What to Do When Laptop Can't Find USB or CD Drive

Laptop Unable to Detect Any Pen Drive or CD/DVD Drive

Windows 7 and Windows 8 are configured to automatically detect any USB drive that is connected to the computer. The computer is also configured to read CD's and DVD's.

On office networks, especially when security is a major concern, system administrators may deliberately disable the detection of external or removable media in order to prevent intrusions or data theft.

If you only use your laptop at home, though, it is likely that an unwanted script or corrupt file has automatically modified the settings on your computer. Although restoring the system back to its previous restore point or reinstalling the operating system from the scratch can resolve the issue easily, these options should be treated as last resorts.

The steps given below will guide you through the process of resolving the problem using the Windows Group Policies.

Note: Modifying the Group Policy settings incorrectly might damage your operating system permanently or make it unstable for use. Therefore you are strongly suggested to follow the steps exactly the way they are given below. The website and the author of this tutorial will not be responsible for any damage caused to your computer because of incorrect configuration in the Group Policies.

Here’s what you need to do:
    ■Log on to Windows 7 computer with the administrator account.
    ■Once logged on, click the Start button.
    ■From the bottom of the Start menu, in the search box, type GPEDIT.MSC command and hit Enter key.
    ■When (and if) asked for, click the Yes button on the UAC confirmation box.
    ■In the opened Local Group Policy Editor snap-in, from the left pane, go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System and click to select Removable Storage Access.
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    ■From the right pane, double-click the All Removable Storage classes: Deny all access option.
    ■On the opened box, click to select the Disabled radio button.
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    ■Click OK button to save the changes.
    ■If needed, follow the above procedure for CD and DVD, and Removable Storage Deny read/write/execute access options as well.
    ■Once done, restart the computer to allow the changes to take effect.
    ■Start using the computer and the removable storage connected to it after the successful restart.

 
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