AutoRun USB Drive
People often ask me how I get my USB drive to automatically run a program or set up specific options in the contect menu. In fact, changing the USB drive icon is probably one of the most frequently asked question. All of these questions are answered in USB Drive AutoRun.inf Tweaking.
This is a very in-depth article but it will let you make your USB drive do exactly what you want it to do. I even include an Autorun Dabbler’s Toolkit that you can load onto an empty USB drive and play with!
If you found this post useful, why don't you buy me a cup of coffee to show your gratitude?
12 Responses to “AutoRun USB Drive”
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Rob Dunn Says:
September 22nd, 2006 at 10:25 amJust a note - some AV programs disable the Autorun ability of removable drives. This is a configurable option, but other times in corporate environments, these options cannot be disabled due to policy settings.
I personally love the ability to use a USB drive to boot with/autorun as a foundation for a troubleshooting toolkit. Everyone should try it
Great post!Regards,
Rob -
Giuseppe Says:
October 24th, 2006 at 4:28 amI don’t know if answering here is the right place.
I need to have a program starting ora an image showing when I insert an USB key in ANY PC, without having to install anything on the host PC or without having to change any option on the host PC -
Bob Says:
February 15th, 2007 at 8:51 pmDear Webmaster:
I have a question here. My PC is infected by a virus name Ravdown.exe. it is a hidden file which usually self-transfer into USB drive when i use it. I tried to delete the file many time but it still available. it comes together with the autorun.inf file which can allow the Ravdown.exe to execute immediately after putting the USB. Is there any solution on this problem?.Thank
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rifin Says:
July 16th, 2007 at 4:46 amcan someone help me with my USB drive problem. after my AV detect a virus,my usb drive have an autorun in the context menu.if i double click it,the default action is autorun , not OPEN. how can i change it back to OPEN? please help me.. i cant search for help in the websites
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Tim Fehlman Says:
July 16th, 2007 at 8:53 am@rifin: If you right click on the USB drive in My Computer, click on Explorer. Then, rename autorun.inf to autorun.inf.old. Remove your USB drive and then put it back in the computer. All of your actions should now be back to their defaults.
Tim
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rifin Says:
July 17th, 2007 at 4:32 amthank for ur reply.. but the problem is, i cant fine the autorun.inf file in my USB even i find it with DOS command.i have toggle the hidden file.do you have any idea where’s that file? actually i know that problem is because of the inf file in my USB.it change after i clean the brontok virus in it.other USB that plug in my computer will change the default action to autorun when it detect that virus.any idea pal?
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Revski-Sensei Says:
September 26th, 2007 at 9:29 pmI. Open a DOS command prompt
II. Go to your USBs drive by typing the USB’s Drive letter
followed a ‘:’ sign (i.e. E:)III. type attrib -s -h -r autorun.inf
IV. open your USB device. The autorun.inf should now be visible.
V. delete the autorun.inf -
Ed Says:
March 5th, 2008 at 3:21 pmDid anyone actually try to get a USB pen drive - not a USB hard drive or a USB CDROM drive, but a USB pen drive - to work?
I hate to tell you this, but…
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/storage/usbfaq.mspx
Q: What must I do to trigger Autorun on my USB storage device?
The Autorun capabilities are restricted to CD-ROM drives and fixed disk drives. If you need to make a USB storage device perform Autorun, the device must not be marked as a removable media device and the device must contain an Autorun.inf file and a startup application.The removable media device setting is a flag contained within the SCSI Inquiry Data response to the SCSI Inquiry command. Bit 7 of byte 1 (indexed from 0) is the Removable Media Bit (RMB). A RMB set to zero indicates that the device is not a removable media device. A RMB of one indicates that the device is a removable media device. Drivers obtain this information by using the StorageDeviceProperty request.
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Mike Says:
April 24th, 2008 at 11:19 pmThanks Ed, No, I can not get the autorun to properly work on my usb drive (cruzer Micro 512). The autorun.ini is read, because I can change the volume name using label= and I can add a shell menu, however the open= command will *not* automatically execute. I use TrueCrypt to fill the drive with an encrypted volume and would like it to automatically execute truecrypt.exe when I plug the drive in. No luck. Stuck with a batch file I manually execute.
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Tom H Says:
December 3rd, 2008 at 8:29 pmI know this is an old thread, but hopefully, this will help folks with your excellent little program. Microsoft has a nice little utility that corrects the configuration, registry, and policies to enable autorun/autoplay on USB thumb drives:
It makes very quick work of the configuration and has worked every time I tried it. The one caution - You may need to be either admin of the machine or domain admins to override some settings!
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terrawarra Says:
August 11th, 2009 at 12:05 amThanks Tom H,.. just looking at your date of posting and todays date 12 August 2009, it’s getting on towards two years later. I’ve been trawling the net looking for a quick fix for my USB drive non ability to autorun (windows XP). I’ve tried a few of the suggestions with no luck and most of the fixes are in a hi-tech language that my 65 year old brain just can’t understand. I tried your tip by downloading the microsoft “autofix exe.” Yahoo ! success !.. it works ! It’s hard to believe that your fix was so simple. Thank you !
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saddy Says:
August 15th, 2009 at 12:17 pmrecently i had bought a KINGSTON pendriveu of 8gb but cant open whatever file in the pendrive tat transfer from my fren’s laptop.
But my fren’s pendrive is ok with those files.
Then i had jus exchange a new one with the saler but i notice tat he change the original piece of inner chip of the pendrive to another chip..
i would like to know whether there is any solution for me to check what is the actual brand for the chip.
By the way, once i insert the pendrive into my laptop, the files is ready open, i dun even have the chance to open my antivirus to check my pendrive is safe or not.. could u teach me how to set it into manually option to choose what kind of program i want to use to open the files?
thanks
