The Windows operating system has a Registry setting that can add USB write protection to a computer system. It is like a switch that can be enabled to make use of the write protection or disabled to allow write processes.

Users who experience problems writing to USB devices might want to take a look at this setting as well if they have the proper rights to do so to see if it is the cause for their difficulties.

Start by opening the run dialog box with the keyboard shortcut [Windows R]. Type [regedit] and hit [enter]. This should open the Windows Registry editor.

Navigate to the following Registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\

Look at the sub-keys and see if a key named StorageDevicePolicies is listed. If it is skip this paragraph and read the next. If it is not create the key by right-clicking Control and selecting New > Key

See if there is an entry named WriteProtect. It can be easily created if it is not present by right-clicking in the right window and selecting New > DWord from the menu. The following values are allowed for this entry:

• 0 – This will allow write processes on USB Flash Drives
• 1- This will block write processes on USB Flash Drives.

An alternative would be to delete the Registry key WriteProtect completely to enable both read and write processes. A restart or log off is required before the changes take effect.

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USB Blocker (via Techie Buzz) is a software program that can protect USB ports from being accessed unauthorized. One main benefit of USB Blocker is that it relies solely on group policy mechanisms and does not have to be deployed on client computer systems. USB port protection can be achieved with just a few mouse clicks on connected computer systems.

The application is controlled via a small interface that pops up for the first time after installation. A click on the Block USB Devices checkbox enables the options for managed active directory domains and provides the means to exclude computers from being blocked by the USB port protection software. There is also an option to only block devices for specific organizational units in the Active directory.

The usb port protection software can only be downloaded after a quick registration (without verification) at the website of the developer. USB Blocker is compatible with most Microsoft operating systems. A commercial version exists as well which extends the functionality of the USB port protection to include additional devices among other things.

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USB Safely Remove is a USB device manager that can be run on 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista. USB devices like removable hard drives, memory sticks or even connected digital cameras become increasingly common but Microsoft failed to add the means to manage the devices effectively. The software program works basically with any hot-plug devices like USB, SATA, Firewire or PCMCIA devices.

One of the problems that Windows users might encounter is that most devices that get connected to the computer will use the name USB mass storage device. That makes it difficulty to safely unplug a specific device from the computer system. There is also no option to hide important devices that (never) get disconnected from the system.

USB Safely Remove provides an easier way to manage the devices in Windows. It uses and displays the actual device names & icons and offers ways to rename devices, change device icons and hide devices from the removal menu. A single hotkey can be used to navigate the menu and safely remove or open the device.

This is however just one function of the software. Another annoying Windows feature is that every card reader slot will be assigned to a drive letter which can easily mean that four or even more device letters are taken by card reader slots that are rarely if any in use. USB Safely Remove can be used to hide empty card reader slots automatically. There is also the option to eject cards directly from a card reader. Any process that would lock the card would be displayed so that it could be taken care of.

The reason if a device cannot be stopped on the computer system will be displayed by USB Safely Remove. It will display the running processes that lock the device so that it cannot be stopped or disabled.

It is probably a good time to explain the differences between stopping and disabling a device. Some devices cannot be stopped but only disabled in the hardware manager. USB Safely Remove automatically detects the type of drive and will stop or disable the device without making the user think about the type of device. It can also enable a disabled device at the next start of the computer system.

Programs can be started after a device gets connected to the computer and before a device gets disconnected or stopped again. One possible use for that feature would be to run the encryption software True Crypt to mount and dismount the encrypted container.

A command line version of the software program is provided as well which can be integrated in batch scripts or simply run from the command line.

One of the most interesting features of USB Safely Remove is the ability to start a stopped device. Without the software one would have to unplug the cable of the device and plug it back in so that Windows recognized it again. With USB Safely Remove it is just a matter of selecting the feature in the right-click menu of the application.

The USB software manager comes with several additional features like the ability to mount storage devices as NTFS folders, managing of drive letters or preventing Windows from assigning specific drive letters to devices.

The software developer created a unique url which can be used to request a serial number for the software program. This url is good for today only which is why we decided to publish the Giveaway right now and not at the usual time.

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The main interface consists of three buttons for the restore, backup and rescan functions. The rescan button is helpful if an USB device is not automatically recognized by the application which is the case when a card is changed in a card reader.

The data of the USB device is stored in a compressed format on the hard disk of the computer from where it can be burned to disk for safekeeping. The software does not only come with an option to backup USB devices to create USB images but also to restore them. It would be possible to backup the data of your iPod and later restore that image again. I’m not sure but it could work to replicate the data on another device of the same kind.

The USB Image Tool requires the Microsoft .net framework 2.0 and a computer running Windows XP or Windows Vista. It ships with a dll called usbit32.dll that has to be in the same folder as the application, which it is by default.

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A rule of thumb would be to always unplug the device safely if you want o minimize the chance for data corruption. The Microsoft solution for disconnecting USB devices is not optimal and is different (of course) depending on your operating systems. One of the most nerve wreaking messages is “It is now safe to remove this device” which can’t be turned off as far as I know.

If a process has locked files on the device the user will receive the message “This device cannot be safely stopped” without telling him (of course) which process is responsible for the locked files.

