Windows Won't Auto play my CD's
If your
computer isn't paying any attention to CD's that you feed it, here are
a few things you should check:
Auto play is a new feature introduced with Windows 95. If you are still
using Windows 3.x, you need to upgrade it.
Since this feature is only available in Windows 95/98, you must make sure
that Windows' CD driver is installed and
working properly. The DOS-mode driver will not do the job.
In addition to the driver functioning, Windows must also be allowed
to check the CD drive periodically to see whether a new CD has been inserted.
To make sure this is enabled, go back to the System Properties (either
through Control Panel or by right-clicking
on My Computer), click on the Device
Manager tab, find and highlight
your CD drive and click on the Properties
button, click
on the Settings tab, then place a check
in the box titled "Auto insert notification".
 | Audio CD |
In order for audio CD's to auto play, first you must have the CD Player
program installed (or a program that works the same way.) Usually this
can be found in the Start menu under
Programs > Accessories > Multimedia. If you don't have it installed,
you can use the Add/Remove Programs icon in the Control Panel to get it.
Next, you should make sure that Windows knows it should play audio CD's.
To check this, go to any Windows Explorer window, click
on the View menu, then on Options,
and go to the File Types tab.
Highlight AudioCD in the list
of file types, then click on Edit. In
the Actions box, there should
be a line that says Play. If that line doesn't exist, click
on New, then in the Action line type
"&Play" and in the Application line
type "C:\WINDOWS\CDPlayer.exe /play". If it does exist,
highlight it, click
on Edit, and just make sure the two lines are correct. If Play is there
but it is not written in bold, highlight
it and click on Set Default.
| Program CD |
The first requirement for auto playing a Program CD is that the CD is
designed to do so. If it is, then when you open the CD in an Explorer window
you will see the file 
in it (it may just say Autorun). This is the file that tells Windows 95
what to do with the CD when you put it in. If the file does not exist,
then the CD will not auto play; you must start it up manually.
Beyond that, whatever the CD does when you put it in is up to the authors
of the CD. Some may start playing a game, some will show an introduction
and/or installation screen, some may simply open up an Explorer window.
Some CD's are designed to run an installation program the first time you
use it, but do nothing if the program is already installed. If you think
the CD should be doing something, check the manual
to find out whether it actually is.
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