Change default action on connecting a USB device

Question

I've a device I connect to my windows computer (in this case it is an iPod but I don't believe that matters). Often when I first connect such devices a dialog will pop up giving a list of actions with a check box saying something like "do this as the default" or "always do this".

For some reason when I first used this device I selected open a folder to view files and had the always check-box checked. I wish I'd pressed do nothing, now when I connect the device this annoying file folder pops up and I just have to close it.

How can I get the default USB action for this device to change?

I'm using Vista but I was guessing it did not matter -- judging by your answer it doesn't. — Hogan, Mar 15 '12 at 15:45

wizlog · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-15T15:31:20.953

185

Microsoft explains all about autoplay here.

Open AutoPlay by clicking the Start button , and then clicking Control Panel. In the search box, type autoplay, and then click AutoPlay.
In the list next to the device or type of media, click the new action you want to use.

edited Mar 15 '12 at 15:31

answered Mar 15 '12 at 15:24

wizlog

13,335

I'll check this out when I get home. Is there where it stores defaults for a specific device? It seems only my iPod takes this action. – Hogan Mar 15 '12 at 15:47
@Hogan - The default is stored in the registry. There are ways to basically forget about the device. I suggest just using wizlog's advice. – Ramhound Mar 15 '12 at 16:17
1

This solved my problem and the display contains device specific settings at the bottom. Thanks! – Hogan Mar 16 '12 at 19:18
The stored device name is shown in the Autoplay window. You can reset all defaults too. That's what I did. @wizlog Thanks for the info. – noob Sep 25 '14 at 13:11
5

btw/fyi - This same explaination works with Windows 10 – Aug 24 '15 at 16:30
This blog post by Rahul Saigal has some screenshots to illustrate this, which might help particularly on non-English systems. – MvG Apr 23 '17 at 18:47
Very useful, I'm not sure why I can't just find stuff like this in Windows but I always end up googling :) And I'm the guy who most ppl know ask for help! – Rob11311 Nov 27 '17 at 14:27
@Rob11311 I'm also that guy! Glad this game up on Google haha – wizlog Nov 28 '17 at 19:49
@Hogan From what i know, or what my windows can do to be exact, you can ‘sadly‘ only choose from deviceTYPES. – LuckyLuke Skywalker Jul 26 '22 at 14:51
Any way to (use the registry to) let ANY program run in that moment (if not yet running)?

LuckyLuke Skywalker

Jul 26 '22 at 14:53

Is it possible to explicitly keep some programs from starting when inserting disk or sth? In my case it‘s a program that has no background processes running so it should be windows that tells it.

– LuckyLuke Skywalker Jul 26 '22 at 14:55

Change default action on connecting a USB device

1 Answers1