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Autoplay from USB hard drive



 
 
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  #1  
Old August 31st 17, 11:11 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Seymore4Head[_2_]
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Posts: 25
Default Autoplay from USB hard drive

I have an old machine that still uses XP.
I just plugged a USB hard drive into it that I don't think has ever
been connected to a computer. I bought the drive and plugged it into
a WDTV Live and have been accessing it through the network.

I wanted to make a backup of some of the data on the drive.

When I plugged it into the computer, "auto run" and a menu screen that
looked like it was copying some files very quickly opened for just a
second or two. Is this normal behavior?

The XP machine does have Charter's Fsecure virus protection and
nothing triggered.

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  #2  
Old August 31st 17, 11:31 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Paul[_32_]
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Posts: 11,873
Default Autoplay from USB hard drive

Seymore4Head wrote:
I have an old machine that still uses XP.
I just plugged a USB hard drive into it that I don't think has ever
been connected to a computer. I bought the drive and plugged it into
a WDTV Live and have been accessing it through the network.

I wanted to make a backup of some of the data on the drive.

When I plugged it into the computer, "auto run" and a menu screen that
looked like it was copying some files very quickly opened for just a
second or two. Is this normal behavior?

The XP machine does have Charter's Fsecure virus protection and
nothing triggered.


There was at least one Windows Update that reduced the amount
of AutoPlay/AutoRun behavior.

But Microsoft doesn't see the issue with the same clarity
as some third parties. Because Microsoft left a hole, where
optical media would still trigger the behavior.

And this leaves an exposure.

It's possible to design USB keys that are Composite devices. They
look like a USB hard drive and a USB CD drive, hiding behind a two
port USB hub. The manufacturer puts drivers, encryption software,
or other such junk, on the read-only CD partition. The OS is fooled
into thinking it is a genuine CD and starts loading it.

That leaves two possibilities:

1) Your machine isn't patched up to date on WinXP SP3 security patches.

2) The USB device itself is "tricky" and is aiding in this attack vector.

There is some kind of registry mapping you can do (a single registry change),
that removes the association for an INF and prevents AutoRun no matter
what kind of device it is on. This significantly alters the attack
vector, and makes the OS more secure.

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

https://www.computerworld.com/articl...sh-drives.html

Paul
  #3  
Old September 1st 17, 04:39 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Steve Hayes[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,089
Default Autoplay from USB hard drive

On Thu, 31 Aug 2017 18:11:00 -0400, Seymore4Head
wrote:

I have an old machine that still uses XP.
I just plugged a USB hard drive into it that I don't think has ever
been connected to a computer. I bought the drive and plugged it into
a WDTV Live and have been accessing it through the network.

I wanted to make a backup of some of the data on the drive.

When I plugged it into the computer, "auto run" and a menu screen that
looked like it was copying some files very quickly opened for just a
second or two. Is this normal behavior?


I sometimes have that problem with Picasa.

I plug in a USB device, ur put a new DVD in the DVD drive and suddenly
Picacasa opens up, unasked. I press Alt-F4, and get a message that it
hasn't finished copying pictures from the device to some unknown
destination, so I'll have to go looking for them to delete them.

It doesn't do this with every device, and some times starts doing it
with a device it never used to do it with before.

Maybe there are some other programs that trigger this kind of
behaviour as well.

And if anyone can hell me of a way of stopping Picasa behaving like
this, I'd be grateful. I find it useful for cataloguing photos, but
don't like its unpredictabe behaviour.


--
Steve Hayes
http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
http://khanya.wordpress.com
 




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