Summary: Auto-play can be a convenient feature but if it's not what you want, it can be difficult to turn off and keep off. The TweakUI utility can fix that.
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How do I *really* disable auto-play in Windows XP? |
The auto-play feature in Windows was significantly beefed up when Windows XP was introduced. For CD and DVD drives specifically, Windows will first attempt to determine what type of media you've inserted and then perform an appropriate action. If it doesn't know what action is appropriate, it asks along with providing the option to remember that action for next time.
Seems fair enough, except that when I encountered it for the first time it kept forgetting the settings and would always ask. From my perspective that's worse that not having auto-play at all. And then I couldn't turn it off.
If that sounds familiar, then you know my frustration.
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Enter one of my favorite Windows add-ons: TweakUI, one of what Microsoft calls "Power Toys for Windows XP". It's more than a toy. It allows you to adjust (or 'tweak') several settings that aren't exposed directly by the standard Windows tools.
Once you've installed TweakUI you'll find a lot of options in it. For our current problem, in TweakUI expand My Computer, and then AutoPlay. Click on Drives and uncheck the drive letter that you no longer want to auto-play. Click on Apply and that's it. No more "what would you like me to do" dialogs.
TweakUI has a number of other settings, I encourage you to install it and browse around in it. It's something I install on every computer I run. (The PowerToys page has a number of nifty tools as well. Have a look while you're there).
Related:
Is autorun really that evil, and if so, how do I turn autorun off? Autorun is an increasingly used attack vector for malware. Common techniques to turn it off are incomplete. I'll show you how to turn it off, and recommend you do so.
You may want to rethink your recommendation of this product I had problems with. I value feedback on the recommendations I make, but quite often I hear about things I've not recommended at all, as if I had. We'll look at why.
Article C1884 - January 21, 2004
Not sure if I am the only one with this added problem, but when I tried to change the group policy as described above, I couldn't find the System option. To solve this, right click on administrative templates, select add/remove templates, and select system.adm. The option to disable autoplay is now available.
Posted by: Kvwielink at November 9, 2008 6:57 PMGreat advice!!! Thank you so much. I have to agree with Haz, I think that the Group Policy method does not work with Home Edition as gpedit.msc does not even exist on my OS drive. However, TweakUI is a great tool for any XP machine if you know how to use it, or only use it for things like this that give you clear direction.
Posted by: derick03 at January 20, 2009 3:43 PMOpen Notepad and copy/paste the following into a text file:
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\IniFileMapping\Autorun.inf]
@="@SYS:DoesNotExist"
Save the file as something.reg. (You have to be sure to change the "Save File as Type" to "All Files" before saving, or Windows will try to save it as a .txt even if you typed in .reg.
Locate the file you just saved and double-click the file to run it. You will receive a prompt asking if you want to add the data to the registry. Click yes to allow the modification.
The above method nulls any request for autorun.inf and works on XP Home or Pro, as well as Windows Vista.
Posted by: Ras Manyobvo Machipanda at January 21, 2009 8:23 AMThis is how you can easily disable AutoPlay
Open Notepad and copy/paste the following into a text file:
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoDriveTypeAutoRun"=dword:000000B1
Save the file as something.reg. (You have to be sure to change the "Save File as Type" to "All Files" before saving, or Windows will try to save it as a .txt even if you typed in .reg.
Locate the file you just saved and double-click the file to run it. You will receive a prompt asking if you want to add the data to the registry. Click yes to allow the modification.
and to re-enable it, use this:
REGEDIT4
Posted by: M3TAL_L0RD at April 14, 2009 10:35 AM[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoDriveTypeAutoRun"=dword:00000091
For those who have XP Home (no gpedit.msc) and don't want to hassle with the registry, I found a nice tool that turns off autoplay in the easiest way that I have ever seen (it's also reversible). Just Google for "Auto Play Squelch" and you will find it.
Posted by: George at August 26, 2009 2:43 PMSP3 makes it even harder to use the regedit app. And pretty much makes it necessary to use third party utilities or TweakUI. Why does MS continue to make it difficult for users to secure the OS?
Posted by: Gregory Robinson at August 29, 2009 2:11 PMOh and by the way, M3TAL_L0RD's posting does not work with Windows XP Pro SP3 even under admin credentials and after a reboot. Nice try though.
Posted by: GRob at August 29, 2009 2:40 PMM3TAL_L0RD's posting will work swapping HKEY_CURENT_USER with HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINEthe and the addition of the following registry key:
Posted by: GRob at August 29, 2009 3:15 PM[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer]"HonorAutoRunSetting"=dword:00000000
Sorry, that should be HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE with no "the" at the end of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
Posted by: GRob at August 29, 2009 3:17 PMI loaded and tried TweakUI. It did nothing. I am using windows XP. Why?
Posted by: aktrout at October 24, 2009 8:23 AM