Policy
Scan removable drives
Windows 11 25H2
Policy overview
Key metadata and intent for this policy.
Supported OS tags: Windows10, Windows10RT, Windows11, Windows8, Windows81, WindowsRT, WindowsRT81, WindowsServer2012, WindowsServer2012R2, WindowsServer2016
This policy setting allows you to manage whether or not to scan for malicious software and unwanted software in the contents of removable drives, such as USB flash drives, when running a full scan. If you enable this setting, removable drives will be scanned during any type of scan. If you disable or do not configure this setting, removable drives will not be scanned during a full scan. Removable drives may still be scanned during quick scan and custom scan.
Registry values
How enabled and disabled states update the registry.
| Registry location | Type | Enabled value | Disabled value |
|---|---|---|---|
| HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Scan\DisableRemovableDriveScanning | REG_DWORD | 0 | 1 |
Policy elements
Inputs and configuration options exposed by this policy.
This policy has no additional user input fields.
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