One of the most commonly asked questions about CD-R is: How do I start my CD-R automatically. The answer is simple for some cases, but can get tangled - usually in the case you want.
Auto Insert Notification (AIN)
AIN indicates to the operating system that a disc is present in a drive. If AIN
is on, each drive is checked for its contents. That check is important in UDF
for the system to recognize how to take control; AIN must be on for UDF
software to operate reliably and stably. However, reading your drives when you
are burning can be disastrous; most modern mastering software will control AIN
so it may be left on safely when running those programs. AIN is necessary for
Autoplay and Autorun to work; the OS cannot know to start the disc unless it
knows that a disc has been inserted for it to start.
TweakUI
Microsoft offers a program called TweakUI which provides several nice features
which probably should have been built into the Control Panel. One of the nicest
panels in the program is Paranoia, which gives you an easy way to turn the
autostart functions on and off. Since a registry hack would be needed to do the
job otherwise, TweakUI is the only mechanism I recommend for controlling
Autorun and Autoplay.
Autoplay
If you turn Autoplay on and insert an audio disc, your default CD player will
be activated and begin to play the disc with the first track.
Autorun
This can be complicated and it's worth checking Microsoft's site if you're
getting fancy or want an icon. For the simple case where you want to execute a
file RUNME.EXE, you simply use a text editor such as Notepad or Wordpad to
create a file, AUTORUN.INF which you place in the root of your disc. The text
need only be:
[Autorun]
open=runme.exe
That's fine if the RUNME.EXE is in the root, but it also works if the program is in a folder as long as you use the fully-qualified relative pathname for the file. OUCH! No, that's not complicated, but the words are. What it means is that instead of "open=runme.exe", if runme.exe is in the folder direct\direct1 you write "open=direct\direct1\runme.exe" - whew! Similarly, if you want RUNME.EXE to start with a specific file, say START.FIL, then you write "open=runme.exe start.fil" - again using fully qualified relative pathnames as appropriate. ("Relative" means without specifying the drive letter. That's important since you want the disc to autorun in whatever drive is being used and you cannot be sure what drive letter it will have in all cases.)
Well, what do you do if you want to run whatever program may happen to be associated with a file, say FILE.FIL on the user's computer - but don't know what program that is or where it's located? Microsoft has a partial solution to that in Windows 9x:
[Autorun]
open=start file.fil
Note that you do not control the program that runs because you don't know what (if anything) the user has associated with the FIL extension. She may use MediaPlayer for RealMedia files or she may have some version of RealPlayer installed; she may use Netscape's or Microsoft's browser for .HTM.
Another problem is that your user may be running Windows NT, which does not recognize "open=start". There are several programs for doing that, including SHELLOUT.EXE at this CD-R site. There are also menu programs which give the user options on starting up once one is autoplayed from the disc. Try searching for freeware or shareware choices for "setup" or "start menu" or similar terms at your favorite source, such as www.download.com.
Where to go
For the real skinny on Autorun, search for what you want at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/
If you cannot reach AIN simply by right-clicking the drive letter and looking at its properties, see your OS tips here in the primer; a link for TweakUI is there as well, though as operating systems evolve, you would do well to check your OS installation disc first. Above all, feel free to try this stuff; it is simple and demands no fancy software until you start looking at tiered menus with background sound ...
E-mail me at cdrecording@mrichter.com
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