USB MEMORY STICKS PROBLEM IN WINDOWS 2000 SP4

5 Apr 2005 12:55 PM

Mike Mullins

General Problem Description.

When inserting the USB stick on the USB port on the computer drivers need
installing and USB memory stick driver signature needs verifying as for the
storage device to be recognised and displayed. To do this the user needs to
have administrative privileges. Domain Users accounts not being
administrators are therefore not allowed to install hardware device drivers.
It is not possible to allow Domain Users being administrator for security
reasons. Even if they are administrator upon inserting the USB stick
additional steps with the installation process are required to have the USB
stick functioning properly. There is no standard driver for USB sticks, each
manufacturer provides the USB stick own driver and this makes the problem
more difficult.

Objective.

The proper solution is to have all Domain Users being capable of using USB
memory sticks regardless of the manufacturer. This means allowing Domain
Users the necessary permissions to install the USB memory stick driver
(without an administrator intervention) and at the same time not having the
Domain Users being part of the Local Administrator Group.

Attempted Workaround.

As part of the Domain Group Policy a policy has been devised to modify the
local policy settings on the computer as to allow all Domain Users to load
and unload local device drivers. Using this system the problem could not be
solved. Upon inserting a USB memory while logged in as a Domain User the
driver installation begins but at a certain stage the installation interrupts
with an Access Denied message.

Further registry and permission modifications to allow Domain Users modify
access to system files has produced no results.

The only way for a Domain User to have a USB memory stick working in a
Windows 2000 is to call for a Domain Administrator who will then install the
USB memory stick driver on the computer. This is unpractical due to the large
amount of users and workstations in the College.

Operating System Used.

This problem is happening on computers running Windows 2000 Sp4 with all the
latest patches.
On our testing we found this problem not happening on computers running:
Windows 2000 Sp2
Windows XP Sp2

13 Apr 2005 2:30 AM

David Macdonald

> This problem is happening on computers running Windows 2000 Sp4 with all the
> latest patches.
> On our testing we found this problem not happening on computers running:
> Windows 2000 Sp2
> Windows XP Sp2

I have this problem on Windows 2000 Sp3. I've been banging my head
against it for many days now with no solution so far.

Dave.