Prevent access to drives from My Computer

User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Explorer

Description

Prevents users from using My Computer to gain access to the content of selected drives.

If you enable this policy, users cannot view the contents of the selected drives in My Computer and Windows Explorer. Also, they cannot use the Run dialog box, the Map Network Drive dialog box, or the Dir command to view the directories on these drives.

To use this policy, select a drive or combination of drives from the drop-down list. To allow access to all drive directories, disable this policy or select the Do not restrict drives option from the drop-down list.

Note

The icons representing the specified drives still appear in My Computer, but if users double-click the icons, a message appears explaining that a policy prevents the action.

This policy does not prevent users from using programs to access local and network drives. And, it does not prevent them from using the Disk Management snap-in to view and change drive characteristics.

If this policy is enabled, applications cannot use the Windows.Storage file API to access content on drives in My Computer.

This policy was documented incorrectly on the Explain tab in Group Policy for Windows 2000. The Explain tab states incorrectly that this policy also affects My Network Places.

Related Policies

Hide these specified drives in My Computer