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How to configure the Removable Drives Scan

The Kaspersky application can scan the following removable media when they are connected to the protected device: CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray discs, flash drives (including USB modems), external hard drives, and floppy disks.

If the Removable Drives Scan is enabled, the Kaspersky application monitors the connection of removable media to the protected device and, if connected removable media is detected, the application scans the disk and its boot sectors for viruses and other malware.

By default, the application does not monitor for the connection of removable media or scan removable media.

In the application interface, you can manage removable media scanning using the Removable Drives Scan component.

The application interface allows you to:

  • Enable or disable the Removable Drives Scan component.
  • Observe the operation of the component
  • View pop-up notifications about detected threats; in these notifications, you can click the Open Reports link to navigate to application component reports and scan task results.
  • View the report of the Removable Drives Scan component.

    Results of the Removable Drives Scan component are displayed in the report in the Removable Drives Scan section.

On the command line, you can manage removable media scanning using the Removable Drives Scan predefined task (Removable_Drives_Scan).

Removable Drives Scan is not running by default. You can start and stop this task manually.

If the task is running, the application monitors the connection of removable media to the device and, when a removable media is connected, the task creates and starts a temporary boot sector scan task (task of the ODS type). A temporary task cannot be stopped. After the temporary task execution completes, the application automatically deletes the task.

If you enabled file scanning in the Removable Drives Scan task settings, the application also starts one or more temporary custom file scan tasks (tasks of the ODS type). If necessary, a user with administrator privileges can stop these tasks.

On the command line, you can view information about detected threats and check the current status of the task.

The task starts with default settings listed in Appendix 3. You can stop or start the task at any time. You can also modify task settings.

You must modify the settings of a task before starting the task.

To stop the Removable Drives Scan task and enable the output of current events related to this task, run the following command:

kfl-control --stop-task 16 -W

To start the Removable Drives Scan task, enable the output of current events related to this task, and display the progress of the task, run the following command:

kfl-control --start-task 16 [-W] [--progress]

The Removable Drives Scan task starts with default settings listed in Appendix 3.

You can display the current values of the task settings in one of the following ways:

If you need to modify the settings of the Removable Drives Scan task, you can:

  • Modify all task settings using the configuration file. To do so:
    1. Output the task settings to the configuration file: kfl-control --get-settings 16 [--json]

      A configuration file with the current task settings is generated.

    2. Edit task settings in the generated configuration file by choosing values from the following table.
    3. Save the configuration file.
    4. Run the following command: kfl-control --set-settings 16 --file <configuration file path> [--json]
  • Modify individual task settings: kfl-control --set-settings 16 <setting name>=<setting value> [<setting name>=<setting value>]
  • Restore default task settings: kfl-control --set-settings 16 --set-to-default

For detailed instructions on how to modify the settings of application tasks, see the How to manage task settings on the command line section.

The following table describes all the settings of the Removable Drives Scan task and their values.

If you modify the Removable Drives Scan task settings, the new values are not applied to temporary tasks that are already running. Stopping the Removable Drives Scan task does not stop temporary tasks that are already running.

Removable Drives Scan task settings

Setting

Description

Values

ScanRemovableDrives

Enables the scanning of removable media when it is connected to the device.

This setting does not apply to CD/DVD drives and Blu-ray discs (see the ScanOpticalDrives setting).

DetailedScan — Scan all files on removable media (except CD/DVD and Blu-ray discs).

A detailed scan is performed with the default settings for the Scan_File task (ID: 3).

QuickScan — Scan only files of specific types on removable media (except CD/DVD and Blu-ray discs).

A quick scan is performed with the default settings for the Critical_Areas_Scan task (ID: 4).

NoScan (default value) — Do not scan removable media when it is connected to the device.

ScanOpticalDrives

Enables the scanning of CD/DVD drives and Blu-ray discs when they are connected to the device.

DetailedScan — Scan all files on CD/DVD drives and Blu-ray discs.

A detailed scan is performed with the default settings for the Scan_File task (ID: 3).

QuickScan — Scan only files of specific types on CD/DVD drives and Blu-ray discs.

A quick scan is performed with the default settings for the Critical_Areas_Scan task (ID: 4).

NoScan (default value) — Do not scan CD/DVD drives and Blu-ray discs when they are connected.

BlockDuringScan

Enables the blocking of files on a connected disk during scanning. While scanning boot sectors, files are not blocked.

Yes — Block files during the scan.

No (default value) — Do not block files during the scan.