How To Prevent Access To Drives In My Computer In Windows

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Written By Larious

Larious is the Executive Editor of LowkeyTech. He is a tech enthusiast and a content writer. 

 

 

 

 

Last Updated on June 23, 2020 by Larious


Well, if your family members or friends use your personal computer, or if you have a public computer that several people use, then its always the best to restrict access to specific drives in My Computer. On Windows, you can easily limit access to specific drives to prevent others from accessing important data, or deleting system files.

In this article, we are not going to share methods to password-protect the drives to prevent unauthorized access to the drives, but we are going to temporarily block the unauthorized access to the hard drives. So, without wasting any further time, let’s know how to restrict access to drives from My Computer in Windows 10.

How To Prevent Access To Drives In My Computer In Windows

Well, to prevent access to the drives in My Computer in Windows 10, users need to make a few changes in the Local Group Policy Editor. Below, we have shared a step-by-step tutorial on how to restrict access to drives in My Computer in Windows 10.

Step 1. First of all press Windows Key + R to open the Run Dialog box.

Open RUN Dialog Box
Open RUN Dialog Box

Step 2. On the RUN Dialog box, enter ‘gpedit.msc’ and hit enter.

Enter 'gpedit.msc'Enter 'gpedit.msc'
Enter ‘gpedit.msc’

Step 3. This Run command will take you to the Local Group Policy Editor.

Local Group Policy EditorLocal Group Policy Editor
Local Group Policy Editor

Step 4. There you need to navigate to the –  User Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/File Explorer

Navigate to the given pathNavigate to the given path
Navigate to the given path

Step 5. From the right-hand side panel, double click on the ‘Prevent Access to drives from My Computer’

Double click on the 'Prevent Access to drives from My Computer'Double click on the 'Prevent Access to drives from My Computer'
Double click on the ‘Prevent Access to drives from My Computer’

Step 6. You need to enable the option and then from the ‘Options’ select which drive you to want to restrict and click on ‘Ok’.

Select 'Enabled' and choose the driveSelect 'Enabled' and choose the drive
Select ‘Enabled’ and choose the drive

That’s it, you are done! Now if anyone tries to access the restricted drive, they will get an error message like this.

How To Allow Access To The Drives?

Well, if you have restricted access to certain drives and want to revert the changes, then you need to follow the steps given below.

Step 1. First of all press Windows Key + R to open the Run Dialog box.

Open RUN Dialog BoxOpen RUN Dialog Box
Open RUN Dialog Box

Step 2. On the RUN Dialog box, enter ‘gpedit.msc’ and hit enter.

Enter gpedit.msc and hit EnterEnter gpedit.msc and hit Enter
Enter gpedit.msc and hit Enter

Step 3. This Run command will take you to the Local Group Policy Editor.

Local Group Policy EditorLocal Group Policy Editor
Local Group Policy Editor

Step 4. There you need to navigate to the – User Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/File Explorer.

Navigate to the Given PathNavigate to the Given Path
Navigate to the Given Path

Step 5. From the right-hand side panel, double click on the ‘Prevent Access to drives from My Computer’

Double click on 'Prevent access to drives from My Computer'Double click on 'Prevent access to drives from My Computer'
Double click on ‘Prevent access to drives from My Computer’

Step 6. Now from the ‘Options’ you need to select the option ‘Do not restrict drives’ and then click on ‘Ok’

Step 7. Now from the same window, you need to select ‘Disabled’ under the ‘Prevent access to drives from My computer’

Select 'Disabled' and click on 'Ok' buttonSelect 'Disabled' and click on 'Ok' button
Select ‘Disabled’ and click on ‘Ok’ button

That’s it; you are done! This is how you can allow access to drives on Windows 10.

So, this is all about how to restrict access to drives in My Computer in Windows 10. I hope this article helped you share it with others as well.

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