AutoRun viruses are the most common type of virus that infects USB drives. Instead of using specialized software to remove them, do you know how to manually limit their spread?
When your USB drive is infected with a virus, the virus will create a file named Autorun.inf to activate the drive's autorun feature. Subsequent uses of the USB drive will inadvertently activate this virus. Even more dangerous is that this virus has a hidden attribute, making it undetectable. In today's article, Taimienphi will guide you on how to protect your USB drive from the AutoRun virus without using software, in just a few simple steps.
In principle, we want to prevent viruses from creating their own Autorun.inf files on the USB drive. Therefore, we will create an Autorun.inf file on the USB drive ourselves and prevent them from overwriting it. To do this, we must convert all data on the USB drive to NTFS format and grant permissions to prevent overwriting the Autorun.inf file.
Protect your USB drive from Autorun viruses without using software.
Step 1 : Identify the name of the USB drive.
Go to the USB settings to see what your USB drive is named. In my case, the USB drive is named T.
Step 2 : Convert the USB drive to NTFS format.
Click on Start, type CMD and press Enter to open the Command Prompt.
When the Command Prompt window appears, type ` convert T: /FS:NTFS` and press Enter. (Since my USB drive is named T, you can use a different drive letter.) The conversion is complete when the message " Conversion Complete" appears .
Step 3 : Create the Autorun.ini file and transfer it to the USB drive.
- Press Start, type notepad , and then press Enter to open the Notepad program.
- When the Notepad window appears, you can type anything you want or leave it blank. Then press Ctrl+S to save the file, rename it to autorun.inf , and save it to a USB drive.
- Next, go to the USB drive, right-click on the Autorun.inf file you just created, and select Properties.
- In the General section, click on the Read-only box and then press OK.
Step 4 : Restrict all access to the Autorun.inf file you just created.
- Click Start , type cacls [USB drive name]:Autorun.inf /D Everyone and press Enter. In my case, I would type cacls T:Autorun.inf /D Everyone
- A window will appear; press Y , then press Enter , and you're done.
Hopefully, with our sharing, you now know how to prevent the Autorun.inf virus with just a few simple manual steps without using any software. Additionally, you can refer to and use the USB protection software available in TipsMake to absolutely secure the data on your USB drive.
There are many ways to remove Autorun viruses nowadays. In addition to the method above, you can remove Autorun using commands in CMD. Refer to the guide on how to remove Autorun viruses using commands on your computer/PC for more information.