Autorun program

I have an Autorun program that I place on the CD that comes with my books that 'automatically' starts the Setup.exe program when the CD is placed in the CD reader (Windows).

It's a two liner -

(autorun)
OPEN=SETUP.EXE

and it's named autorun.inf

I'm not a programmer (obviously) but I was wondering if there was a program (or some way) that would perform the same function when using a floppy disk (A: drive)?

I still have a lot of books that have the 'old' floppy with the software on them. Rather than replace the diskette with a CD, I'd like to be able to modify the diskette so it will autorun (automatically start the Setup program).

Thanks for any help.

 

This involves editing the registry. To edit the registry, Start -> Run -> type 'regedit' (no quotes) and hit enter.

Find or create the key :

HKEY_CURRENT_USER->Software->Microsoft->Windows->CurrentVersion->Policies->Explorer->

Then find the value named : NoDriveTypeAutoRun

Note : if your value has "95" in it, procede to step 1, if it has "B5" or anything else, procede to step 2 !

Step 1. Right click on this value and click Modify. If the value has 95 in it, delete the number 95 and replace it with 91 , making sure to keep all zeros and spaces in the value!

Step 2. If the value has B5 in it, or any other letter followed by the number 5, change ONLY the number to 1, so, for example it looks like B1 ( your letter substituted for the B ) NOTE: If you value does not have 95 in it, and instead has a value with a letter such as B and then a 5, this tweak may not work!

Then click OK, restart your computer.

As you are editing the registry it always best to backup in case of any problems, so if you want to back your registry up do this FIRST.

To backup a selected branch/key in the registry:

* Click Start, and then click Run.
* In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK
* Locate and then click the key that contains the value that you want to edit
* On the File menu, click Export.
* In the Save in box, select a location where you want to save the Registration Entries (.reg)
* In the File name box, type a file name, and then click Save.

Now that you've created a Registry backup for that particular key. Save the REG file in a safer location in case you want to undo the registry changes made. You can restore the settings by just double-clicking the REG file. It automatically merges the contents to the Registry.

 

Thanks for your reply.

It seems that the answer to my question is -

Autorun is a Windows registry issue and not a 'program' issue.

If I place the autorun.inf program on the floppy diskette (which I have done) then whether or not it runs when the reader of my book places the diskette in his computer will depend upon the setting in HIS Windows directory.

I assume that the required setting is not a default (since my un-modified Windows XP did not come that way).

Rock on,

 

Quite right. (as far as I know)