This Autorun.inf file will not work on a drive where Autorun mode is turned off or where an antivirus program can rename or remove it (ex: Autorun.inf.ren). Ensure that the icon is saved in the root of the drive, with the autorun file. Make sure you save the autorun file as.inf instead of the default.txt. 3) Replace the text 'example.exe' with the file-name you want to AutoRun including. 5) Add this file to the root of the USB Flash Drive, with the file you want to AutoRun. XP SP3, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, Mac, Command.
How to Create an AutoRun Menu For a USB Flash Drive (Article from SamLogic) How to Create an AutoRun Menu For a USB Flash Drive Using a USB flash drive for software distribution For many years almost all software were distributed via a CD and DVD, but in the last years companies have also distributed software via a USB flash drive (also referred to as a USB stick, thumb drive, or pen drive). The reason to this is that they are small and lightweight, and therefore easy to distribute. Another reason is that they can store more data, and they are also significantly faster than CDs and DVDs, especially when handling lots of files and large files. Real fast is a USB flash drive that uses the latest USB 3.0 technology.
Many of them can transfer data with a speed of 200 to 300 MB/s. As a comparison; a CD that is read with 48x can only transfer up to 8 MB/s.
If a large number of files, or large files, need to be installed, the difference is very noticeable. Using a USB flash drive for distribution of videos, music, documents and data files Not only software are distributed on USB flash drives. An USB stick is also very convenient when you need to distribute large number of videos, music files, documents, and data files (like databases, Excel sheets etc.). Or why not AutoCAD generated drawings. Using Internet for distribution is of course also very common today, but there may be some speed problems when the files are very large and very many. Using a USB flash drive with a high capacity will solve this problem very easily.
Nowadays one single USB flash drive can store up to 256 GB. Distributing such large amounts of data is difficult over the internet.
Ok, this can be achievable if you have a real fast Internet connection, but if you don't have it, it is a very time consuming operation to transfer so much data over the Internet. If you have mobile Internet, it is often practically impossible, because the data transfer rate (the speed) is to low and the risk for errors is too high.
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Use a menu interface to locate the files If you place lots of files on a USB flash drive, there may be problems for other people to locate the files. You can solve this problem by creating a menu interface for the USB flash drive. When you add a menu interface to a USB flash drive, the users can find all files on the USB stick quite easily. By clicking on buttons and links with informative texts, the user can navigate through the contents of the USB flash drive with no effort. If the USB flash drive and it contents also need to be distributed outside your company, the menu interface is a good opportunity to give other people a great and professional impression of your company. This can be especially important if a person has contact with your company for the first time and don't know so much about your company. A good designed menu interface can make a big difference here.
You can read more about menu interfaces and menu interface design in the following related article on our website: Although the article is about menu interfaces for CDs and DVDs, the information is also relevant for menu interfaces for USB flash drives. Is it possible to create an AutoRun menu for a USB flash drive? A few years ago the answer to this question had been; yes, it is quite easy. But today it is not as easy as it was before. This can be done, but Windows does not support it anymore in an automatic way, as before. Instead you must use a special software to achieve this.
By using a special software you can add AutoRun capabilities to USB flash drives, and make a USB flash drive open a menu interface automatically. Another method is to use a special constructed USB flash drive with a special built-in firmware that presents the USB drive as a CD drive for the computer (Windows still supports AutoRun for CDs). These special USB flash drives are normally quite expensive, but if you don't need to distribute so many USB sticks, this can be an option. So I can't use the Autorun.inf file to create an autostarting menu interface? No, not today. Until the year of 2011 this was a common way to automatically open programs and menus on USB flash drives, but in 2011 Microsoft disabled this feature in Windows, so it will not work with any (modern) version of Windows anymore. First the AutoRun function was disabled in, and later Microsoft disabled the function also in Windows XP and Windows Vista.
This function is also disabled in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. If you plug a USB stick into a USB port, a window titled 'AutoPlay' is opened. Via this window you can open Windows Explorer and manually open your menu or program. View on YouTube for more details. If you wonder what the Autorun.inf file is, what it contains and what it does, you can read the following technical article on our website: Why was the AutoRun function disabled for USB flash drives?
Microsoft made these changes for security reasons. Malware, like viruses, worms and spyware, used this function to infect computers. When a user inserted the USB stick in the USB port, the computer was immediately infected. But by disabling the AutoRun function in Windows, a computer can not get infected in this way anymore. What special software can create an AutoRun menu for a USB flash drive? We mentioned above that with a special software it is possible to create an AutoRun menu interface for a USB flash drive. On our company we have developed such a software, and if you use our product your menu interface can be opened automatically when the user plugs the USB stick in his/her USB port.
