DVD or CD Tray Lock from Script or on login

[k-strider]

Hi Guys

 

i have some PCs that have DVD Drives in i wan't to be able to lock them closed so the eject button doesn't work. Most of the time they won't be used but occasionally for mastering DVDs they will be needed.

 

I found a couple of Apps that will lock the Drive so i know its possible, however they are icon and tray based and don't have any command line switches and need doing post login so they don't serve my purpose, other than proof of concept. for example CDLocker.exe by sosftbureau.com

 

i've had a look around and can't find anything... surely someone has written a EXE or Script for this purpose. that i could use as a login script.

 

Gordon.

[Michael]

One solution could be to remove the DVD drives completely and mount an ISO as a virtual drive, so it can be used as and when needed.

[k-strider]

I was thinking along a similar line... the solution that i have that i dont want to implament is removing the power from the back of the units.. they are needed occasionally to make DVDs from Video Software... rather than as a reading/input drvie.... so i dont need virtual Drives

[Michael]

You could create a special user who can see/use the DVD drive. Other users have the drive hidden, so even if they eject the drive and insert a disc it won't work. It would be straight forward to do this using GPOs.

[mac_shinobi]

take out all optical drives and fit blanking plates and either buy external drive caddies or get as many as requires external optical drives and tally up how many you have and do a count when handing them back in with a signing sheet to ensure

 

A - they come back in reasonable condition

B - they all come back

C - which teacher handed them out so there can be someone responsable should any of the above go wrong and the aformentioned teacher can then have a reasonable idea of which class it was or which students.

[Sylv3r]

I would think if there was any software available to lock the drives you would still be able to push in a paper clip into the tiny hole and the tray would probably still eject - so not sure if the software solution would work.

[mac_shinobi]

I would think if there was any software available to lock the drives you would still be able to push in a paper clip into the tiny hole and the tray would probably still eject - so not sure if the software solution would work.

 

I should of mentioned that in my above post and yes that is correct as we had this issue and students would still use a paper clip and force all sorts of rubbish into the optical drives ranging from 1 and 2 pence coins all the way to short stubby pencils , paper, sweet wrappers and anything else in between and half of the damage done actually rendered the optical drive useless in some way shape or form.

[Goatboy]

I found a couple of Apps that will lock the Drive so i know its possible, however they are icon and tray based and don't have any command line switches and need doing post login so they don't serve my purpose, other than proof of concept. for example CDLocker.exe by sosftbureau.com

 

We've often toyed with the idea of locking the drives through software but always been put off by the available tools. But paper-clips aside, it's still worth doing. Well, having spent a good hundred quid replacing drives in recent weeks I finally plonked myself in front of Visual Studio this morning and have a command-line solution for this now - thought I'd share it as I recall coming to this thread searching for answers last week.

 

App, msi and source are here:

(edit: nope, post below...)

 

It's simple to run, just 'cdtray.exe lock d' or 'cdtray.exe unlock d' - where D is your optical drive letter. It'll execute silently unless you pass it daft arguments.

 

Not sure yet if we're going to run it as a startup item for students, or lock it first on startup and unlock it for staff at login...

 

Amazing what you can accomplish with Google and a vague recollection of picking up a book on Amiga C ten years ago!

Edited May 31, 2010 by Goatboy

[Goatboy]

Make that here: Download