3 days ago I talked about how to disable removable storage devices such as USB drives but still allowing your USB scanner, keyboard, and mouse working.
What if you to disable write access and only allowing read access to a removable storage devices such as a USB thumb drive?
Theft of trade secrets and other corporate documentation gets easier and easier everyday. 1GB+ USB sticks can fit in your shirt pocket and that data that it can hold can be devastating to an organization. Front mounted USB ports just make it easier!

Well thanks to Microsoft, it has already addressed this concern and allows you make USB storage devices read only. This tip only works with Service Pack 2 installed in Windows XP Pro. I personally think this was a great move. Here’s how to disable write access to removable storage devices such as USB thumb drive.

Its an easy registry change:
1. Go to Start -> Run -> Type regedit and hit Enter or click on the OK button.
Browse to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control

2. Create a new key called StorageDevicePolicies
Right click on the Control, select New -> Key and type in StorageDevicePolicies

3. Create a DWORD called WriteProtect under StorageDevicePolicies that you created in step 2 and set the value to 1.
Disable Write Access to Removable Storage Devices

This will prevent users from writing to USB drives.
Disable Write Access to Removable Storage Devices

To allow writing to USB drives just change the value to 0. Oh, you don’t need to restart your computer in order to disable write access to removable storage using the method above.

P/S: When I tried this tip, i couldn’t get it to work as I am still able to write and copy files into my USB thumb drive. Finally I found out that when I created the Key and DWORD in regedit, I accidentally added a space at the end of the word/value. After I removed the space which is invisible, it worked perfectly :D