The software USB Disk Ejector is one solution to some of the difficulties that users face. It get rids of the message that the device can be safely removed and it can also close processes that are locking files on the device so that it can be removed.

One thing I like is that you get a gui and a command line version. The command line version for instance could be used to create a shortcut to eject a drive by name, letter, program running and partial name. The gui is helpful for users who prefer to work with graphical user interfaces. It displays a list of all connected USB devices and will automatically refresh the window if a new device is connected to the computer. A double-click removes the USB devices from the computer.

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This is where Dante stepped in and wrote an explanation on how to assign a specific drive letter to the USB drive.  He also mentioned that the tool would not work in Windows Vista and that the method using Disk Management would.

Right-click on the My Computer icon in Windows XP or on Computer in Windows Vista and select Manage form the menu. You can alternatively access it by entering compmgmt.msc in the run box or search box. Now select Disk Management in that menu and perform a right-click on the drive that you want to assign a specific driver letter to.

Now select Change Driver Letter and Path and assign the specific drive letter to the device.

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A far superior solution is to use a software called USB Drive Letter Manager which is highly configurable automatically solving possible conflicts between USB devices and network drives. The reason for such a conflict is that Windows XP assigns the first available drive letter to a device that gets connected without checking first if there is a network share on that drive letter.

USB Drive Letter Manager runs as a service in Windows and loads the configuration every time a device is connected to Windows. You would therefor first download and unzip the software to a location on your hard drive and install the service using the _install.cmd file.

Once the service is running you can stop, start and uninstall it using the files located in the same directory. Edit the file USBDLM_sample.ini afterwards which is the configuration file for the USB Drive Letter Manager. Once you are done editing it you remove the _sample part of the filename and save it into the same directory.

There are lots of ways to configure this file and I would like to show only a few possible scenarios. The excellent help file, available in English and German, explains everything in details.

One possibility would be to assign a range of drive letters to USB devices and / or exclude drive letters who will never be assigned to those devices.

[DriveLetters]
Letter1=X
Letter2=Y
Letter3=Z

The option above would assign the letters X,Y and Z to USB devices that are connected to the computer.

[ExcludedLetters]
Letter1= E
Letter2= F
Letter3= G

This would exclude drive letters E,F and G from being assigned to USB Devices. You can naturally increase both by adding more lines like Letter4= and so on.

While this is already helpful it does not assign a drive letter permanently to a specific USB device. To do that you have to tweak the configuration further.

One possibility would be to assign a drive letter to an USB device of a specific size.

;USB drives above 20GB at U:
[DriveLetters10]
MinDiskSize=20GB
Letter1=U

This would assign the drive letter U to an USB device with at least 20 Gigabytes of storage. Please note that the first line is simply a comment and the second line has to use a unique number between 1 and 99 plus one without a number.

The software checks if each DriveLetters configuration is true or false and will use the first true one.

The best solution to assign a specific USB device to a drive letter would be to use the devices serial number in the configuration. To find out about the serial number you use the script ListUsbDrives_To_Notepad.cmd which is located in the root directory of the application as well.

The script will create a new text file listing all of your devices including your hard drives. Browse to the USB drive and look for the lines Ctrl DevID= or Friendly Name=. You can use both to assign a drive letter to that USB device. This would look like the following:

;USB device:
[DriveLetters10]
DeviceID1=1234567890ABCD
Letter1=V

I don’t want to detail more of the options but just name a few that could be useful. It is as well possible to assign drive letters by USB port, Volume Label, drive type, device type, bus type, partition number, existance of a file and letters by active user.

I have not encountered a problem working with USB Drive Letter Manager yet and was able to assign specific drive letters to all of my USB devices. I can help if you encounter problems or have difficulties writing the configuration, just drop me a line in that case then.

Read More:

USB Drive Letter Manager

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So, open the Device Manger by either typing device in the search box of Windows Vista or typing devmgmt.msc from the command line. Go to the disk Drives tab and right-click the SATA drive and select Properties from the menu. Now select the Policies tab and check the box Enable Advanced Performance. You have to repeat the process if you have more than one SATA drive installed on your system

You have to perform almost the same steps to speed up usb drivers under Windows Vista. Open again the policies tab of the USB drive and select Optimize for Performance from the options there. This method has one little drawback, you need to Safely Remove the Hardware if you want to unplug the device from your system.

Both tips have been found at the How to Geek.

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It is important to check if a unauthorized USB device has been connected to a computer. This could be a clear sign of a security breach, maybe data theft. One could argue that the damage has already been done but would you prefer to know of it at all or be totally unprepared for future events that result from this ? It is probably not that important for non business users but it could still be nice to know if someone else connected a device to your computer while you were away.

USB Deview lists the name of the device, a description and device type, a serial number and a created date. You do get a pretty good impression which kind of device has been connected. I checked my computer and was able to spot the Sony Ericsson W810 mobile phone from a friend that was once connected to my computer.

You can use USB Deview to uninstall previously connected USB devices or disconnect currently connected ones. Great little application, does not need to be installed at all and uses just 38K unpacked.

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