We have prioritized security. So our solution is also very secure. We use checksums and digital signatures to make sure that nobody changes the contents of the USB flash drive after creation. If somebody tries to tamper with the files on the USB stick, this is discovered by the software and the AutoRun will not work for that USB stick. AutoRun will only work if the files are unchanged after creation. If you want to know more about our software solution that creates AutoRun menu interfaces for USB sticks; click on the link below: Are you already a user of our CD-Menu Creator tool and wonder how to create AutoRun menus for USB flash drives instead of creating AutoRun menus for CDs and DVDs?.
Do you want to read more articles and tips? If you want to read more articles and tips about AutoRun and related topics you can follow us on or, or subscribe on our. You can also read our. Related products: Other articles More articles are available from the. Create AutoRun Menu Do you need an autorun menu for a USB stick?
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Using AutoRun with a USB Flash Drive / USB stick (Article from SamLogic) Using AutoRun with a USB Flash Drive (USB stick) The in Windows is often used to start programs and open menu interfaces on a CD or DVD automatically. But it is possible to do the same with a USB flash drive (USB stick)? Can the AutoRun technology be used with a USB flash drive? In this article we will answer these questions.
Advertisement Note: The text below is also true for Windows 8 and Windows 10. And for Windows XP and Windows Vista if you have downloaded and installed a special update from Microsoft that reduces the AutoRun support for USB flash drives. You can read more.
USB flash drive / USB stick Most of us have a USB flash drive (sometimes also referred to as a USB stick, USB memory stick or a thumb drive) that we use when we want to store data temporarily. They are small and lightweight and are very practical when you want to move files from one computer to another.
Previously we often burned our data to a CD or DVD, but using USB flash drives are faster and they are easier to handle and they can store more data, and they are so small that you can easily store them in your pocket. USB flash drives are often used when data is moved between home and office. They are also often used when data is moved inside an office, for example when moving data to/from a computer that is not connected to a network.
They are also practical if you want to run small special programs that don't need installation and which are not normally located on a computer. Nowadays, companies have also started to distribute software, documents, movies and music via USB flash drives. One reason is that they are very fast - they are faster than CDs or DVDs. Programs that are placed on a USB flash drive start immediately and large documents are shown very quickly. But when distributing programs, documents etc.
On a USB flash drive, the same question that was common with a CD or a DVD also arises. How can the end-user quickly find the program or document he/she wants to open? With CDs and DVDs the AutoRun technology in Windows was used to start a particular program or open a particular document automatically.
But is this also possible with a USB flash drive? Using AutoRun with USB flash drives If you place an Autorun.inf file in the root folder of a CD or DVD and the Autorun.inf file contains an OPEN command pointing to a program file (e.g.
OPEN=MYAPP.EXE), the program is launched automatically when you insert the CD/DVD in a drive. But if you place the same Autorun.inf file and program file on a USB flash drive and plug the drive into a USB port in a computer, the program will not start automatically. Instead is a Windows menu shown, which contains a list of actions (options) that you can choose between to handle the USB drive. The AutoPlay dialog box in Windows The dialog box that is shown when you insert a USB stick in a computer is called the AutoPlay dialog box. This same dialog box is also shown when you insert a CD/DVD with no Autorun.inf file in a computer's disc drive. With a CD or DVD this dialog box can be suppressed if an Autorun.inf file is placed on the disc. Unfortunately this is not possible, by default, with a USB flash drive.
In Windows 7 this is not possible at all. In Windows XP and Windows Vista it is possible for the user to change the behavior of a USB flash drive by changing settings in Windows, and there are programs available that can do this automatically. By changing some settings the user can make Windows to run the Autorun.inf file instead of showing the AutoPlay dialog box for USB flash drives. However, for security reasons this is not recommended and in Windows 7, with its tightened security, this possibility is completely removed. So, how to launch a program on a USB flash drive? Using Autorun.inf to automatically launch a program on a USB flash drive seems not to be possible in the same way as with a CD or DVD. So what to do instead?
Are there any alternative ways? Well, the answer is yes and no. It depends of the version of Windows. Below we will explain how to handle this in different Windows version. How to launch a program in Windows XP and Windows Vista As described above in this article, an AutoPlay dialog box is shown when the user plugs a USB stick into a USB port. This AutoPlay dialog box contains a list of actions (options) that can be performed on the USB flash drive, for example view a slideshow of pictures on the drive (if there are any) or open Windows Explorer.
In Windows XP and Windows Vista it is possible to add your own action item (option) to the AutoPlay dialog box. This gives the USB flash drive almost AutoRun capability.
The item is placed as the first option in the action list, and is selected by default, so the user only needs to press Enter or OK to launch the program. Not as automatic as using pure AutoRun, but almost. To add this action item to the AutoPlay dialog in Windows, a command called ACTION must be placed in the Autorun.inf file.
This command will display a user-defined text row in the AutoPlay dialog box (as the first text row) and it will co-operate with the OPEN command in the Autorun.inf file. The OPEN command specifies the filename of the program to execute. We will explain the ACTION command with more details below in this article, but first some words about Windows 7. How to launch a program in Windows 7 In Windows 7 it is not possible to use the ACTION command and the OPEN command together with USB flash drives anymore. Microsoft has removed this support for security reasons. These commands are still available for CDs and DVDs in Windows 7, but not for USB sticks.
