Patent ID: 8065674

Claim:
A computer implemented entity management system comprising the following computer-executable components stored in a memory: a policy data store that stores device installation policy information, the device installation policy information comprising at least one of a permitted list specifying criteria identifying devices that are permitted to be installed on a computer system or a restricted list specifying criteria identifying devices that are not permitted to be installed on the computer system, the policy data store including separate device installation policy information for each of trusted context device installation and user-initiated device installation, wherein trusted context device installation allows non-restricted device drivers to be installed automatically without user interaction, and user-initiated device installation requires interaction from a privileged user in order to initiate installation of a non-restricted device driver; and a device installation component that: makes a first determination of whether or not the device is identified as available, makes a second determination of whether or not a device is permitted to be installed based, at least in part, upon the device installation policy information stored in the policy data store, selectively installs the driver for the device based on the first and/or second determination, the selectively installing further comprising starting the device when it is determined the device is identified as available, and fails installation of the driver for the device when either it is determined the device is not permitted to be installed or it is determined that the device is identified as not available.