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How can I mark my USB storage devices as read-only?

November 22nd, 2004 . by Ali

Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) introduces a new registry subkey that lets you mark USB-based storage devices such as memory sticks as read-only devices. This is a useful security capability that can prevent users from copying data from their systems and taking that data offsite via a USB device. To enable the USB write protection, perform the following steps:

Start the registry editor (regedit.exe).
Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies subkey. (Create the StorageDevicePolicies subkey if it doesn’t already exist.)
From the Edit menu, select New, DWORD Value.
Type the name WriteProtect and press Enter.
Double-click the new value and set it to 1. Click OK.
Close the registry editor.
Restart the computer.

To disable this change, you can either set WriteProtect to 0 or delete it.

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2 Responses to “How can I mark my USB storage devices as read-only?”

  1. comment number 1 by: JoeyB

    My windows XP SP2 will no longer update. I am getting an invalid product key message. What do I need to change?

  2. comment number 2 by: Ali

    Where did you buy Windows XP from?

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