Disable burning

[mscrx]

hey guys

I need to find a way to disable burning on windows xp. not just the windows burning feature but burning at all. I found some tools that would do but I have to find an open source way or program it myself - once I know where to have a look.
any experiences on that?

thanks, m

 

[AudioVayne]

Wouldn't it be easier to just install CD-ROM drives and just have an external DVD burner for when you need it? Just curious, why would you need to disable burning?

 

[mscrx]

yes it would but the company decided to buy burners for all systems because the price is only a few dollars more and we get the dvd software (plus the codec) with no extra charge.
disabling the devices is for security reasons. we would not allow any user to burn data which might be confidential.
I could make this very complicated and collect information of any burning software installed and then let it be uninstalled automatically but it would be much easier to just switch on/off the ability to burn cd's while the software remains on the system.
this would make it easier to re-enable burning if needed.

sorry I am not good in explaining things... hope you understand what I mean

 

[AudioVayne]

I get where you're coming from...I don't really know anything about this particular tweak, but good luck dude!

Is this for a school or something? I take it restricting access to said data can't simply be encrypted?

 

[mscrx]

no, its not a school. its a company in which many open minded guys make decisions so far far away from earth and guys like me have to deal with it

its like giving everybody a gun but no ammo and tell them not to shoot. of course they will find some ammo someday and thats why I want to make the guns useless

lol, did I write that?

thing is that there is a way. many tools proof it and it even works in a poweruser environment. that mean for me it is not even system related. it looks like the driver gets replaced with something generic which only allows reading disc but not sure if thats all and even less sure about how it works.

 

[AudioVayne]

Mmk...Sounds like a pain in the *** though

Also loading an old driver,how can you prevent them updating it?

 

[mscrx]

not sure yet but the other software can. it makes the drive a just read only and sits on it. I didn't find a way around it...

 

[mscrx]

alright I think I have my solution.
will post the source code after my final testings.

 

[gbhall]

If security of confidential data is your concern, what are you doing about USB plug-ins, email output, access to printers etc? And no, I don't know many really good answers either. I write my company software, and the loops I have jumped through to help this situation have to be seen to be believed. Even so there is a common characteristic of security measures that I call 'security creep', in which users gather more and more 'rights' to things as their job requirements change. Constant vigilance is called for, making you somewhat unpopular for starters.....

 

[mscrx]

I know exactly what you mean but I don't make the rules in my company. I am one of those who have to make it work...
as for the usb devices, they are not allowed and and made pretty much uninstallable as poweruser type.
well, I can only try to catch what I can catch. email and printing is configured by the datacenter guys. my "problem" is to make life a little more comfortable for our 2nd level support. we use a global image for all locations in all countries which contains certain peaces of software by region and computer model. one of them is the burning software which in most of the cases will be removed after the installation. but then someday - just as you said - for business reasons the user requires it and the guys install it again. so its just a time safer to have everything in place and use a switch to enable/disable it. I don't want to invent the wheel again here..
hope this explains my thoughts.... and sorry for my french I am not a native english speaker

 

[mscrx]

ok, here is the source for those who are interested.
the program was written in autoit (3.2.10.0).