Web Hosting Talk : Other Forums : Computers and Peripherals : Can't access any removable media

[chieflorenzo]

A laptop has been brought in to me that cannot access anything on external drives: memorysticks or external hard drives, and the CD/DVD drive, but only in normal mode. They seem to work in safe mode.

The drives/memsticks work ok on other computers. In My Computer any external drive shows a red No Entry symbol over it, with "[driveletter]:\ is not accessible. access is denied".

I found somewhere on the internet about deleting the UpperFilters entry from the registry, and restarted the computer. I could access the memorystick once, then it went back to how it had been previously.

I can't find any software installed that might be blocking anything, and I can't find anything in the bios that might be blocking external storage devices.

The antivirus software is AVG Free.

Any help anyone can give would be greatly appreciated, I'm a bit stumped on this one.

Thanks
Laurence

[mamedesign]

scan your harddrive on other computer with the latest update anti virus.
back-up your data if your hardrive 100% clean from virus.
reinstal your pc/laptop.

[Bullsoft - Thomas]

You might need to install/re-install the drivers. Most USB memory sticks are plug and play. Worth a shot!

[webhtalk]

Its possible that the usb devices were disabled using group policy, read through the following article and some of the embedded links and see if it applies to your situation
petri.co.il/disable_usb_disks_with_gpo.htm

[HostingPal]

try accessing them in all of your USB ports and see if you get the same problem

[chieflorenzo]

Thanks for all your replies, the laptop is 100% clean from viruses, as are the usb memory sticks and external hard drives. Re: the drivers, it's the same for all external devices; usb memory sticks, usb ext hard drives and the internal cd/dvd rom drive, and applies to all the USB ports (I've also reinstalled the drivers for the usb ports)

[Ableer Web Services]

I was thinking it was possibly your plug and play drives. However, I had ran into one nasty virus around thanksgiving that removed all my drivers, so I was unable to use anything, including USB drives and other USB powered devices. You may want to scan your computer like stated above, or try to reinstall your drivers. Worse comes to worse, backup your hard drive, and reinstall everything. Just make sure it doesn't have any viruses on it, or you may just reinfect your new, clean OS install. I'm not sure what else it could be other than the following: Corrupted/removed drivers, a virus, or other similar problem. If you need any help, contact someone here, I'm sure we have a few tech guru's on here