How to Create a Autorun Inf File

Autorun is the feature in Windows-based operating systems that allows Windows to take an automatic action when you place a disc in your computer's disc drive. For example, if you place a music CD in the drive, Autorun will automatically open your music-playing software. Or, if you place a software installation disc in the drive, Autorun can automatically start the installation wizard located on the disc. The action that Autrorun takes is based on information it finds in a file on the disc, the autorun.inf file. You can use a text editor such as the Notepad utility available in all Windows operating systems to create an autorun.inf file.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Open Notepad. Type the first required line of text, the section name, which defines the type of file you are creating:
   [autorun]

2. Type the second required line of text, the information that tells the Windows operating system what action to take and what application to use to take the designated action. In this example, the action to take is to "open" an application, and the application to open is the "autorun.exe" file located on the disc:
   open=autorun.exe

3. Type the third line of text, which tells the Windows operating system where to locate the icon it will use when it represents the disc, for example, in a Windows Explorer window. In this example, the icon to use is the "autorun.ico" located on the disc:
   icon=autorun.ico

4. Save the file, using the name autorun.inf when you have entered all the information you want to enter for this particular file. In this example the autorun.inf file will contain three lines of text:
   [autorun]
   open=autorun.exe
   icon=autorun.ico

5. Place the autorun.inf file you have created in the root directory of the disk for which it will be used. This completes the process.

References

• More Info on autorun.inf Files