“AutoRun is turned off”
I’ve been having problems playing CDs on Windows: if I have Windows Media Player running and I switch (audio) CDs, WMP never recognizes that the CD has changed. I couldn’t figure out what was going on; I even upgraded WMP to the latest beta (which, it turns out, I intensely dislike), but that didn’t solve the problem.
So I decided to install iTunes; I’ve been impressed with it on Mac. When running the installer, the following dialog popped up: “AutoRun is turned off. iTunes won’t be able to recognize when a CD is inserted or ejected until your computer’s AutoRun setting is turned on. Do you want iTunes to turn on AutoRun for you? [Yes] No”
Whoa! One of the first things I do with every Windows install is disable autorun. This is because I sometimes insert CDs that I don’t trust, and occasionally USB sticks as well. I don’t want autorun on! But I do want my media player to be notified by the OS when I’ve inserted a new CD. Why would the AutoRun setting have any affect on this? I hate that. But at least I know what’s going on.
August 30th, 2006 at 10:43 am
I don’t know the answer to your question, but I have one of my own. You are one of few people to recognize the hazard in AutoRun. For those of us who have not quite gotten around to turning it off, do you have an easy way to do this?
August 30th, 2006 at 11:05 am
Man, I could have told you!
VanillaMozilla: get TweakUI
August 30th, 2006 at 11:21 am
Way to go Apple for not only (1) explaining what the problem is in plain english but (2) also showing how to fix it.
VanillaMozilla: Ask Google? http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=disable+autorun
August 30th, 2006 at 2:15 pm
Hey, I have autorun turned off (I see that “feature” as a security risk too), but I still get a notification asking what I want to do when I insert a CD og an USB stick. Just, nothing runs automaticly. Also WinAmp recognize when I change the CD (I don’t use Media Player). I just don’t remember exactly how I did set it up like that. But some registry settings I’m sure.
August 30th, 2006 at 3:47 pm
My Falcon PC arrived with Autorun disabled, so I run into the same problem. To get iTunes to recognize the new CD, here’s what I do:
1. eject the old CD from within iTunes
2. insert the new CD
3. switch to Windows Explorer showing my CD-ROM contents
4. Press F5 to refresh.
5. Switch back to iTunes
It’s a pain, but it’s a lot better than enabling evil AutoRun. I too wish I could get Windows to rescan CD’s on insertion WITHOUT *EVER* running any software from CD.
August 30th, 2006 at 6:36 pm
I have no end of problems with this, particularly when changing between discs of different formats such as Audio CDs, CD-ROMs, and DVDs. *Windows Explorer* itself gets confused and reports that the disc structure is corrupted and unreadable. I’ve sometimes had to eject the device in Administrative Tools because Explorer’s Eject command didn’t do anything. Having the correct current volume label and icon appear in Explorer is completely out of the question. (Some of this might have been fixed since Windows 2000 but it’s still lame in a shipping product that’s had four service packs.)
August 31st, 2006 at 10:20 am
Well, I don’t user windows, but I remember one such a interesting thing for you:
you can turn the AutoRun on and press the Shift key while the green light flashes, so it won’t run anything (neither AutoRun or the Windows’s dialog asking what to do with the media).
August 31st, 2006 at 11:39 am
From what I remember the audio CDs are handled differently from regular CDs. And there should be separate settings for each case.
Also TweakUI has 2 checkboxes for both data and audio CDs..
Here is an article of how to disable either or both: http://support.microsoft.com/KB/126025
September 1st, 2006 at 10:51 am
Forgot to check Google. How embarrassing.
It turns out that EVERYONE (including Microsoft! and me) missed the simple and obvious solution. Just right click on the drive and select “Properties”. There’s an AutoPlay tab.
How embarrassing. There’s a lesson here.
September 1st, 2006 at 11:07 am
Ah, yes, now I remember the problem. The user interface I just mentioned will not disable running an executable! How Microsoft. Thanks to all who replied.
September 21st, 2006 at 2:00 pm
skierpage: great, no problem
Thanks!
using itunes at work and a product called vmware
wants/insists autorun be disabled.
November 20th, 2006 at 1:56 pm
Typical Microsoft. Thoughtless, not thorough, and mediocre.