How to Restrict Floppy Disk Drive Access Using Floplock Service

This article describes how to use the Floplock service to restrict access to floppy disk drives on a computer running Windows NT.

The Floplock service can be used to limit floppy disk drive access to only Administrator Group accounts (Windows NT Server) or Administrator and Power User Group accounts (Windows NT Workstation). When the Floplock service is installed and set to start automatically, only users in the appropriate groups have access to the computer's floppy disk drives.

Installing the Floplock Service

To use the Floplock service, you must install the service using the Service Installer (Instsrv.exe) tool included with the Microsoft Windows NT Resource Kit or Microsoft Windows NT Zero Administration Kit (ZAK). You must have Administrator privileges for the computer on which you are installing the Floplock service. To install the Floplock service, follow these steps:

1. Install Instsrv.exe and Floplock.exe from the Windows NT Resource Kit or ZAK. To do so, refer to the documentation included with the Windows NT Resource Kit or ZAK.
2. At a command prompt, type the following commands, pressing ENTER after each command
   
   cd\<folder name>
   instsrv <service name> <drive>:\<folder name>\floplock.exe
   
   where <service name> is the name you specify for the Floplock service, <drive> is the drive letter on which the Windows NT Resource Kit or ZAK is installed, and <folder name> is the folder in which the Windows NT Resource Kit or ZAK is installed.
   
   NOTE: <service name> is any name you choose for the Floplock service. For more information, please see the Floploc.txt file or the "Instsrv" Help topic. The Floplock service must be located on a local hard disk and not on a mapped network drive.

Setting the Service Startup Type

To configure the Floplock service to start automatically when you log on to Windows NT, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click Services.
3. In the list of services, double-click the service name you specified in step 2, and then click Startup.
4. Click Automatic, click OK, and then click Close.
5. Restart your computer.

Removing the Floplock Service

To remove the Floplock service, type the following line at a command prompt, and then press ENTER

instsrv <service name> remove

where <service name> is the name you specify for the Floplock service.

NOTE: You must have Administrator privileges on the computer on which the Floplock service is installed.

Stopping the Floplock Service

To temporarily stop the Floplock service, follow these steps:

NOTE: You must have Administrator privileges on the computer on which the Floplock service is installed.

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click Services.
3. In the list of services, click <service name>, where <service name> is the name you specify for the Floplock service, and then click Stop.
4. When you are prompted to stop the service, click Yes, and then click Close.

If you restart the computer without Administrator privileges and the Floplock service is set to start automatically, the service is restarted.

The Floplock service is included with the Windows NT Resource Kit and ZAK. For more information about the Floplock service and the Instsrv tool, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: