Patent ID: 8125986

Claim:
A host information processing system having a plurality of components, the system comprising: a processor configured for performing a plurality of functions on the plurality of components of the host information processing system, wherein the plurality of components of the host information processing system are enabled with features for allowing the components to be enabled and disabled from use by a portable device coupled with said host information processing system; a memory; a locking mechanism comprising: a component control storage area comprising mode settings for the locking mechanism that control features of the components, said component control storage area comprising a separate storage section for each of the components in the host information processing system; an enable register storage area comprising an enable register for each component that allows said each component to be selectively enabled and disabled; an enable/disable mechanism operatively coupled with the processor for enabling and disabling at least some of the components of the host information processing system based on the mode settings in the component control storage area when said host information processing system is used by the portable device, said enabling and disabling by writing and updating the enable register of the component which in turn triggers the component to actually be enabled or disabled; wherein the locking mechanism further comprises: a first set of switches for disabling at least some of the functions of the host information processing system such that a guest user of the host information processing system using an operating system image stored on the portable device connected to the host information processing system and used to boot the host information processing system, cannot modify any permanent state of the host information processing system; and a second set of switches for disabling at least some of the functions of the host information processing system when the host information processing system is booted from an internal hard disk; wherein the switches are one of hardware switches and software switches.