Disable USB storage under OS X or Windows

Disable USB storage under OS X or Windows

Whilst randomly browsing a few days ago I came across a document prepared by the National Security Agency (NSA) that describes how to disable USB storage on Linux, OS X, Solaris and Windows platforms.

For OS X the guide describes disabling USB and Firewire storage:

Now, to unblock specific file types, do the following:

1. Log on with an administrator account.



2. Browse to '/System/Library/Extensions' folder on the system disk.



3. Trash both IOUSBMassStorageClass.kext and IOFireWireSerialBusProtocolTransport.kext which are found in this directory.



4. Empty the trash.



5. Reboot the machine.

Disabling USB storage on a Windows platform is only a little more complicated:

1. From Explorers folder options ensure that hidden files and folders are displayed, file extensions are not hidden and simple file sharing is disabled.



2. Open up the properties for %systemroot%\Inf\Usbstor.inf (%systemroot% would normally be 'C:\Windows').



3. Select the security tab and make sure that all options for all users are set to deny. This must include administrators and SYSTEM.



4. Repeat the above for %systemroot%\Inf\Usbstor.pnf



5. If USB storage devices have been used on this machine previously then open up the registry editor otherwise ignore steps 6 and 7.



6. Browse to the registry location 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\UsbStor'.



7. Open up the registry key 'Start' and change the data value to '4'. Close the registry editor.

Important note

Since editing the registry is risky, be sure you have a verified backup before saving any changes.

How to backup Windows registry?

How to compact Windows Registry?

How to repair Windows Registry?

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