Auto. Run - Wikipedia. Auto. Run and the companion feature Auto.

Play are components of the Microsoft Windowsoperating system that dictate what actions the system takes when a drive is mounted. Auto. Run was introduced in Windows 9.

This will give you the full and CORRECT (the same version number that you find when you run winver.exe) version of Windows (including revision/build number) REMOTELY. How to Check Which Version of Microsoft.NET Framework is Installed in Windows? AutoRun and the companion feature AutoPlay are components of the Microsoft Windows operating system that dictate what actions the system takes when a drive is mounted.

When an appropriately configured CD- ROM is inserted into a CD- ROM drive, Windows detects the arrival and checks the contents for a special file containing a set of instructions. For a CD containing software, these instructions normally initiate installation of the software from the CD- ROM onto the hard drive. To maximise the likelihood of installation success, Auto. Run also acts when the drive is accessed (. This tendency is reflected in Windows Policy settings named Auto.

Play that change Windows Registry entries named Auto. Run, and in the autorun. The terminology was of little importance until the arrival of Windows XP and its addition of a new feature to assist users in selecting appropriate actions when new media and devices were detected. This new feature was called Auto. Play and a differentiation between the two terms was created. The autorun. inf file can also specify an icon which will represent the device visually in Explorer along with other advanced features.

Registry Keys for Terminal Services. Windows Server 2008 R2 Activation. The relevant configuration options for terminal servers, terminal server sessions, users, and clients can be found in different.

The flowchart illustration in the Auto. Play article shows how Auto. Run is positioned as a layer between Auto. Play and the Shell Hardware Detection service and may help in understanding the terminology. However, to avoid confusion, this article uses the term Auto. Run when referring to the initiating action. Auto. Play. Each media type (Pictures, Music, Video) can have a set of registered handlers which can deal with playing or display that type of media.

Each hardware device can have a default action occurring on discovery of a particular media type, or the Auto. Play dialog can prompt the user what action to take. Auto. Run activation. Following this, notification of interested parties occurs, of which the Windows Explorer shell is of primary interest.

After checking certain Registry settings to see if Auto. Run can proceed, parsing of an optional autorun.

The initial sequence is handled much the same in every version of Windows from Windows 9. However, the way the autorun. Auto. Run with Auto. Play has changed significantly from the time Auto. Play was introduced in Windows XP until the present handling in Windows 7.

In Windows 1. 0, Microsoft has added the option to enable autorun in its settings. Not only users can turn it on but also they can choose specific external devices for autoplay.

Initiation and notification. The Windows OS then notifies interested applications that a device change has occurred.

The notification method used can change depending on the device type. If the device changed is a volume (like a CD) or a port (like a serial port) Windows broadcasts a WM.

A top- level window is one which is a descendant of the desktop. However, if the device changed is not one of these types an application can use the Register. Device. Notification. These are not handled by any part of Auto. Run - any actions taken for these devices are taken either by device specific software or by Auto. Play. See Auto. Play#Devices that are not drives.

When Explorer receives notification of a volume change, it performs a number of actions. If Auto. Run is disabled for that drive or drive type, Explorer does not proceed further. There have been bugs in this area. Checks that the root directory of the inserted media contains an autorun. See below. Sends a Query. Accord Software Ontario. Cancel. Auto. Play message to the foreground window.

An application which has registered its interest in receiving this message using Register. Window. Message can respond to this message to halt Auto. Run (and thus Auto. Play) at this point.

Any application, foreground or not, can also be notified by using the IQuery. Cancel. Auto. Play. COM interface. When a user double clicks on the drive icon in Explorer or right clicks to get a context menu, what happens is fully programmable by settings in the autorun.

Adds an autorun. inf controllable icon and descriptive text to the drive icon. Checks to see if the . If it is then Windows Vista (and later Windows versions) will invoke the Auto. Play dialog regardless of settings to the contrary. The Auto. Run task, if specified, is executed immediately without user interaction.

Auto. Run will also work with floppy drives that are provided with autorun- compatible drivers. From Windows Vista, the Auto. Play system is integrated into every aspect of media handling and there is no automatic execution of the Auto. Run task. The default Registry settings add Removable drives to those that initiated Auto. Run. In Windows XP and higher, except Windows Server 2.

Unknown and Remote drive types are not active for Auto. Run. The handling of the autorun.

Windows version. The details can be found in the autorun. The current handling in Windows 7 is that only drives of type DRIVE. These values can be changed using several methods, one of which is using Group Policy. The primary relevant Registry entry names are No. Drive. Type. Auto. Run and No. Drive.

Auto. Run. These exist in both per- machine and per- user settings and their location and priority in the Registry are described in further detail below. Drive types. The terminology is somewhat misleading so it is briefly summarised here. A Registry key is similar to a folder that, in addition to values, each key can contain subkeys which in turn may contain subkeys, and so on. A Registry value consists of a name- data pair. Microsoft documentation commonly uses the term .

It also uses . To avoid confusion, this article always uses the term . These are almost always abbreviated as HKLM and HKCU respectively. There may be many users of a machine; their settings are stored in HKEY. Settings can also be placed in a text file. For example, . When the file is double clicked, the settings in the file are entered into the Registry, permissions allowing. They can be changed indirectly by using Group Policy, applied locally to a single computer with GPEdit.

It may be necessary to either logout or restart the computer in order for any Registry changes to take effect. Evaluation order. If an entry appears under HKEY.

The data values are not merged in any way. When deciding whether to activate Auto.

Run, both No. Drive. Auto. Run and No. Drive. Type. Auto. Run Registry entries are consulted. If either value indicates a drive should be disabled then Auto. Run is disabled for that drive. Thus in the following example: HKEY.

The per- user No. Drive. Auto. Run entry is never used.

No. Drive. Type. Auto. Run. Valid data ranges from 0x. FF in hexadecimal notation.

If the entry is not present, the default data value is either 0x. Windows used. An entry present in HKLM overrides any entry present in HKCU. The entry data is a bitmapped value, where a bit set to 1 disables Auto. Run on a particular type of drive. The bit settings for each type of drive are shown below: Note that bit number 1 is unused and that the . Setting all bits to 1 would give a hexadecimal value of 0x. FF, decimal 2. 55, and would disable Auto.

Run on all types of drives. The default setting for this entry depends on the version of Windows being used. The data value is taken to be 0 if the entry is not present. An entry present in HKLM overrides any entry present in HKCU. The data is a 3. 2 bit (DWORD) bitmapped value, of which the lower 2.

A to Z. Thus the valid data range is from 0x. FFFFFF. The least significant bit (the right most bit) represents drive A, and the 2. Z. A bit set to 1 disables Auto. Run on a particular drive. For example, if the data value is set to 0x.

Auto. Run is disabled on drive D. Group Policy. The policy is available on either a per- machine or a per- user basis reflecting the Registry entry location in either HKLM or HKCU.

If the policy is Disabled or set to Not configured, Group Policy deletes this entry from the Registry for the Machine policy (in HKLM) and sets it back to system defaults value for the User policy (in HKCU).