Make USB drive appear as actual hard drive

[Riles]

Hey guys,

Let me just first say that I tried to search for this, but every time I search for "mount usb drive" or any variation, I just see a billion pages on mounting usb drives the normal way. Anyhoo, my office just implemented a new policy/software pair that prevents people from running executables off of portable storage media like USB drives. It totally sucks, because I have been running firefox portable edition off of my usb drive for months to bypass alot of restrictions imposed on internet explorer, and to let me access my home PVR server. Its also just plain better. I think firefox on the hard drive is a no-no, so I don't really want to install it locally. I also like the idea that my browsing history is kept on the stick so I can take it with me.

This software only prevents executables from running on devices specifically identified by windows as portable devices. So my question is this- is there any way for me to mount my USB drive and make the computer treat it like an actual physical hard drive? I think this would bypass the new restriction on usb drives. I've tried just about every option in disk management and reformatted many many times, all to no avail. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
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Mod Edit - Not happening. Please don't ask how to circumvent the security environment of your work network / platforms again in these forums. - BlindedByScience

 

[/dev/null]

So you want us to bypass your security controls at work?

Perhaps you should get a job that lets you do this natively....?

 

[unhappy_mage]

Anyhoo, my office just implemented a new policy/software pair that prevents people from running executables off of portable storage media like USB drives.
...
I think firefox on the hard drive is a no-no, so I don't really want to install it locally. I also like the idea that my browsing history is kept on the stick so I can take it with me.

So your work doesn't want you running executables off a thumb drive, and you don't think they'd want you putting executables on your hard drive, but you want to try to break their security policy? This sounds like a good way to get a talking-to to me.

This software only prevents executables from running on devices specifically identified by windows as portable devices. So my question is this- is there any way for me to mount my USB drive and make the computer treat it like an actual physical hard drive?

I don't see a way to do this offhand.

 

[Riles]

I know that a majority of people on this board are IT people, so I don't want to offend. I think it is safe to say that administrative departments such as IT typcially clash with operational departments such as sales quite frequently. They have no problem with executables on the hard drive, I just happen to like taking my browsing history with me from one computer to the next. I also like tabbed browsing, since they haven't rolled out a new internet explorer since XP came out.

I'll keep experimenting.

 

[axan]

it's doable you need local admin rights to the machine and you have to be able to edit registry.
PM me for details

 

[JC634]

I also like tabbed browsing, since they haven't rolled out a new internet explorer since XP came out.

Ha Ha. XP came out... when? That would be IE.... 3?

I know MS is slow at time but we are up to version 7 of IE, which does have tabbed browsing.

You're just looking for a way to bypass your work rules. Gee, why do you need to access your PVR from work. Real productive time spent there on company work.

IT departments implement rules such as your company does to keep people from doing personal stuff during work hours... like you.

 

[BillLeeLee]

Ha Ha. XP came out... when? That would be IE.... 3?

I know MS is slow at time but we are up to version 7 of IE, which does have tabbed browsing.

You're just looking for a way to bypass your work rules. Gee, why do you need to access your PVR from work. Real productive time spent there on company work.

IT departments implement rules such as your company does to keep people from doing personal stuff during work hours... like you.

It's also so you don't run stuff on work machines that are not approved. Sure, it could be safe, but it's the company's machine, not yours, so to them, it's not something you can treat as your personal playground.

And if your company has not moved on to IE7, perhaps there is a good reason why. For a long time my (parent) company's intranet used web apps and controls that would not work in IE7. Or perhaps they haven't gotten around to qualifying it for wide deployment to ensure it doesn't cause incompatibilities.

However, just like how we don't tell students how to circumvent their school's network policies, we can't discuss how you can circumvent company policy. It is possible to do what you want though, so good luck in your search.

 

[Shaggy3zx]

Wow look at all the IT police justifying their existence through the "user is the enemy" policy.

That said, I still suggest you come up with a legitimate business reason for your activities and ask your IT dept to exclude you from the usb device rules. Everyone will be on the up and up and you'll be protected by an agreement.

 

[Michael Daly]

The OP is free to ignore the IT police and see how getting fired feels. That's freedom

 

[Shambler]

Wow look at all the IT police justifying their existence through the "user is the enemy" policy.

That said, I still suggest you come up with a legitimate business reason for your activities and ask your IT dept to exclude you from the usb device rules. Everyone will be on the up and up and you'll be protected by an agreement.

The post above is beautiful. As long as you have a business reason, put in that request. Going outside, around, under, IT rules and regulations can only lead to heartache Either for the user, the machine, or for IT.

 

[unhappy_mage]

Wow look at all the IT police justifying their existence through the "user is the enemy" policy.

I don't think that's very fair. If your company's data is valuable, they have to protect it against destruction and theft. It's hard to tell if a given executable is malicious, so banning unauthorized executables solves the problem. Sorry.