Enabling or Disabling CD-ROM Autorun in Windows

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• When trying to install or upgrade VMware Tools the installer does not automatically execute.
• Nothing happens after you choose to install or upgrade VMware Tools.

auto-run-disabled auto-run-feature guest-os install-upgrade-does-not-start install-vmware-tools upgrade-vmware-tools vmware-tools

Resolution

Enabling or Disabling Autorun in Windows 95/98/Me

1. Click Start>Settings>Control Panel>System to access the System Properties Dialog.
2. Click the Device Manager tab.
3. Expand the CD-ROM list.
4. Click on the entry for your primary CD-ROM drive.
5. Click Properties.
6. Click the Settings tab.
7. Enable or Disable the Auto insert Notification.
8. Click OK.
9. Click OK.

Enabling or Disabling Autorun (Windows NT/2000)

1. Click Start>Run.
2. Type regedt32.exe in the Run field.
3. Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/System/CurrentControlSet/Services/Cdrom .
4. Change the Autorun value to 1 to enable autorn, and 0 to disable autorun.
5. Close RegEdit.

Enabling Disabling Autorun (Windows XP)

1. Open Windows Explorer by pressing Windows + e.
2. Right-click the desired CD-ROM and click Properties.
3. Click the AutoPlay tab.
4. Select each item from the dropdown list and for the action to perform, click the Take no action icon to disable autorun, or pick the apporpriate action to take if enabling autorun.
5. Click OK.

Using a Group Policy

1. Click Start> Run.
2. Type GPEDIT.MSC in the Run field.
3. The Group Policy Microsoft Management Console appears. On left panel:
   1. Double-click Computer Configuration to open submenu.
   2. Double-click Administrative Templates to open submenu.
   3. Double-click System to open submenu
   4. Double-click Turn autoplay off.
   5. Set to Not Configured to enable Autorun, or Enabled to disable Autorun.
4. Click File>Exit. Your changes are saved.