Users cannot access "Safely Remove Hardware" 1

[zephyran]

We have a few dozen XP Pro PCs (with SP2 and all publicly-released hotfixes to date) that are available for public use. They operate on a Win2003 Active Directory domain using Group Policies to minimize access of these computers to network resources (they all are logged in using the same restricted account and roaming mandatory profile).

We allow users to plug in USB flash drives and similar devices so they can bring in their own files to work on, or download files from the Web and bring them home. While they can plug in and use the devices without problems, whenever they try to use "Safely Remove Hardware" to eject the device, they get an error that "this feature has been disabled, contact your System Administrator".

I have found no settings in Group Policy that allows them to use "Safely Remove Hardware", and I have never set anything to specifically disallow this feature. How can I fix this?

 

[linney]

Are there any restrictions you have in place involving "Allowed to format and eject removable media"?

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:...inistrator"+"Safely+Remove+Hardware"+xp&hl=en

298504 - HOWTO: Avoid Unsafe Removal Dialog Box

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;298504&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

 

[zephyran]

There was a link within your first link that had the tip I needed:

http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-6230-0.html?forumID=5&threadID=143265&messageID=1676005

The clue was that disabling access to the Disk Management MMC caused the trouble. I had used GP to prevent access by these accounts to the Control Panel. I re-enabled access to it, and "Safely Remove Hardware" started working! Luckily, we have other methods of blocking access to Control Panel, as well as Deep Freeze on the PCs themselves, so I won't worry too much about that just yet.

Thanks very much for the help!