
This benefit can't eliminate data theft, but it creates another barrier to unauthorized removal of data. For example, if users can't install a USB thumb-drive device, they can't download copies of company data onto a removable storage. It's more difficult for users to make unauthorized copies of company data if users' computers can't install unapproved devices that support removable media. Restricting the devices that users can install reduces the risk of data theft and reduces the cost of support.

This step-by-step guide isn't meant to be used to deploy Windows Server features without accompanying documentation and should be used with discretion as a stand-alone document. The steps provided in this guide are intended for use in a test lab environment. It's important to understand that the Group Policies that are presented in this guide are only applied to machines/machine-groups, not to users/user-groups. However, if you use a different device, then the instructions in the guide won't exactly match the user interface that appears on the computer. You can perform the steps in this guide using a different device. The example device used in the scenarios is a USB storage device. Each scenario shows, step by step, one method you can use to allow or prevent the installation of a specific device or a class of devices. The guide also illustrates two methods of controlling device installation. This guide describes the device installation process and introduces the device identification strings that Windows uses to match a device with the device-driver packages available on a machine. If a device isn't on the list, then the user can't install it.

