4 Ways to Disable Autoplay in Windows XP

Autoplay can helpfully automatically do things when you insert a disc, but it can get your computer rootkitted or just be plain annoying. If you want to turn it off, there are several ways of doing it.

1. To disable autorun just temporarily, hold down the Shift key as you insert a CD.
2. Go into Device Manager (Control Panel?System?Hardware?Device Manager), select your disc drive, go into its properties, and uncheck “Auto Insert Notification.”
3. If the last step doesn’t work (you don’t see such a checkbox), try downloading Tweak UI, a useful tool from Microsoft for manipulating many Windows settings. In the disc drive settings (My Computer?Autoplay?Drives), uncheck the letters for which you do not want Autoplay on.
4. If you don’t wish to download and install Tweak UI, you can use the Group Policy Editor on Windows XP Pro (this tool is slightly dangerous if used incorrectly).  Run “gpedit.msc” and navigate to the System templates folder (Computer Configuration?Administrative Templates?System) and open up the “Turn off Autoplay” template.  Change it from “Not Configured” to “Enabled,” which should turn off AutoPlay.