Set default action for CD/DVD/BD/Etc

That accomplishes opening the disc, but I want open to be the default. I more often want open than anything else, so why not make that the normal double-click action?

Open autoplay in control panel. You will have all kinds of options.

@greyoldchief: AutoPlay is completely unrelated, as stated in the first post.

@TooCrooked: I never found an answer to this particular issue, either.

Yes, autoplay is unrelated. Setting the default autoplay action has no impact on the default double click action, only that which happens automatically when a disc is inserted. These are very different problems. Autoplay is not the answer, but many people trying to help on various forums have made that same mistake.

Sorry to join this discussion late, but I just ran across this thread while looking for the same information. Since I couldn't find any answers on the internet, I did some trial and error in my Windows 7 Registry and quickly found a solution.

For data discs, such as game DVDs, my default has always been "Open" without any registry edits. If I recall correctly, I made that change through the Autorun dialog, as Ztruker suggested, but it didn't work for movie discs. To make "Open" the default for movie DVDs and BDs, follow the instructions below.

First, I give everyone the standard disclaimer that editing the Windows Registry carries the risk of damaging your Windows installation, so proceed with caution if you decide to make these changes.

Open your Registry Editor by pressing the "Windows" key + "R", and then typing "Regedit" (without quotes) in the "Run" window.

Open "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT", then scroll down until you find "DVD". Open that key and click on the key labeled "shell".

In the right pane you will see an entry titled "Default", which probably has a value like "Play" or "PlayWithPowerDVD". Double-click on "Default" and change the value to "Open" (without quotes).

This seemed to affect my Blu-ray discs as well, but there is also a "BluRay" key in "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT". For good measure, I made the same change to the "shell" key there as well. I could not find any key for "CD", so the above two changes should be enough.

The changes take effect immediately, so right click on your DVD drive to test it. It worked like a charm for me.

This fix took me all of ten minutes to find and test, so it's entirely possible that I'm missing a few cases where that annoying "Play" default will still show up. If anybody finds anything, let me know.

Good luck!

shoelessinsight said:

Sorry to join this discussion late, but I just ran across this thread while looking for the same information. Since I couldn't find any answers on the internet, I did some trial and error in my Windows 7 Registry and quickly found a solution.

For data discs, such as game DVDs, my default has always been "Open" without any registry edits. If I recall correctly, I made that change through the Autorun dialog, as Ztruker suggested, but it didn't work for movie discs. To make "Open" the default for movie DVDs and BDs, follow the instructions below.

First, I give everyone the standard disclaimer that editing the Windows Registry carries the risk of damaging your Windows installation, so proceed with caution if you decide to make these changes.

Open your Registry Editor by pressing the "Windows" key + "R", and then typing "Regedit" (without quotes) in the "Run" window.

Open "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT", then scroll down until you find "DVD". Open that key and click on the key labeled "shell".

In the right pane you will see an entry titled "Default", which probably has a value like "Play" or "PlayWithPowerDVD". Double-click on "Default" and change the value to "Open" (without quotes).

This seemed to affect my Blu-ray discs as well, but there is also a "BluRay" key in "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT". For good measure, I made the same change to the "shell" key there as well. I could not find any key for "CD", so the above two changes should be enough.

The changes take effect immediately, so right click on your DVD drive to test it. It worked like a charm for me.

This fix took me all of ten minutes to find and test, so it's entirely possible that I'm missing a few cases where that annoying "Play" default will still show up. If anybody finds anything, let me know.

Good luck!

We have a winner! :) Someone who finally took the time to read the posts. I'd looked in the registry before, but I didn't think to look in the classes node since that's normally for file associations instead of devices. I was crawling all through HKLM instead.

Short version for future readers: Run the attached reg (after you view it to make sure I'm not including bad stuff...you should ALWAYS check!).