IT administrators may occasionally wish to restrict the use of flash drives (also known as thumb drives) in the computing environment. While this category doesn’t let you disable the use of such devices entirely – see the “Removable Storage Restrictions” section below – this category does allow you to control the installation of device drivers, based on setup class.
For example, with this category of policy settings, administrators could define a “driver store” of known good, safe drivers that any user, regardless of account type, will be permitted to install and use.
You must determine the device setup class or specific device ID in order to use this feature, depending on which specific policy setting you want to use (don’t mix them up). The device setup class is in the form of a GUID (Globally Unique IDentifier). So, how do you figure out the right GUID to use? The Device Manager’s Details tab lets you do that. Under “Property,” you can choose from the drop-down menu to see the device ID and/or the setup class IDs. The device setup class is in the form of a GUID (Globally Unique IDentifier). So, how do you figure out the right GUID to use? The Device Manager’s Details tab lets you do that.
TIP: Often there will be multiple IDs you can use, some more specific than others. Use this feature to your advantage, depending on how precisely you need to prohibit the installation of a particular device driver or class of device drivers.
See recent blog posts…
New Group Policy Settings in WS2008 – A powerful toolset
New Source File Format (ADMX/ADML) in WS2008
