By default, you can plug in any USB storage device and write the files you want to it. Today we are going to take a look at how to prevent writing to removable drives in Windows 10, 8, and 7.

Prevent writing to removable media in group policies

This method works in Windows Pro, Enterprise or Education, if you have a home version, go to the next method.

1. Open Group Policy: in the search bar or in the Run menu (run by pressing Win + R) enter gpedit.msc and press the Enter key.

2. Follow the path Computer configuration => Administrative Templates => System => Access to Removable Storage Devices => open the parameter Removable drives: Deny writing

3. In the “Enabled” field, put a full stop and click on “OK”. In some cases, you need to restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

Prevent writing to removable media in Registry Editor

1. In the search bar or in the “Run” menu (run by pressing the Win + R keys) enter regedit and press the Enter key.

2. Follow the path HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE Policies Microsoft Windows => right-click on the Windows partition, select “New” => “Partition” => name the new partition RemovableStorageDevices

3. Right-click on the RemovableStorageDevices section, select “New” => “Section” => name the new section {53f5630d-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}

4. Right-click on the {53f5630d-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b} section, select “New” => “DWORD Parameter (32 bit)” => name the new parameter Deny_Write

5. Open the parameter Deny_Write, in the “Value” field enter 1 and click on “OK”.

That’s all for today, if you know other ways – write in the comments! Good luck ?