How to Block USb Drives- You must have witnessed a blocked USB port at somewhere or other. People block USB drives in order to ensure the security of their data as anyone can easily copy it on their pen drives. But, have you ever wondered how they’ve been able to do so?

If yes, then here’s the answer for you. There are quite a few ways through which you can block the USB Drive of your computer. Once you’ve blocked it, your computer won’t read any external files and your data will be all safe. Here are some of the ways with the help of which you can also do so:-

• With the help of Windows Registry
• With the help of Device Manager
• With the help of the third party
• Uninstalling the Drivers

Let’s simplify them for you so that you may follow them easily-

1.     With the help of Windows Registry

This is one of the best ways to block the USB drives as it is quite easy to do and totally reliable. For doing so, you are required to open the Regedit command on the Run console and thereafter change the settings through it.

Once, Regedit is open then you need to select and start the following key:-

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR

After starting it you need to change the value i.e. value 4 which will disable the USB drive. And that’s all, you’ll be done. In order to enable it again, you can just change the value to 3.

Value 4 = Disable USB Drive

Value 3 = Enable USB Drive

The good thing about this method is that only an administrator can do this as you can only change these settings if you are logged in with an administrator account. So, make sure none else have your password and you’ve logged out of your account so that a guest may not make any alterations in settings.

2.     With the help of Device Manager

You can also opt for device manager for blocking your computer from reading USB drives. This is most definitely the easiest method of all. For this, you need to open the device manager and disable or enable any specific USB port by just right clicking on it and selecting either ENABLE or DISABLE.

3.     With the help of the third party

In order to block the USB drive, you can also consider taking help from third party. There are the free tools available online which you can download and perform all the functions for you. You will just have to choose any of the options which you want to select i.e. disable the USB drive or enable the USB drive and they will do it for you within no time.

4.     Uninstalling the Drivers

This method is used in extreme situations where you just do not want your computer to read any USB drives in any situation. For this, you simply uninstall/ delete the USB mass storage drivers and it’s done. In order to enable them, you will have re- install the device drivers.