Disabling Autoruns

Hi

I used the instructions in the how to protect yourself thread step 9 to disable autoruns and foiund I cannot use an external maxtor harddrive which attaches with a double usb cable. Could you post how to reverse this registry patch, so I can see if this could have led to the problem? The original patch in your tutorial for disabling autoruns makes the following changes, but I don't know what the origainal values were:


[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\IniFileMapping\Autorun.inf]
@="@SYSoesNotExist"
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MountPoints2]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"HonorAutorunSetting"=dword:00000001
"NoDriveAutoRun"=dword:03ffffff
"NoDriveTypeAutoRun"=dword:000000ff
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"HonorAutorunSetting"=dword:00000001
"NoDriveAutoRun"=dword:03ffffff
"NoDriveTypeAutoRun"=dword:000000ff
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdrom]
"AutoRun"=dword:00000001
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\microsoft\active setup\installed components\{23KLN5J0-4OPM-11WE-AAX5-24EF1F387232}]


Thanks.

 

Sorry this took awhile.
I recieved a success message, but it didn't help.

The external harddrive can no longer be recognized in Windows Explorer on this computer, although it is recognized on another computer.
The flash drive, on the other hand, is recognized but has 0 bytes. The data could be recovered with a recovery program. The flash drive turns up 0 bytes on a second computer as well.

Any thoughts on this?

 

I saw that the mountpoints2 key was removed. Would that matter?

 

I've noticed I can't get my restore points to go back to the previous month. I wondered if there's a setting for this, because I have plenty of space for the restore points. I noticed this on a previous reformat as well. I don't know if they are set for 30 days or for a month or what, but when I click on the arrow to go back to the previous month, it won't go there.

 

Just another thought.
At the time I installed my os, I put a second os onto another partition. Would it be possible to copy the missing keys from the second os and move them? If so, which ones would I need to copy?

 

Hi Chaslang,
The operating systems were installed from the same cd, so the basic windows and updates should be the same.

I thought I understood this until I took it apart. Below is what I get when I compare the entries side by side between the regedit to disable and the regedit to re-enable (or reset the defaults). It may be a couple more things than just the mountpoints2 key are missing. Assuming I have a complete registry to draw any needed keys from, could you help me put the right patch back together? I ran the defaults reg patch and that didn't help, so when I go to get the mountpoints2 key, I'd like to make sure I get anything else that I might need. Like the cd rom key? Anyway, your help is appreciated.

REGEDIT4
------------------------------------------------------------------

To disable:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\IniFileMapping\Autorun.inf]
@="@SYSoesNotExist"


To re-enable:

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\IniFileMapping\Autorun.inf]


------------------------------------------------------------------

To disable:

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MountPoints2]

To re-enable: (copy key from other registry)

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MountPoints2]


------------------------------------------------------------------

To disable:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"HonorAutorunSetting"=dword:00000001
"NoDriveAutoRun"=dword:03ffffff
"NoDriveTypeAutoRun"=dword:000000ff

To re-enable:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoDriveAutoRun"=dword:00000000
"NoDriveTypeAutoRun"=dword:00000095
"NoDrives"=dword:00000000

------------------------------------------------------------------

To disable:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"HonorAutorunSetting"=dword:00000001
"NoDriveAutoRun"=dword:03ffffff
"NoDriveTypeAutoRun"=dword:000000ff

To re-enable:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer]
"NoDrives"=dword:00000000
"HonorAutorunSetting"=-
"NoDriveAutoRun"=-
"NoDriveTypeAutoRun"=-


------------------------------------------------------------------

To disable:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdrom]
"AutoRun"=dword:00000001

To re-enable:

missing? (copy this key too?)

------------------------------------------------------------------


To disable:

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\microsoft\active setup\installed components\{23KLN5J0-4OPM-11WE-AAX5-24EF1F387232}]

To re-enable:

??? (and this one?)


------------------------------------------------------------------


Thanks for your help.

 

Hi -
I tried this and I thought it would work, but maybe I'm not doing it right. I copied the key into a file called mountpoints2.reg and moved it from one os to the other. Then I double-clicked on it. Is that right? Or should I go into regedit and try to import it? The error message I got was that the file could not be imported. An error occured when trying to access the registry.
Any thoughts about this?

 

It was Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

It's actually quite a big key. Here's what it looks like. Would it be easier doing all the values rather than the whole key? I'm wondering if I did it right. I simply exported it into a .reg file. It has the correct icon. Will it matter if the browser is open when I run it? Running it with REGEDIT4 instead of Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 gives the same error message.

