Security – Removable media blocking strategy for Windows XP networks

Securityusb-flash-drivewindows-xp

Windows Vista upwards have a group policy setting to block removable media such as USB flash drives and USB mobile phones.

Windows XP however lacks such a setting (or I can't find it) so I need an alternate strategy to implement network-wide removable media blocking for all non-administrator user account sessions.

Is there an independent software I can use, or a registry setting that automatically enables for new users? (Our user accounts are within a domain via Windows Server 2008, any user can login to any PC)

Best Answer

I haven't found a one-size-fits-all strategy for setting this up on domain computers. You're going to definitely have to look at different methods (maybe even have to try a few of them yourself), and see what's going to work best for your users (and you). Microsoft suggests registry modifications, but fails to mention ways of implementing this using more efficient methods such as GPOs and/or startup/logon scripts.

This blog post by Hannes Schmidt dwells more into an automated method to restrict the use of USB storage devices using a GPO with an ADM Template (provided by him). It aims at restricting the Plug-n-Play (PNP) process from running for USBSTOR (Access to USBSTOR.INF and USBSTORE.PNF). What I like about this approach is that it still gives 'allowed' users access to use USB storage devices (such as administrators and special-cause groups), they'd only have to follow a couple of extra steps.

The Howto!

  1. In Active Directory Users and Computers, open an existing GPO or create a new one and open it. Use the security settings of that GPO to specify which computers it affects.
  2. In that GPO, go to Computer Configuration – Windows Settings – Security Settings – File System and create a new entry (right-click File System and select Add File). Specify the location of USBSTOR.INF (usually SystemRoot%\Inf\USBSTOR.INF)
  3. Change the security settings of the new entry. The security settings that you specify here will be enforced on the USBSTOR.INF of every computer to which the GPO is applied. This process is not additive, which means that the previous security settings of USBSTOR.INF will be overwritten by the ones given in the GPO. It is therefore recommended to grant full control to SYSTEM and local administrators. But unlike in the default security settings of USBSTOR.INF, you should not grant any priviledges to Everybody. You do not need to explicitly deny access – just omit an entry for Everybody. Optionally, you can grant read access to a certain group. Members of this group will be able to use USB storage.
  4. Repeat the above two steps for USBSTOR.PNF.
  5. Download USBSTOR.ADM.
  6. Back in the GPO, right-click Administrative Templates under Computer Configuration and select Add/Remove Templates. Click Add and browse to the location of USBSTOR.ADM. Close the dialog.
  7. You should now have an additional entry called Services and Drivers in Administrative Templates. Click on it. If it is empty, select View from the menu and uncheck Show Policies Only. Click back on Services and Drivers in Administrative Templates. It should now show the USB Storage policy. Double click it, select Enabled and pick Disabled from the Startup Type drop down. Again, the policy must be enabled wheras Startup Type must be Disabled.
  8. Close the dialog as well as the GPO and boot/reboot one of your workstations. Make sure no USB strorage device is connected to that computer. Log on with administrative privileges and check the permissions of USBSTOR.INF and USBSTOR.PNF. Check the value of the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\UsbStor\Start. It should be 4. It is also ok if the UsbStor key doesn't exist at all.
  9. On the same workstation, log off and back on as a user that should not have access to USB storage. Connect a USB memory stick or a similar device. Nothing should happen. Remove the memory stick.
  10. Log on as a user that should have access to USB storage and execute net start usbstor in a command shell or at Start – Run before connecting the memory stick. The memory stick should initialized and mapped to a drive letter. If USBSTOR fails to start, it's probably because this is the first time a memory stick is plugged into the workstation in which case USBSTOR is not yet installed. Nevertheless, the memory stick should be initialized and mapped correctly but you need to reboot in order to reapply the administrative template such that USBSTOR is disabled again. Alternatively, you can disable it manually by downloading and double clicking USBSTOR.REG as well as executing net stop usbstor.
  11. Instruct the users with access to USB storage that they need to execute net start usbstor before they can connect a USB storage device.

You'll find plenty of troubleshooting tips by reading the comments below Hanne's article.

Related Topic