AutoRun
Sign in to saveAutoRun 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.
~31 min read
Encyclopedic overview
31 sectionsContents
- AutoPlay
- AutoRun activation
- Initiation and notification
- Changing behaviour
- Before AutoPlay
- Introducing AutoPlay
- Registry settings
- Drive types
- Registry terminology
- Changing Registry settings
- Evaluation order
- NoDriveTypeAutoRun
- NoDriveAutoRun
- Group Policy
- Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000
- Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008
- Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2
- Altering AutoRun behaviour
- Pressing the Shift key
- Auto Insert Notification
- Editing Group Policy
- Registry files
- Initialization file mapping
- Issues and security
- The AutoRun disable bug
- Other issues
- Attack vectors
- Attack mitigation
- See also
- References
- External links
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.
AutoRun was introduced in Windows 95 to ease application installation for non-technical users and reduce the cost of software support calls. 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, AutoRun also acts when the drive is accessed ("double-clicked") in Windows Explorer (or "My Computer").
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “AutoRun” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.