How to disable AutoRun in Windows OS [Registry Editor]

HowToSetup: How to disable AutoRun in Windows OS [Registry Editor]

Since my first "meeting" with AutoRun, I found this Windows feature useless. Although there are plenty of users who disagree with me, I’m most certain that an equal number (of them) feels for me. That’s because Autorun is not only irritating when it’s blooming on your screen (this is happening every time you connect an external drive to your PC – irrelevant if it’s a HDD, USB stick or CD/DVD) but, in some cases, it’s coming packed with few surprises, like “splendid” malicious softwares (especially when external drives are "the migratory kind").

For those who aren’t indifferent to the wonderful Autorun (or they got bored of  changing their keyboards, mouses, monitors …:P) get rid of it using the following method:

Disable AutoRun using Registry Editor

1. Open the Registry Editor (Run->regedit->Enter)

2. Go to the following key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer (if it doesn’t exist, create it)

3. In the right pane, create the new entry (DWORD) NoDriveTypeAutoRun and give to it one of these values, according to your preferences:

* FF – to disable AutoRun on all drive types
    * 20 – to disable AutoRun only on CD/DVD-ROM drives
    * 4 – to disable AutoRun on any external drive (removable drive), such as external HDDs, USB drives, mobile phones etc.
    * 8 – to disable AutoRun on fixed drives (internal HDD)
    * 10 – to disable AutoRun on network drives
    * 40 – to disable AutoRun on RAM disk
    * 1 - to disable AutoRun on all unknown/unidentified drives

If you want to disable AutoRun for more drive types (but not for all) you  have to calculate the sum of their values. Par example, to disable autorun for network drives, CDs/DVDs and external drives, set the NoDriveTypeAutoRun value to 34 (10 20 4).

If at any time you want to reactivate AutoRun (for unexplained reasons… :P) is enough to delete the entry NoDriveTypeAutoRun or to set one of these following default values:

    * Windows 2000: 95
    * Windows XP: 91
    * Windows Server 2003: 95
    * Windows Vista, Server 2008 and Windows 7: 91

Note: Make sure to backup the registry before doing any changes, to ensure that you get a functional system in case you are not familiar with the Registry Editor, you don’t follow the exact steps described above, or … just in case (it won’t explode, anyway :P). If you want to disable AutoRun for all system users, replace HKEY_CURRENT_USER (point 2) with HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. Good luck! ;)

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