Re-enable Access to Autoplay for USB and other devices

[donb01]

I posted a new thread here the other day about needing to find a way to reverse Microsoft's changes that disabled autoplay for USB devices. I don't know if I didn't post it right or if a mod deleted it for a content violation or something. I wish if they do that they would let me know so I don't wonder forever if I just never saved my thread or not.

Anyway, I understand the reason's why they did it, but I'm not the typical user and I'm careful about that stuff. I have no issue with them stopping the "what do you want to do with this device" box popping up, I have an issue with them completely disabling my memory card readers and my ability to store and retrieve files from my USB memory sticks. The computer will no longer recognize any of them and assign them drive letters when they are plugged in.

I do a lot of digital photography and work with other devices where I need to take the memory card out, put files on it, and then put it back in - like my GPSr, for example. I can put my memory card in my camera and connect it and the computer will access it that way, but I don't want to have to be popping 5 different memory cards in and out of my camera to get the pictures off of them. My microSD cards I can access by plugging them into my BlackBerry, but the more times I take it apart to do that I'm eventually going to wreck something.

So does anyone know a way to reverse what they did? I have searched the registry for anything labeled autoplay and enabled it, but it still makes no difference - there must be something else.

Thanks!

 

[linney]

What is being recognized in the Device Manager, are there any errors in there, or in your Event Viewer?

Uninstalling hardware in the Device Manager, rebooting, and then allowing Windows to rediscover the hardware, and to automatically reinstall the drivers at the same time sometimes fixes weird errors.


You can further check Autoplay Devices and actions in here when needed. Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\AutoPlay.

 

[donb01]

Device Manager doesn't show anything out of the ordinary, but I never thought of event viewer. I'll have to look in there tonight and see if there's anything good in there.

Since the whole thing stopped working on the same Tuesday that MS announced they were blocking the functionality I just assumed it was caused by that.

I'll post back what I find.
Thanks

 

[donb01]

Since my last post I have looked in event viewer and not seen anything out of the ordinary. I have also deleted all of the devices out of device manager and restarted windows, and then reformatted some of the devices. The end result is that I can now see some of the SD and MicroSD cards, but still none of my compact flash, and my blackberry will not pop up on the screen as soon as I connect it like it used to - I must first run the BB desktop software and then it goes looking for it.

The compact flash devices might have those long numeric entries in the registry that need to be deleted, but I wouldn't have a clue which ones they are....

 

[linney]

Does the Registry location mentioned here have any bearing on what you are thinking?

Change or Delete System Drive Letter via Registry to Remove Conflict USB or FireWire Drive Letter

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/...remove-conflict-usb-or-firewire-drive-letter/

 

[donb01]

Yeah, that looks like it could be a possibility. I couldn't find the lexar device on the list, and will probably just delete all the drive letters above F, but I'm going to do it from home because it looks like my connection is having issues and I don't dare touch the registry with an unstable connection.

I'll report back what happens. Thanks

 

[linney]

probably just delete all the drive letters above F", I hope you mean G, H, I, etc. and not A, B, C? Make sure you backup the Registry Keys too.

This is more for USB devices but it might show you something too.

USBDeview

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/usb_devices_view.html

 

[BadBigBen]

also navigate to the following key in the registry, and delete only the one marked Vid_0000&Pid_0000:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\USB

sometimes Windows cannot identify a USB device (for some reason or other) and will create a place holder (VID 0000 & PID 0000), but this can cause problems down the road in identifying said devices again...


Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[donb01]

Deleting the devices out didn't help, and there were no 0000 entries in the USB enumerations.

Checking out the utility....

 

[kjv1611]

Also, don't forget to check your security products. Some AV and firewall products will block autoplay themselves.