Exchange 2007 - Exchange Management Shell - Exchange Management Console

Hide all drives except Z drive using group policy

Posted by under Active Directory

By Default You can hide drives with following combination Using GPO !

• Restrict A, B, C and D drives only
• Restrict A, B and C drives only
• Restrict A and B drives only
• Restrict all drives
• Restrict C drive only
• Restrict D drive only
• Do not restrict drives

Now if you will setup home drive (Z:) for a user , that drive will be hide like others. To resolve this issue we can create custom ADM template to show only home drive.

Craete a Note Pad file and  rename it to  HideDrives.adm , Paste the following code into

CLASS USER

CATEGORY !!CustomizedSettings
CATEGORY !!WindowsExplorer
KEYNAME “Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer”
POLICY !!NoDrives
EXPLAIN !!NoDrives_Help
PART !!NoDrivesDropdown DROPDOWNLIST NOSORT REQUIRED
VALUENAME “NoDrives”
ITEMLIST
NAME !!ABOnly VALUE NUMERIC 3
NAME !!COnly VALUE NUMERIC 4
NAME !!DOnly VALUE NUMERIC 8
NAME !!CDOnly VALUE NUMERIC 12
NAME !!ABConly VALUE NUMERIC 7
NAME !!ABCDOnly VALUE NUMERIC 15
NAME !!AllExceptZ VALUE NUMERIC 33554431
NAME !!ALLDrives VALUE NUMERIC 67108863 DEFAULT
; low 26 bits on (1 bit per drive)
NAME !!RestNoDrives VALUE NUMERIC 0
END ITEMLIST
END PART
END POLICY

POLICY !!NoViewOnDrive
EXPLAIN !!NoViewOnDrive_Help
PART !!NoDrivesDropdown DROPDOWNLIST NOSORT REQUIRED
VALUENAME “NoViewOnDrive”
ITEMLIST
NAME !!ABOnly VALUE NUMERIC 3
NAME !!COnly VALUE NUMERIC 4
NAME !!DOnly VALUE NUMERIC 8
NAME !!CDOnly VALUE NUMERIC 12
NAME !!ABConly VALUE NUMERIC 7
NAME !!ABCDOnly VALUE NUMERIC 15
NAME !!AllExceptZ VALUE NUMERIC 33554431
NAME !!ALLDrives VALUE NUMERIC 67108863 DEFAULT
; low 26 bits on (1 bit per drive)
NAME !!RestNoDrives VALUE NUMERIC 0
END ITEMLIST
END PART
END POLICY

END CATEGORY ; !!WindowsExplorer

END CATEGORY ; !!CustomizedSettings

[STRINGS]
ABCDOnly=”Restrict drives A, B, C and D only”
ABConly=”Restrict drives A, B and C only”
ABOnly=”Restrict drives A and B only”
AllExceptZ=”Restrict all drives except Z”
ALLDrives=”Restrict all drives”
COnly=”Restrict drive C only”
DOnly=”Restrict drive D only”
CDOnly=”Restrict drives C and D only”
NoDrives=”Hide these drives in Explorer”
NoDrivesDropdown=”Choose one of the following combinations:”
NoDrives_Help=”*** Copy and paste this entry from %SYSTEMROOT%\inf\system.adm! ***”
NoViewOnDrive=”Restrict access to these drives”
NoViewOnDrive_Help=”*** Copy and paste this entry from %SYSTEMROOT%\inf\system.adm! ***”
RestNoDrives=”Do not restrict any drives”

CustomizedSettings=”Customized Settings”
WindowsExplorer=”Windows Explorer”

; Pattern to hide drives; convert the binary to decimal:
; zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcba
; 00000000000000000000001100

Now place this file to on your DC in following location.

C:\windows\inf

Open Group Policy Editor.

Administrative Templates->Right Clik->Add/Remove Templates.
Click add and select HideDrives.adm file

User Configuration –> Administrative Templates –> Customized Settings –> Windows Explorer
Hide these drives in explorer - Properties - Select Enable and Restrict all drives except Z from Combo box