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A Windows features that plays a music CD (autoplay) or runs a program from a CD-ROM (autorun) automatically at startup. The AUTORUN.INF file on the CD-ROM indicates which program is run. See Win Autorun.
Autorun or autoplay (sometimes spelled in CamelCase as AutoRun or AutoPlay) is the ability of many modern computer operating systems to automatically take some action upon the inserting of removable media such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, or flash media.
AutoRun is intended as a convenience feature: software distributed on a disc can automatically start an installer when the disc is inserted. However, autorun can pose a security threat, when the user does not expect or intend to run the software.
For instance, an attacker with brief and casual physical access to a computer can surreptitiously insert a disc and cause software to run. Alternately, malicious software can be distributed with a disc that the user doesn't expect to contain software at all -- such as an audio compact disc. Even music CDs from well known name-brand labels have not always been safe.
In Microsoft Windows, AutoRun can be bypassed by holding down the shift key as the optical disc is inserted into the optical disc drive. It can also be permanently disabled (by a System Administrator) by setting the "AutoRun" subkey in the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\CDRom to 0.
A CD can contain an optional file, named Autorun.inf, in its root
directory which contains instructions for what action to perform as the CD is inserted. These instructions can include, for
example, a command for an installation program to be executed.
However, even when Autorun is disabled, double-clicking a drive containing AUTORUN.INF in its root directory will still activate AutoRun.
Explorer uses to registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoDriveAutoRun to determine which drives cannot use AutoRun. Bit 0 corresponds to drive A:, bit 1 corresponds to drive B:, and so on.
Explorer determines the type of drive that can use AutoRun feature, by using the registry key value HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoDriveTypeAutoRun . NoDriveTypeAutoRun is a switch value calculated by adding numbers in following fields with 128 (80 hexadecimal). The final value determines which drives cannot use AutoRun.
| Variable | Number | Drive type(s) |
|---|---|---|
| DRIVE_UNKNOWN | 1 | |
| DRIVE_NO_ROOT_DIR | 2 | |
| DRIVE_REMOVABLE | 4 | Disk can be removed from drive, such as floppy disk, removable cartridge |
| DRIVE_FIXED | 8 | Disk cannot be removed from drive, such as hard disk |
| DRIVE_REMOTE | 16 | network drive |
| DRIVE_CDROM | 32 | CD-ROM drive |
| DRIVE_RAMDISK | 64 | RAM disk |
[autorun] open=foo.exe bar ;ShellExecute=index.html icon=foobar.ico shell\configure=&Configure... shell\configure\command=setup.exe shell\install=&Install... shell\install\command=setup.exe Shell\Option1=Text1 Shell\Option1\Command=option1.exe Shell\Option2=Text2 Shell\Option2\Command=option2.bat label=My backup data
AutoPlay is the name of a different feature in Microsoft Windows. For example: When AutoPlay is enabled, and the user inserts an audio CD, Windows Media Player automatically commences playback (alternately, the disc's contents are automatically displayed in Windows Explorer). As with AutoRun, this feature can be disabled. Under Windows XP, there is a tab called AutoPlay in the drive properties dialog where one of four different behaviors can be chosen ("Play", "Open folder to view files", "Take no action" and "Prompt me each time to choose an action").
The method described above only works for drives that are permanently mounted. It's possible to prevent the AutoPlay feature from searching a removable storage device for something to run every time it's plugged in. This is accomplished using TweakUI, a utility developed by Microsoft programmers for editing various portions of the operating system without resorting to the registry. In TweakUI, select "My Computer," then the sub-category "AutoPlay" then "Drives." Disabling all the drives will disable autoplay entirely.
Windows Vista offers a control panel applet to configure AutoPlay settings globally. However, holding down the SHIFT key opens AutoPlay regardless of the default setting in Windows Vista. Users cannot overwide AutoPlay by pressing the SHIFT key as was possible in Windows XP. [1]
On both Windows and Mac, an application called iTunesHelper can launch iTunes when an iPod is connected, providing a similar function to AutoPlay. This feature can be turned off on a per-iPod basis by checking the 'Open iTunes when iPod is plugged in' option on the iPod's section in iTunes.
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 | Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. THIS COPYRIGHTED DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher. © 1981-2008 Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Autorun". Read more |
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