Microsoft KB Archive Search

Notice: This website is an unofficial Microsoft Knowledge Base (hereinafter KB) archive and is intended to provide a reliable access to deleted content from Microsoft KB. All KB articles are owned by Microsoft Corporation. Read full disclaimer for more details.

  1. Home
  2. The Removable Storage Access policy does not work correctly on a client computer that is running Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008

The Removable Storage Access policy does not work correctly on a client computer that is running Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008

Symptoms

If you attach a removable storage device to a computer during the period between system start and user logon, the Removable Storage Access policy may not function correctly. This can occur with Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, and happens regardless of whether Microsoft Knowledge Base hotfix KB969702 is installed or not.

↑ Back to the top

Cause

The fix included in Microsoft Knowledge Base article KB969702 is for Windows Portable Devices (WPD) such as USB flash memory, so the policy does not apply for other devices such as USB hard disk drives. This symptom above occurs because some service processes may be accessing the device before the group policy is applied, and this may prevent the policy being applied to the device.

↑ Back to the top

Workaround

You can choose one of the following workarouds:

1. Use Computer Configuration instead of User Configuration to set group policy.
  
Note: if you use the Computer Configuration policy, all users who use the computer will be restricted.

2. Use User Configuration policy and force reboot the system by the "Time (in seconds) to force reboot" policy.

1. Set "Time (in seconds) to force reboot" policy under "User Configuration\Administrative Template\System\Removable Storage Access"

   2. Add the following registry entry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\WPDBusEnum
  RequiredPrivileges (REG_SZ) "SeShutdownPrivilege"

You also need to install Microsoft Knowledge Base hotfix KB979621 to avoid the device being disabled.

  A removable storage device is disabled when you enable a Group Policy to deny write access
  or to deny read access to the device on a computer that is running Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008
  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/979621/

↑ Back to the top

Keywords: kb

↑ Back to the top

Article Info
Article ID : 2214863
Revision : 1
Created on : 1/7/2017
Published on : 8/18/2010
Exists online : False
Views : 123