In my last post we have discussed; what to do with autorun.inf files if affected by a virus restricting drive format. Now in this post we will discuss about a way to block computer’s port for any pen drive or flash media.

Even though the pen drive are vulnerable to virus attack but still are the easiest method to copy data from one pc to another. So now if you are very conscious about the data you have in your system and looking for a way to secure it accessing pen drive… then ofcourse it is possible via a simple registry hack. With this registry hack in implementation you can restrict any pen drive from being accessed on your system.

Find the step by step instruction below on how you to block pen drive on a system:

1. First of all you have to open registry editor… to do so type “Regedit” in the run menu (opens with Windows +R) without quotes.

2. Now in the registry editor locate

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Services > USBSTOR

in the left panel and click it.

3. Now in the right side it should have a key as START, double click to edit it.

4. Now there it should have a value 3 which enables drives accessed via USB port, now change it to 4 to restrict USB port from accessing pen drive.

That’s it. However you need to change this value everytime you want to change settings but in case if you want to create an automation process. Then that is possible too!

Below are the instruction how to create automation batch files:

1. First you need to open Notepad to open it you may use windows run command and type there Notepad and press enter.

2. Now copy the following text (in bold) and paste it in the open notepad window.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\USBSTOR]
“Start”=dword:00000003

3. Save the file with .reg extension carefully with the name USB start or whatever you want to a location suitable to you.

4. Now once again with in the text file change the value of Start at  the end which is 3 to 4 and save this file as USB stop or any name you wish but make sure the extension is .reg to any location.

Now you have both the files, just double click them (as per your choice and action) to modify the registry settings for USB access port.

Hope you liked the above tip, plz do mention that in comments…

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Services > USBSTOR