Autorun on USB drives

LucienDol · 12 Jun 2009

Hi all,

It appears that Microsoft has disabled the Autorun feature for USB devices in Windows 7. If you create an appropriate Autorun.inf file on your USB drive, Vista (and XP?) will happily run the program it points to when you plug the device in, but in Windows 7 that is no longer the case. I've read a few news articles explaining that this is by design, out of security concerns.

While I understand and even agree with the reasoning, I was wondering whether there was a way (perhaps in the Group Policy editor, or some Registry hack) to override or bypass this?

I have just created a nice autorun feature to enable me to mount a TrueCrypt-encrypted container on my USB stick, but that no longer works in Win7. (Can't use BitLocker as I still need uncrypted access to the root of the drive in order for BitLocker to allow Win7 to start on my fully encrypted C:-drive).

Any hints?

Lucien.

justme · 07 Jul 2009

I have the same problem and i searched on google and no result . The only way to open my TrueCrypt usb is to create a shortcut of the TrueCrypt.exe from my USB and use as Target :

G:\TrueCrypt\TrueCrypt.exe /q background /lZ /e /m rm /v "TrueCrypt.tc"

I`m still looking for a way to make it run the autorun.inf . I will come back here to help you in case i find something .

Cya and sorry for my english

LucienDol · 07 Jul 2009

Thanks for that, JustMe.

I have sort of worked my way around it with a solution similar to yours, but I still have to invoke it "manually". In my case I created a VB script and a command file to enable a clean start, both placed on the unencrypted part of the USB stick.

The script file (named "Mount TrueCrypt Volume.vbs") looks like this:

Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.Run chr(34) & "Mount.cmd" & Chr(34), 0
Set WshShell = Nothing

while the command file ("mount.cmd") contains:

@echo off
TrueCrypt\TrueCrypt.exe /q background /e /m rm /v "MyCrypt"

This combination ensures that no black command window pops up while opening TrueCrypt. The reason why I didn't use shortcuts is that if you use the USB stick on different computers (with different operating systems) you can't guarantee that the USB drive has the same drive letter (like the G: in your solution) and you'll have to create a shortcut on every PC.

In addition to the above I still have my "autorun.inf" file on the USB stick that will fire TrueCrypt automatically when plugged into computers running XP or Vista:

[autorun]
action=Mount TrueCrypt Volume
open=TrueCrypt\TrueCrypt.exe /q background /e /m rm /v "MyCrypt"
shell\start=Start TrueCrypt
shell\start\command=TrueCrypt\TrueCrypt.exe
shell\dismount=Dismount all TrueCrypt volumes
shell\dismount\command=TrueCrypt\TrueCrypt.exe /q /d

Only on Windows 7 I still run the VBS script when I need access to the encrypted data.

You learn to live with it and both Windows 7 and TrueCrypt are great.

Lucien.

Zidane24 · 07 Jul 2009

Now are you guys accessing a program (like U3) off of the USB? Or just trying to do basic copying files to and fro. If autoplay isn't working for you (my PNY 4GB autoplays just fine) than use the Windows 7 partitioner to make the drive active (you may have to actually partition the USB for that)...it autoplayed for me after that

copernicus · 07 Jul 2009

Autoplay is different from autorun. Zidane, autorun.ini/.bat files start up off a usb when you plug it in? They shouldn't at all because that was intentionally disabled in 7.

akramh · 07 Jul 2009

strange I have a USB Hardisk and it autoplays normally in windows 7..

ccatlett1984 · 07 Jul 2009

akramh said:

strange I have a USB Hardisk and it autoplays normally in windows 7..

They are using "Truecrypt" its a disk encryption software. They need the above command to run to enable access to the encrypted volume.

Zidane24 · 07 Jul 2009

copernicus said:

Autoplay is different from autorun. Zidane, autorun.ini/.bat files start up off a usb when you plug it in? They shouldn't at all because that was intentionally disabled in 7.

lmao...I need to get my eyes checked...I thought it said autoplay problems

....oh well carry on then

fakeasdf · 08 Jul 2009

There is no way around it... If there was, Viruses would start using it. But you could program something that when it notices a USB drive it runs your command for you automatically... or it runs the autorun.inf for all connected drives (I wouldn't recommend this, it would present the same issue for why they disabled it in the first place)

justme · 11 Jul 2009

I searched on google and there is no way to make it work

Anyway i have multiboot and now i`m using my Vista Ultimate again

. Hope the guys from TrueCrypt will do something until Microsoft release the final version of Win7 .

Cya