How to Hide Drives in My Computer
1>Find a file called system.adm file that is located in C:\Winnt\inf and make a backup Copy. Copy this file to a location to work on it..
2> Open the File with Notepad.exe, and as it is a huge file, you need to Search for the word !!NoDrives.
3> This will bring you to the correct section of the system.adm file you want to modify. It will look like this:
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 !!CEGOnly VALUE NUMERIC 84
NAME !!ABConly VALUE NUMERIC 7
NAME !!ABCDOnly VALUE NUMERIC 15
NAME !!ALLDrives VALUE NUMERIC 67108863 ;low 26 bits on (1 bit per drive)
NAME !!RestNoDrives VALUE NUMERIC 0 (Default)
END ITEMLIST
END PART
END POLICY
4> You will notice that each Drive has a Hexidecimal number associated with it. For multiple drives these numbers are Added together. Eg. The Hexidecimal # for C: is 4. You need to find out the Hexidecimal value for the drive you want to hide. I have listed them all below:
| A = 1 | N = 8192 |
| B = 2 | O = 16384 |
| C = 4 | P = 32768 |
| D = 8 | Q = 65536 |
| E = 16 | R = 131072 |
| F = 32 | S = 262144 |
| G = 64 | T = 524288 |
| H = 128 | U = 1048576 |
| I = 256 | V = 2097152 |
| J = 512 | W = 4194304 |
| K = 1024 | X = 8388608 |
| L = 2048 | Y = 16777216 |
| M = 4096 | Z = 33554432 |
6>For more than one Drive you need to add them up. For example, if you wanted to Hide C: E: and G: the Value Numeric would be 84. Add the Drives to the section in the system.adm file using the Same Format as is already listed. This will give you these options when you Open Group Policy later on.
7> Now you need to find the [strings] section of system.adm. It is usually at the end of the file but is large, so search for "ABOnly". Here you need to add the String that you will see in Group Policy. Use the same format as below. Remember the name MUST match what you put up above. See Example
[strings]
ABCDOnly="Restrict A, B, C and D drives only"
ABConly="Restrict A, B and C drives only"
ABOnly="Restrict A and B drives only"
ALLDrives="Restrict all drives"
COnly="Restrict C drive only"
DOnly="Restrict D drive only"
CEGOnly=”Restrict C, E and G Drives only”
RestNoDrives="Do not restrict drives"
8> Save the system.adm file. Now you need to copy to C:\Winnt\inf on ALL your W2K3 Domain Controllers and any Windows XP Professional machines that you use to modify Group Policies. Make Sure you have backed up the original system.adm before copying over it.
7> Now Open up AD, and go a Group Policy Object. Go to Users|Administrative Templates|Windows Components|Windows Explorer and find the Policy that says "Hide these specified drives in My Computer" Define the Policy, and your added Drives should be available to hide in the Drop Down Box.