XP Pro can't access new hardware.

[Beavis]

I have an old PC running XP Pro that probably started off in a company IT environment.

For some reason, it won't allow me to access any new hardware I add via USB. If I plug in an external USB hard drive or USB memory stick, it recognizes the devices and assigns a drive letter in Explorer, but any attempt to use them results in an "Access Denied" error window.

I also tried to install a USB webcam- and the system recognized a new device, but no software (Skype, etc.) would detect a camera.

The accounts I use have administrator privileges, but I can't use the actual "Administrator" account.

Any experts have any ideas? Of course, I could wipe the system and reinstall an OS- but I'd really like to avoid that right now.

[edDV]

I have no problems with USB/USB2 drives on XP Pro SP3. Are you fully up to date?

Does the USB webcam support XP? There should be a driver. Check their support site.

[zzyzzx]

If it's anything like the PC's they had at a previous employer of mine, USB storage devices won't work and behave exactly like that. It recognizes it, then you can't use it. There was a program on the PC that prevented USB storage devices from working and when you disabled the program it somehow came back. Is reformatting the HD and reinstalling XP an option?

[vhelp]

or, the voltage for usb on that old unit may be too low for the devices. i have similar problem like that for one of my usb2 1TB WD ext drives. if i plug it in, it sees it but drive goes into a cooma and churps like a bird.

so one work-around that works for me..is to pick up one of those *powered* external usb hubs (i have 4-port) and plug that into your notebook and connect the usb device into the hub.

[Beavis]

All the devices do work fine on other XP systems, and the external HD has it's own AC power... so I'm thinking those things should be OK.

If it's anything like the PC's they had at a previous employer of mine, USB storage devices won't work and behave exactly like that. It recognizes it, then you can't use it. There was a program on the PC that prevented USB storage devices from working and when you disabled the program it somehow came back. Is reformatting the HD and reinstalling XP an option?

I'm no expert at multi-user Windows systems-- but this is the kind of thing I suspect could be going on. Do you have any advice on where to look for something like that to disable? For what it's worth, I also recall not being able to get that PC to boot in safe mode by pressing F8 on restart.

Yeah, a re-install is always an option, but I have no recovery discs handy and would like to keep that as last resort right now.

[aedipuss]

there's a way to stop usb storage from working with a change to the registry. to undo it, check the results of search for "how to disable usb storage"

[zzyzzx]

Also, I would check the power settings for the USB root hub to always on.

[zzyzzx]

All the devices do work fine on other XP systems, and the external HD has it's own AC power... so I'm thinking those things should be OK.

If it's anything like the PC's they had at a previous employer of mine, USB storage devices won't work and behave exactly like that. It recognizes it, then you can't use it. There was a program on the PC that prevented USB storage devices from working and when you disabled the program it somehow came back. Is reformatting the HD and reinstalling XP an option?

I'm no expert at multi-user Windows systems-- but this is the kind of thing I suspect could be going on. Do you have any advice on where to look for something like that to disable? For what it's worth, I also recall not being able to get that PC to boot in safe mode by pressing F8 on restart.

Yeah, a re-install is always an option, but I have no recovery discs handy and would like to keep that as last resort right now.

Did you look for something in task manager? If you don't see it, try running task manager while you plug in your USB device and see if something new shows up. USBninja I think was the name of the program that was disabling USB storage, but I also think that was company proprietary software.

[Beavis]

Great... will check out some of these things this weekend and see how it goes.

[AlanHK]

Did you look for something in task manager? If you don't see it, try running task manager while you plug in your USB device and see if something new shows up. USBninja I think was the name of the program that was disabling USB storage, but I also think that was company proprietary software.

Don't disable USBninja! It stops malicious programs from auto-executing from USB thumb drives and discs.
It should not interfere with normal use.
see http://www.ninjapendisk.com/

[Bjs]

In some cases the registry contains obsolete references to usb devices which do cause abnormal issues for no apparent reason ... under hardware device management , delete all usb references and reboot ... and reboot once more after the devices have been reinstalled ... try connecting device again.

[nic2k4]

You're right and if you reboot in safe mode you'll see all the devices you ever connected to your PC, in device manager. There's a registry tweak that disables USB devices, you may be able to change it with Fresh UI or RegToy. Use USBDeview to get more details about your USB devices.

[jman98]

I just wanted to mention that if you need Administrator access it's rather trivial to boot a Linux rescue CD such as the Trinity Rescue Kit and get rid of the Administrator password in XP so that you can login to the account. Administrator permissions didn't work flawlessly in XP and below and I've seen instances where in theory a user account had Administrator permissions to do something in XP but the system refused to let the user do it until they actually logged in as Administrator.

[Beavis]

Update: Turns out it's not a Windows problem-- it's leftover 3rd party software that locks out access to any expansion drives, etc... The program's called 'sanctuary device control' and (not surprisingly) there doesn't seem to be any easy way to get rid of it. It even seems to work in safe mode. Unless someone has any more ideas, I think I'll probably have to re-install a fresh OS.

[aedipuss]

depends on how it was installed by the sys admin there are many options like this -

The Client Hardening feature fully protects all Sanctuary Client Driver executables, DLLs, registry keys, and the %Windows%/sxdata folder (temporary repository used by the client driver) from the user with administration rights. It also prevents shadow files and log entries from being deleted.

[Cornucopia]

You could probably get rid of that using a Windows PE/Live Boot CD/DVD/USB. Then the HD is treated as just a data drive and you can clean it up to your heart's content...(assuming you know what you're doing with the system folder, registry, etc)

Then reboot and see how it goes...

Something that pernicious sounds more like a virus/malware than a good security setup. And I'd bet that anything it's doing to the registry can just as easily be done with the Policy Editor (for free and without alot of collateral damage).

Scott

[Beavis]

I brought up the little client / monitor window and could see that all those permissions were turned off. In any case, I'd like to image the thing first to save the data and be able to restore it's current state before messing with anything or re-formatting. The program I usually use is the free Macrium, but the Macrium PE disk is restore-only. Do you guys know any image software that boots and actually writes outside of Windows?

[davexnet]

Do you mean a free program? I'm not aware of one. I've always used Acronis True Image - which boots from a CD.

[sanlyn]

I hear Acronis works OK. For XP and earlier, I used DriveImage.

I've worked on many formerly corporate-managed PC's. Every one of them had the kinds of problems you described. Solve one problem, you find another, then another. Some of those mods were done locally, others were factory-configured to all but cripple the OS. By the time you get thru all of it, you could backup and reinstall several times. I bought new authorized copies of XP on eBay and a few geek sites, backed up data, and reinstalled. No more problems.