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Device groups


warning

A device connected to your computer may pose a security risk.

The Device groups window is divided into two parts. The right part of the window contains a list of devices belonging to the respective group, and the left part contains created groups. Select a group to display devices in the right pane.

When you open the Device groups window and select a group, you can add or remove devices from the list. Another way to add devices to the group is to import them from a file. Alternatively, you can click Populate button, and all devices connected to your computer will be listed in the Detected devices window. Select devices from the populated list to add them to the group by clicking OK.

Control elements

Add—You can add a group by entering its name or a device to an existing group, depending on which part of the window you clicked the button.

Edit—You can modify the name of the selected group or device's parameters (vendor, model, serial number).

Delete—Deletes the selected group or device depending on which part of the window you clicked on the button.

Import—Imports a list of devices from a text file. Importing devices from a text file requires correct formatting:

  • Each device starts at a new line.
  • Vendor, Model, and Serial must be present for each device and separated with a comma.

example

Here is an example of the text file content:

Kingston,DT 101 G2,001CCE0DGRFC0371

04081-0009432,USB2.0 HD WebCam,20090101

Export—Exports a list of devices to a file.

The Populate button provides an overview of all currently connected devices with information about device type, vendor, model and serial number (if available).


note

You can import a Device control group with rules from an xml file using the scheduler. For more information and a step-by-step guide, see our ESET Knowledgebase article.

Add device

Click Add in the right window to add a device to an existing group. Additional parameters shown below can be used to fine-tune rules for different devices. All parameters are case-sensitive and support wildcards (*, ?):

  • Vendor—Filter by vendor name or ID.
  • Model—The given name of the device.
  • Serial—External devices usually have their own serial numbers. In the case of a CD/DVD, this is the serial number of the given media, not the CD drive.
  • Description—Your description of the device for better organization.

note

If these parameters are undefined, the rule will ignore these fields while matching. Filtering parameters in all text fields are case-sensitive and support wildcards (a question mark (?) represents a single character, whereas an asterisk (*) represents a string of zero or more characters).

Click OK to save the changes. Click Cancel if you want to leave the Device groups window without saving changes.


note

After creating a device group, you have to add a new device control rule for the created device group and choose the action to take.

Note that not all Actions (permissions) are available for all device types. If it is a device of storage type, all four Actions are available. For non-storage devices, there are only three Actions available (for example, Write Block is not available for Bluetooth; therefore, Bluetooth devices can only be allowed, blocked or warned).