How to turn off "Auto Play"?
 

Hi,
When I plug a USB flash drive into a USB port on my
PC, I have to wait until every file on the flash drive is checked
for media type of file(s).

However, if I remove a HD, with thousands of files, from
another computer, and mount it in a docking station that plugs
into a USB port, this takes much longer (searching for media files).

How can I TURN OFF "Auto Play"?

Thank You in advance, John

How to turn off "Auto Play"?
 

jaugustine wrote:

When I plug a USB flash drive into a USB port on my PC, I have to
wait until every file on the flash drive is checked for media type of
file(s). However, if I remove a HD, with thousands of files, from
another computer, and mount it in a docking station that plugs into a
USB port, this takes much longer (searching for media files).

What you describe is not attributed to AutoRun/AutoPlay but of scanning
for media types of files to build a thumbnail cache file (thumbs.db).
If you don't use thumbnails then you won't incur the slowdown to build
the image cache. If you give files a meaningful name, you don't need
thumbnails to determine what is within each file.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_thumbnail_cache

If you use thumbnails but keep deleting the thumbs.db file, like setting
the disk cleanup wizard or other cleanup tool to delete the thumbnails
cache, then the file gets rebuilt on each visit to a folder and that
takes time to scan within each file to create an image for each file.
If you configure Windows Explorer to not build a thumbnail cache but
have thumbnail view enabled then thumb.db has to get rebuilt on every
visit to a folder.

In Windows Explorer, go to Tools - Folder Options - View, disable the
"Do not cache thumbnails" to have thumbnails and enable it to prevent
building a thumbnail cache. Changes to these settings are for the
currently selected folder in Windows Explorer. If you want the settings
to be effected across all folders, be sure to click the Apply to all
folders" button before exiting the settings dialog.

Note: In Vista and later, this option got renamed to "Always show
icons, never thumbnails", so the option reversed its setting - disable
to show icons in XP, enable to show icons in Vista+.

How can I TURN OFF "Auto Play"?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=%22windows+xp%22+disable+autoplay

No mention of which edition (Home, Pro, etc) of Windows XP that you have
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP_editions). To narrow the
search, add the edition to the search criteria.

How to turn off "Auto Play"?
 

wrote:
Hi,
When I plug a USB flash drive into a USB port on my
PC, I have to wait until every file on the flash drive is checked
for media type of file(s).

However, if I remove a HD, with thousands of files, from
another computer, and mount it in a docking station that plugs
into a USB port, this takes much longer (searching for media files).

How can I TURN OFF "Auto Play"?

Thank You in advance, John


There's an example here. It's also possible this came from the Win98 era.
This gave me a key to go look at.

https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000130.htm

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\Windows\CUR RENTVERSION\POLICIES\EXPLORER\

"NoDriveTypeAutoRun" "95 00 00 00" ???

*******

When I look in my Regedit on WinXP SP3, I see:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\policies\Explorer
NoDriveTypeAutoRun DWORD 0x000000FF

And this one, which appears to be a per-user preference:

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\Windows\CUR RENTVERSION\POLICIES\EXPLORER\
NoDriveTypeAutoRun DWORD 0x00000091

The 91 hex, looks like it might be a default value, from before meddling.
It's basically leaving AutoPlay enabled on local drive devices. The bits
in that byte, control individual things, and you logical OR them
together for a final value.

0x1 Disables AutoPlay on drives of unknown type. ===
0x4 Disables AutoPlay on removable drives.
0x8 Disables AutoPlay on fixed drives.
0x10 Disables AutoPlay on network drives. ===
0x20 Disables AutoPlay on CD-ROM drives.
0x40 Disables AutoPlay on RAM drives.
0x80 Disables AutoPlay on drives of unknown type. ===
0xFF Disables AutoPlay on all types of drives.

My guess would be, that I meddled with the HKLM one and left
the user one alone, as the HKLM one probably applies to all
accounts.

You could always install WinXP in a virtual machine and check
how the SP3 defaults are set in a fresh install...

Paul

How to turn off "Auto Play"?
 

SNIP
If you use thumbnails but keep deleting the thumbs.db file, like setting
the disk cleanup wizard or other cleanup tool to delete the thumbnails
cache, then the file gets rebuilt on each visit to a folder and that
takes time to scan within each file to create an image for each file.
If you configure Windows Explorer to not build a thumbnail cache but
have thumbnail view enabled then thumb.db has to get rebuilt on every
visit to a folder.

In Windows Explorer, go to Tools - Folder Options - View, disable the
"Do not cache thumbnails" to have thumbnails and enable it to prevent
building a thumbnail cache. Changes to these settings are for the
currently selected folder in Windows Explorer. If you want the settings
to be effected across all folders, be sure to click the Apply to all
folders" button before exiting the settings dialog.

Hi Vanguard,

I made those "adjustments".

Again, Thanks, John


Note: In Vista and later, this option got renamed to "Always show
icons, never thumbnails", so the option reversed its setting - disable
to show icons in XP, enable to show icons in Vista+.

How can I TURN OFF "Auto Play"?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=%22windows+xp%22+disable+autoplay

No mention of which edition (Home, Pro, etc) of Windows XP that you have
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP_editions). To narrow the
search, add the edition to the search criteria.