Specifying your own label and icon for the USB flash drive via the Autorun.inf file is still possible, but it is not possible to allow a user to execute a program on the drive via the AutoPlay dialog box. And automatically executing a program on a USB flash drive by turning off AutoPlay and only using AutoRun is not possible either. The OPEN command is not supported at all for USB flash drives in Windows 7. To execute a program the user must open Windows Explorer and manually run the program. Luckily an option to start Windows Explorer is always shown in the AutoPlay dialog so it is easy to start Windows Explorer.
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But to make it also easy for the user to find your program on the USB flash drive (the program you want the user to start when plugging in the USB stick) you should always place the program on the root folder of the drive and give it a descriptive name such as 'StartMe.exe', 'Autorun.exe', 'Menu.exe' etc. This program file should also be the only executable file in the root folder, otherwise some users might start the wrong program by mistake. More information about the changed behavior for AutoRun and AutoPlay in Windows 7 can be read in the following article on our Internet site:.
Using the ACTION command in an Autorun.inf file There are still a lot of users of Windows XP and Windows Vista so adding an ACTION command to the Autorun.inf file is still a good idea. It is also simple to add this command and below we will show an example of how this command can be used: AutoRun OPEN=MYAPP.EXE ICON=MYAPP.EXE ACTION=Start my application In this example, the ACTION command places the text 'Start my application' in the AutoPlay dialog box in Windows XP and Windows Vista. The item with this text will be placed as the first item and it will also be selected by default. Next to the text, the icon specified by the ICON command is shown. And when the user chooses the selected item, the program file specified by the OPEN command is launched.
If you use Notepad to create the Autorun.inf file, you should enter the following in Notepad: How to give the USB flash drive a label (title) It is also possible to give a USB flash drive its own label (title). This will work in all Windows versions since Windows XP, including Windows 7. The label text will be shown in Windows Explorer and in the AutoPlay dialog box. To specify this text, a command with the name LABEL can be used in the Autorun.inf file. Below we show an example of how to use the LABEL command (the last line in the example): AutoRun OPEN=MYAPP.EXE ICON=MYAPP.EXE ACTION=Start my application LABEL=My Drive In this example the USB flash drive has been given the label 'My Drive'. This label is displayed before the drive letter in Windows Explorer and as a dialog box title in the AutoPlay dialog box.
Below we show how the AutoPlay dialog box will look like in Windows XP when using the Autorun.inf file above: Specifying your own icon for a USB flash drive is also possible. In the example above we tell Windows to get the icon from the MYAPP.EXE program file by using a command named ICON. Instead of an.EXE file you can also use an.ICO (icon) file, for example as: ICON=MYICON.ICO More information about the LABEL and ICON commands, and other commands mentioned in this article, can be read on this page at Microsoft's web site:. A short commands reference is also available on this page on our web site:.
Adding a menu interface to a USB flash drive There are different reasons why a specific program should be run immediately after that a USB stick has been inserted into a USB port. One common reason is to start a general setup program. Another is to show a menu interface. This menu interface can for example contain buttons to start installations, show documents or show movies. As described above in this article, different methods must be used in different Windows versions to start a particular program, for example to start a menu interface program. In Windows XP and Windows Vista the menu program can be launched almost automatically - just press Enter or OK - but in Windows 7 the menu program must be started manually by the user from Windows Explorer.
To handle this in the best way you should do the following: 1. Give the program that should be started a descriptive name 2. Create an Autorun.inf file that adds an action item to the AutoPlay dialog box in Windows You can for example name the program file to 'START-MENU.EXE' and then create an Autorun.inf file with the following contents: AutoRun OPEN=START-MENU.EXE ICON=START-MENU.EXE ACTION=Show Menu LABEL=My Menu This file must be placed in the root folder of the USB flash drive. Also the menu program ('START-MENU.EXE') must be placed in the root folder, otherwise the Autorun.inf file above will not work. It is possible to place the menu program in a sub folder (then you must add a folder path to the OPEN and ICON commands) but it is not recommended as users will then have more difficulty finding the program. Software that can create a menu interface to a USB flash drive Although it is not complicated to create an Autorun.inf file, it is more time consuming to create a menu interface. There are many products on the market that can create menu interfaces for USB flash drives and some of them can also automatically create the necessary Autorun.inf file that is needed to add an action item to the AutoPlay dialog box in Windows.
At our company we have a product named, which can be used to design and build menu interfaces for CDs, DVDs and USB flash drives. Do you want to read more articles and tips? If you want to read more articles and tips about AutoRun and related topics you can follow us on or, or subscribe on our. You can also read our. Related products: Other articles More articles are available from the. USB Flash Drive Menu Create a menu interface for a USB flash drive. Related Articles.
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