possibility in the Device Manager and enable the disabled port by right-clicking on selected one and click Enable.

 

https://thewindowsclub-thewindowsclubco.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/image2.png

Disable USB Drives & Mass Storage Devices using Registry

 

  1. Go to Start > Run, type “regedit” and press enter to open the registry editor
  2. Navigate to the following key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR

In the right pane, select Start and change the value to 3. (The value 4 will disable USB Storage). Click OK. This will re-enable USB Ports and allow you to use USB or Pen drives.

https://thewindowsclub-thewindowsclubco.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/image1.png

 

Uninstall USB Mass Storage Drivers

If the authorities are really worried about security in the school, they will take the extreme step of uninstalling the USB Mass Storage Drivers. To make things work, just install the device drivers. Here is how you do it.

As when you plug-in your USB drive, Windows will check for drivers, if not found https://www.apps4rent.com will prompt you to install the driver. This would definitely unlock the Pen drive at your School or office.

 

 

Regards,

Akshay

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