How to Disable/Enable AutoPlay
Applies to: All Windows Operating System Windows 2000/XP/VISTA/7 and ect.
When you plug in an external device like and external hard drive, USB drive, MP3 device, a CD or DVD you will get an AutoPlay screen shown above. If for some reason you do not want the autoplay to appear do the following:
1. Click Start > Run (or Windows Key + R)> Type GPEDIT.MSC and press Enter or OK
2. In Windows 7 or Vista: Navigate to Computer Configutation>Administrative Templates>Windows Components>AutoPlay Policies. Double click Turn Off Autoplay.
3. In Windows XP: Navigate to Computer Configutation>Administrative Templates>Windows Components>System. Double click Turn Off Autoplay.
4. Select either Disabled or Enabled then click Apply and OK.
Windows 7: You can enable or disable the autoplay for all drives or just the CD-ROM and removable media drives.
Note: The picture on the left show Autoplay properties in Windows 7 and the picture on the right is in XP.
FYI: Autoplay begins reading from a drive as soon as you insert media in the drive. As a result, the setup file of programs and the music on audio media start immediately.
Prior to XP SP2, Autoplay is disabled by default on removable drives, such as the floppy disk drive (but not the CD-ROM drive), and on network drives.
Starting with XP SP2, Autoplay is enabled for removable drives as well, including ZIP drives and some USB Mass Storage devices.
If you enable this setting, you can disable Autoplay on CD-ROM and removable media drives, or disable Autoplay on all drives.
This setting disables Autoplay on additional types of drives. You cannot use this setting to enable Autoplay on drives on which it is disabled by default.
Note: This setting appears in both the Computer Configuration and User Configuration folders. If the settings conflict, the setting in Computer Configuration takes precedence over the setting in User Configuration.
Windows 7: You can enable or disable the autoplay for all drives or just the CD-ROM and removable media drives.
Note: The picture on the left show Autoplay properties in Windows 7 and the picture on the right is in XP.
FYI: Autoplay begins reading from a drive as soon as you insert media in the drive. As a result, the setup file of programs and the music on audio media start immediately.
Prior to XP SP2, Autoplay is disabled by default on removable drives, such as the floppy disk drive (but not the CD-ROM drive), and on network drives.
Starting with XP SP2, Autoplay is enabled for removable drives as well, including ZIP drives and some USB Mass Storage devices.
If you enable this setting, you can disable Autoplay on CD-ROM and removable media drives, or disable Autoplay on all drives.
This setting disables Autoplay on additional types of drives. You cannot use this setting to enable Autoplay on drives on which it is disabled by default.
Note: This setting appears in both the Computer Configuration and User Configuration folders. If the settings conflict, the setting in Computer Configuration takes precedence over the setting in User Configuration.