How to disable Mass Storage function of USB drives?

I wrote an article before about to block unauthorized transfer of files from your computer via USB or CD. Here I would like to share a simple registry tweak to disable Mass Storage function of the USB drives those who don’t want to use third party application.

It is possible that we can disable the USB port from BIOS but this will turn off the ability to use USB Keyboards, Mouse and other devices. So the below registry hack will help you to disable the USB Mass Storage function without affecting other function of USB port.

1. Open the Registry by running the command regedit.exe

2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\UsbStor

3. In the right pane, double click on the Start value name and change the value data to 4 to disable the removable USB mass storage device drive access.

4.To enable the Mass Storage function, change back the value of Start to 3.

You are done!!! The change will take effect immediately.

Test it yourself and share your comments. 

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How to block unauthorized transfer of files from your computer via USB or CD?

You may have come across many situations where data protection is important. Suppose if your friend or colleague copied any of your files or data in his pen drive or CD from your computer without permission, would you like it? So if you sharing your PC with someone else you may would like to have a control over your USB or CD drive from unauthorized access.

URC Access Modes’ is a FREE tool that allows you to protect your computer from unauthorized transfer of files via USB or CD. It controls only your Mass Storage Devices whereas your USB Peripheral Devices will work normal including USB Mouse, Keyboard, and Webcam etc…

This programs is easy to use and it allows

Control USB Devices: Enable/Disable, Read Only USB Mass Storage Devices including Pen Drives, External Hard Disk etc

Control CD/DVD Drive: Enable/Disable CD/DVD Drive.

Control Windows Registry: Enable/Disable Registry to prevent unauthorized access to registry,

URC ACCESS MODES is password protected so to make any changes password is required. Moreover it is portable No setup is required. You can download this program from here. 

If you know more tricky way to do it, share it on comments. 

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Keep your portable data safe using USB safeguard

If you are using USB flash devices such as pen drives, you may would like to protect the device from unauthorized access. Here is the solution for it.

USB Safeguard is a portable software program to encrypt and protect data with a password on your removable pen drive using the AES 256 bits encryption. It sets a password for the entire pen drive and not just for a certain file or folder. Once the drive is locked, one cannot read nor write any data to it without the correct password!

No installation required and it supports FAT16, FAT32 & NTFS file system.

How it works

1. Download USB safeguard (http://usbsafeguard.altervista.org/download.html)
2. Copy the file usbsafeguard.exe to the root of your pen drive and run it
3. Agree to software license agreement
4. Set your password and Lock button to lock the pen drive
To unlock, launch the program from pen drive and enter the password and hit Unlock to access the entire data stored on the drive. You can click on help icon (?) to set your contact details (email or phone) in case you lose the pen drive.

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