 

Hi Chaslang,

Thanks for your perserverance.

I tried the patch in safemode using regedit4 and don't know if the protection software was running or not, because there weren't any icons in the lower right-hand corner and I didn't check the task manager, but I got a success message for the reg patch anyway.

I then did a new startup and plugged in the external harddrive with its double cables. I originally told you the drive is a Maxtor, but in fact it's a Plextor (sorry about that). It still does not show up in Explorer, so I think the next step would be for me to contact plextor and ask them if they have any ideas what's going on there. I did think to check it on the second operating system where it has the same problem in this computer. When you plug it into the usb port, it lights up, indicating it turns on, but it doesn't show the usb arrow down in the lower right-hand corner of the screen or give the acoustic signal that the usb port recognizes it. It doesn't have this problem on other computers. So the drive itself seems to be working, but the pathway between it and the usb port doesn't seem to be working. The usb ports both recognize other devices like my flash drive in either of the two operating systems.

The reason I think it's connected to the disableautoruns.reg patch, is because it started right after I ran that. Is there a way to check the pathway using the cmd prompt? I am inclined at this point to think that something about the pathway itself to the usb port changed and that this ext. harddrive was sensitive in some way that other drives are not.

There does not seem to be any extra software that came with the plextor drive. I will contact Plextor and see if they have any experience of their drives not being recognized. The main frustrating thing is that it worked before I used the patch. So sorry that we seem to be getting to the end of our options without knowing what the problem actually is.

Appreciate your help.

 

HI!

Sorry if the below did not answer your question. I aways make restore points or certainly have enough available to go back to. I have my restore point capacity set on maximum, which is 4915 MB. The slider bar is all the way over to the right. During this particular thread, we crossed months from June to July and when you suggested I go back a restore point, I could go back to June, but all the June restore points were gone. That's where the necessary restore point would have been.

I don't know how to judge how much space the restore points are actually taking up, but I've had it happen once before that I couldn't go back to a previous month. I didn't make any extra backups using Erunt or the export feature in the registry. Last time I used Erunt, I ran it out of Windows Explorer because I forgot to stick the icon on the desktop, and I accidently mistook the Registry Optimizer for the Registry Backup program and ran it instead and wiped out all of my restore points. So I didn't much like Erunt after that. In that situation (some months back) I ran into a problem I could not resolve which was that the internet couldn't be reconized at the point where the internet interfaces with the computer, i.e. at the point where the cable connects to the computer. Everything else was like it should have been. So I reformatted and the new format seems in every way to have taken care of the internet cable problem.

I wrote to Plextor about the ext HD, but unless they have some specific experience with this, I don't expect they will have much input. They might though. You never know. The fact is that the ext HD works on another computer, so this would indicate that the drive itself is okay. I don't know where the autoruns files get turned off, if they only get turned off in the main computer or on the ext. medium or both?

What is odd is that this external drive problem seems a bit like that problem with the internet cable. Everything's plugged in. The electricity to the ext. HD is okay, but the thing is not being recognized somewhere. In the case of the internet cable, it showed within the computer as having an active connection and it showed outside the computer as having an active connection and the cable was fine, but the inside and the outside couldn't talk to each other. I don't know if this is the same problem with the ext. harddrive. It certainly is at a different physical place in the computer being at the usb port.

The reason I'm working on this problem, besides the fact that it would be nice to fix it, is because someone else could run into this same problem using the DisableAutoruns patch and it would be nice to know what is causing this problem and if it's related. Asking me to go back to an earlier restore point suggests you would be ready to drop the subject.

Shall we?

 

Thank you.

I tried going back to that restore point from June 6th, but the computer worked on it for about a half hour and finally rebooted and said it couldn't use that one.

You are correct in every aspect. Let me see if there is a file that can be transferred from the computer where the drive works. Where would I go looking for an autorun.inf file to transfer? Just do a search of windows? Is there only one autorun.inf file and if there is more than one, are they all the same?

I'm still waiting to hear back from Plextor.

If you don't hear back from me, it's because I haven't figured it out. Thanks for all your time.

 

Hi Chas,
I appreciate all the time you put into this, so I just wanted to let you know what came of it - a more simple solution than expected. As you may have suspected, the problem seemed to occured when I ran the regedit file to disable autoruns. Independently we tried plugging the external harddrive into the usb ports on the back of the computer and using those it worked (even though the ones in the front work for everything else).
Sorry this took so much time.