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General discussion

Scanner disabled autorun

Feb 17, 2004 2:54AM PST

I recently installed a Visioneer scanner. Since then, everytime I insert a CD in the drive of the computer, the One Touch window appears just above the system try with the "finding scanner" message. Autorun no longer works, even though I (think) I've checked it in the properties for the drive. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Jack

Discussion is locked

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Re:Scanner disabled autorun
Feb 17, 2004 6:30AM PST

1. Please read through:

a. "The AutoRun or AutoPlay Feature Does Not Work (Q330135)."

b. "System Cannot Access CD-Rom, CD-Recorder or DVD Devices."

2. The article [Q310123] lists 33 error codes that may be reported by Device Manager and provides possible resolutions. This [TechNet] article covers up to 49.

3. The article [Q314855] warns that by default, only users who are logged on to Windows XP with Power User or Administrator rights are allowed to install software. In Windows XP, files that have an .inf extension are considered to be setup information files. As a result, the Autorun.inf file does not run if you do not have Power User or Administrator rights. Therefore, when a CD-ROM is detected, Windows XP is notified that a new volume is available and the drive is checked for an Autorun.inf file. A user who is neither a Power User nor an Administrator is prompted with an "Install Program as other user" message when the CD-ROM autorun is processed.

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Re:Re:Scanner disabled autorun
Feb 18, 2004 11:42PM PST

Thanks, cursor.
Since the CD-ROM works in otherwise, the only link that was relevent was the first one (a.) I followed the instructions, but didn't change anything because I have a couple of questions...
In the Registry, as directed by the Microsoft Knowledge Base Article, I navigated to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\CDROM. The value for Autorun was 0x00000001 (1) rather than a simple 1 or 0 as the article led me to expect. I assume it is set to 1 already. Is that right?
There is another entry just below Autorun which is AutoRunAlwaysDisable which has so many settings under Data I cannot view them all. They start with NEC <several spaces> MBR-7 <several spaces> NEC <several spaces> MBR-7.4 etc.

As I said, I didn't change anything because I thought Autorun was already set to 1.

Am I correct, and do you (or does anyone) have any other ideas? Visioneer has no forums page for me to find out why inserting a CD would trigger the Visioneer OneTouch app. (And I'm not about to pay $2 per minute for support for this legacy scanner!)

Thanks again

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Can't help any more it looks...
Feb 19, 2004 2:06AM PST

1. The Autorun key appears to be correctly set to one (1). If you'd have clicked the address name to get the applet for making changes, you'd have seen the Value data: is actually a one (1) with a Base of Hexadecimal, instead of Decimal.

2. The article [AutoRunAlwaysDisable] will explain that item.

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Re:Scanner disabled autorun
Feb 19, 2004 8:26AM PST

I had the same problem, the autorun stopped working after installing either software or peripherals. I found the sites suggested here, followed the instructions and had no luck resolving the problem. The only thing I found to restore the autorun was to uninstall the CD-ROM from the device manager and allow Windows to reinstall it. Since then, it has worked just fine.

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This MAY work!
Feb 19, 2004 10:40AM PST

Jack:
Here is a free utility to fix autorun.........I used it once! It should fix the autorun but won't help the scanner problem any.
Download at http://www.jsiinc.com/DL/Autofix.zip

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Re:This MAY work!
Feb 22, 2004 3:08AM PST

Thanks to all. I will try uninstalling CDROM.

But you know what else it might have been?

I uninstalled a couple of apps that came with my HP Pavilion. Now when I insert a Compact Flash card or other memory card into the built-in readers, the window which asks what I'd like to do with the files no longer appears.

I guess I have to research which HP program that is, and re-install it. (I made a back-up recovery DVD right after I bought the computer. I wonder if I can selectively restore apps with that, or if that will simply wipe my hard drive clean and restore it to OOB condition. Anyone know?)

Thanks again.

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Re:Re:This MAY work!
Feb 22, 2004 3:39AM PST

When the autorun wasn't working on my computer, I found there are two different auto features associated with the CD-ROM drive. Autoplay is when you put in a disc (CD or DVD) and a list of programs to open or run it appears. An easy place to find that setting is through "my computer". Right click on the drive then choose properties. You may find a similar setting for you media card reader if it is listed in my computer.

The autorun I'm referring to is when you put in a CD, like a game, and the program starts. Usually the hourglass appears for a brief time followed by the program staring or you get the program's menu. The only way I got it to work again was to uninstall the CD-ROM drive and let Windows reinstall it.

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Re:Re:Re:This MAY work!
Feb 22, 2004 11:38PM PST

Found the problem! Solution was on the HP support site. I'll describe it here in case anyone else has the same problem.

A registry value had somehow changed. Even though I had autorun enabled in properties of the CD-ROM drives, I had to change a value in the registry. (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies. had to change the value of NoDriveTypeAutoRun to "91")

Now, software CD's start up, inserting a card in the multi-card reader brings up the window asking what action to take...all it fine. I'm not sure how the registry changed, but I suspect the installation of the Visioneer scanner.

Thanks to all.

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As it was discussed . .
Feb 22, 2004 11:57PM PST

in reference #a, in the forum "thread" above, on 2/17/04.

Note: Please note that we cannot know what a user does or has not done unless the tell us -- we cannot see their computer from here.

Bill Gaston