Autoplay File Generator

Autoplay File Generator

Welcome to Autoplay File Generator

(The following information comes from Mirosoft Platform SDK April 2000 release.)

Creating an AutoPlay-enabled CD-ROM application is a straightforward procedure. You simply include two essential files:

An autorun.inf file
A startup application

When a user inserts a disc into a CD-ROM drive on a AutoPlay-compatible computer, the system immediately checks to see if the disc has a personal computer file system. If it does, the system searches for a file named Autorun.inf. This file specifies setup application that will be run, along with a variety of optional settings. The startup application typically installs, uninstalls, configures, and perhaps runs the application.

Creating an Autorun.inf File

Autorun.inf is a text file located in the root directory of the CD-ROM that contains your application. Its primary function is to provide the system with the name and location of the application's startup program that will be run when the disc is inserted. The Autorun.inf file can also contain optional information including:

The name of a file that contains an icon that will represent your application's CD-ROM drive. This icon will be displayed by Microsoft« Windows« Explorer in place of the standard drive icon.
Additional commands for the context menu that is displayed when the user right-clicks the CD-ROM icon. You can also specify the default command that is run when the user double-clicks the icon.

Autorun.inf files are similar to .ini files. They consist of one or more sections, each headed by a name enclosed in square brackets. Each section contains a series of commands that will be run by the shell when the disc is inserted. There are two sections that are currently defined for Autorun.inf files:

The [autorun] section contains the default AutoPlay commands. All Autorun.inf files must have an [autorun] section.
An optional [autorun.alpha] section can be included for Microsoft« Windows NT 4.0 systems running on RISC-based computers. When a disc is inserted in a CD-ROM drive on a RISC-based system, the shell will run the commands in this section instead of those in the [autorun] section.

Note The shell checks for an architecture-specific section first. If it does not find one, it uses the information in the [autorun] section. After the shell finds a section, it ignores all others, so each section must be self-contained.

Each section contains a series of commands that determine how the Autorun operation takes place. There are five commands available:

Command	Description
defaulticon	Specifies the default icon for the application.
icon	Specifies the path and file name of an application-specific icon for the CD-ROM drive.
open	Specifies the path and file name of the startup application.
shell	Defines the default command in the CD-ROM's context menu.
shell\verb	Adds commands to the CD-ROM's context menu.

The following is an example of a simple Autorun.inf file. It specifies Filename.exe as the startup application. The second icon in Filename.exe will represent the CD-ROM drive instead of the standard drive icon.

[autorun] 
open=Filename.exe 
icon=Filename.exe,1

This Autorun.inf sample runs different startup applications depending on the type of computer:

[autorun] 
open=Filename_x86.exe 
icon=IconFile.ico 

[autorun.alpha] 
open=Filename_RISC.exe 
icon=IconFile.ico 
 
Feedback

Thank you for using Autoplay File Generator with your Hackman platform. If you discover a bug or you have a wish/comment/suggestion about the AutoPlay editor, please write to us!

⌐ 2000-2001 Jim Barnes and Nickolas Curtis for Innovation Systems.