Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of ashrafsalah
ashrafsalah

asked on

How to make a CD autorun

Hi all,

I developed a web site and put it all on a CD and my question how to make this CD Autorun when inserted to the CD drive to begin the index.html file.

I know that it's an easy two lines command but I forgot.
Avatar of webwoman
webwoman

Actually, it's not easy. You can't access apps on the user's computer with an autorun.inf file. You can access apps on the CD, but that's it. You can't reference other file types either, so that doesn't work.

There's a way around it, but I don't remember exactly what it was... I know it involves creating a DOS BAT file on the CD, and using that as the autorun.inf file. It opens a DOS window for a few milliseconds, then closes it. But it works...
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of Bit_Twiddler
Bit_Twiddler

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Don't know whether this is for Mac or PC but for Mac you just hit the "autorun" button when burning the CD in Toast which will allow you to pick an app or file you want to run on insertion.
Actually, getting the CD to autorun is easy but the tricky part is making an executable program for it.

1) To make the CD autorun, create a file called autorun.ini with the line

open=executable.exe

or something like that. You can always look at an autorun.ini file in a CD that has one to see how it's written.

2) Now you need an executable located in the same directory as the autorun.ini file. This executable can then load or offer a link to the index.html file. You can make such an executable file with Macromedia Flash, MS Powerpoint (I think), or any other app that makes EXE files. Not sure how to make a Mac autorun CD though.
If you need help with the executable, I got one premade a long while back. You just need to have your index.html (or it may need to be index.htm) in the root directory of the CD. Let me know if you want that or need help.
Download a program called "Karens Autorun.inf Editor"
It WILL autostart webpage, media, program.

  And it`s freeware
Another nice program to make autorun CDs is Quick menu builder.  Makes a nice autorun menu CD that will launch almost anything.

  Freeware rules.  
-G:ODpm?
Actually according to the MS website this should work ... call the file autorun.inf and place in the root (the highest level folder) of the CD:

[autorun]
icon=cephas.ico
label=Cephas Website
shellexecute=index.htm

See http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/shellcc/platform/shell/programmersguide/shell_basics/shell_basics_extending/autorun/autoplay_cmds.asp?frame=true for details.  Alternatively if you require backwards compatibility you might need to use an autorun creation app (as previously mentioned) - theres one courteousy of Jogy at http://www.sirma.bg/Jogy/prog.html, look under autorun.

This works perfectly for me!

pbhj
Why is it that so many people have such a hard time reading the guidelines for posting comments and answers? Read them!
Weed,

Did I do something wrong ... I answered the question precisely and even wrote a CD to check it worked "perfectly for me!".  I may have written index.htm instead of 'index.html' but cut and paste the code and minus one typo if it's saved as autorun.inf it will work - anyone with half a brain can see the icon and label are personal preferences (I hope) and if it wasn't plain reference to the websites would make it so (that's why I put the links in).  Previous responses were wrong (hence comments!) open= doesn't work except for aps.  If you wanted to do it this way I provided a link for that too.  What more?

Anyway ashrafsalah, hope it helps - I found it quite neat.  Weed, genuine request, please advise if I am amiss.

pbhj
Advice for Experts on Providing Solutions Through Comments or Answers
Experts may post solutions to your question in the form of a comment or answer, so be sure to check every email notification as soon as it arrives. Often, an Expert posts the solution to your problem as a comment because it is early in the collaboration process and other issues may be involved. In addition, it is common etiquette in some topics areas to always post comments and not answers. There are several reasons behind this thinking:

   * Questions do not become prematurely locked and the collaboration process is not inhibited when the question is indexed as open for proposed solutions.
   * The question-asker has the power to select the best solution rather than one that is simply suggested as an answer.
   * Watch out for unclear or multiple-part questions. You can send a comment to the member requesting that they rephrase or break up the question before you submit an answer.
   * If you don't know the answer, leave the question for someone else.
   * If you are unsure of your solution, post it as a comment rather than an answer. Members can accept comments as solutions and award points for them.
No text problem resolved

Computer101
E-E Admin
For reasons stated below, proposed answer rejected

Computer101
E-E Admin

Comments
Comments are intended to be used as a collaboration tool. Many Experts choose to post their solutions as comments only.

Answers
An answer is a specific solution to a question and should be submitted if it will solve the questioner's problem and doesn't duplicate a previous comment.

Comment Vs. Answer
If you are unsure of your solution, post it as a comment. Members can accept comments as solutions and award you Expert Points for them.

For more tips on comments and answers, click here.

 
 
   
 
pbhj

What Weed is trying to point out is that you typically use the "Answer" option when your answer is the one and only answer to a question. Otherwise you post as a "Comment" this allows for more collaboration and allows the person who asked the question to pick the most appropriate answer.

Since I had already posted 6 possible solutions to the  question, yours was obviously not the only solution.
Thanks BitTwiddler - some people just won't let a newbie get a proverbial foot in the door.

PS:  Just a link always seems a bit lax to me, even a cut and paste is better surely?
BitTwiddler - I'm not dis-ing you but the questioner does say "it's an easy two line command" and all your links seem to lead to (small) apps (not commands) for doing the same thing.
The method suggested by pbhj is also detailed in one on the links.

I provided the links to apps. because the method suggested by pbhj causes a DOS screen to appear momentarily which is not wanted in some cases.

Links to info that solves the askers problem are perfectly acceptable here on EE besides the asker could have found the same info with little effort on his/her part if they used a search engine.

Its up to the individual asking the question to determine which is the best solution. Which is what I believe weed an I were try to point out not steal anybody's thunder.
Also, it seems pbhj's method requires MSIE 5 or later. And what if the audience uses Win9x w/o IE5, or prefers the use of other browsers than IE?
pbhj has it right. I just did the same thing and it works for me too.

This is all the code you need.

[autorun]
shellexecute=index.html

Just put it in the root directory of the CD along with the index.html. From there you can link to any subdirectory as if it were a web site.
This question has been abandoned. I will make a recommendation to the
moderators on its resolution in a week or two. I appreciate any comments
that would help me to make a recommendation.
<note>
   In the absence of responses, I may recommend DELETE unless it is clear
   to me that it has value as a PAQ.  Silence = you don't care
</note>

Cd&
It is time to clean this abandoned question up.  

I am putting it on a clean up list for CS.

<recommendation>
delete -- no refund

MOD: Please note this user has a number of old open questions perhaps a little prodding might help

</recommendation>

If anyone participating in the Q disagrees with the recommendation,
please leave a comment for the mods.

Cd&
Avatar of ashrafsalah

ASKER

Thanks I download that assistant software and it works sorry for the delay as I was away for more than three months
the software I downloaded is shellrun from http://www.phdcc.com/shellrun/
ashrafsalah, I see you have 6 old open questions in various Topic Areas; Please review them and award Experts the points OR ask Community Support to close them (Save if you found & posted your own solution or want points split, or Delete).

You can see all your open questions from your profile (click on your login name).

Thanks in advance,
Chmod
Community Support Moderator @Experts Exchange
This is the easiest way. PERIOD. Use these 2 files.

http://www.dallasray.com/drcDownloads/autorunCDROM.zip

1. put the .exe, autorun.inf, and the start file (and any supporting files) in the root of your CDROM
2. Modify autorun.inf with the filename of your desired start file
3. Burn