Thread: how to block flash memory

Hi friends ,
I want to block flash memory exactly after connected that to the usb port for all programs and os except for only one specific program for example called "my_program.exe" .
I want to do some work with "my_program.exe" on that flash memory for example search the files , delete some of them , ... and then unblock flash memory .
I can't find anything on the web .
I found some api for working with usb ports but they don't have good documentation .
Target os is windows (xp or seven , 32 or 64) .
I must use pure c (not c++) for this work .
Please help me .
Thanks a lot , good luck .

Originally Posted by ledow

I don't think you're going to be able to lock an entire device exclusively on Windows without running into a tons of problems and hanging programs (while they wait for it to become available so they can do things on it). You could write a filter driver for a particular USB device, but that's a lot of hassle to do and involves some deep-level programming.

I think you're just looking at things the wrong way. Why do you need to lock the device exclusively?

If you're thinking about hooking filesystem access to it, like antivirus programs do, then that's a different matter but there you really want to look into filesystem hooks (which, if you mess them up, can take out your filesystem and hang/crash your OS).

Just what precisely are you trying to achieve and why?

Thanks a lot for your help .
I want to write very simple antivirus for flash memory .
It's my project for university and we must block the flash memory at first and then scan it and after all of this work enable flash memory for communicate with os and other programs .
Thanks a lot .

Originally Posted by ledow

Then I would suggest a filesystem hook instead. Basically you insert a routine in between every read/write access to the drive and THAT decides what to do. The programs say "Open this file", your hooks get told to do that (instead of Windows just doing it automatically), they can then scan the drive or whatever is necessary, and then - when they are happy - they can return the data to the program opening the file.

But, really, that's the only really sensible way to do things and how almost all antivirus programs that I've ever seen work. Your terminology of "locking" the drive is wrong here. You're just after a filesystem hook.

File System Filter Drivers

But, honestly, good luck. That API is horrendously complicated and is likely to just crash the machine if you go a step wrong at any point. I highly recommend that you only program on a virtualised environment for that.

P.S. Most of the Windows API is pure C.

Thanks a lot .
I try to understand them .
If anyone else can find an easier approach , any further help appreciated .
Thanks a lot .

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