Plug and Play

[denmarfl]

Running Vista Home Prem 32Bit

Purchased a Portable Hard Drive. This portable HDD is Powered off the 2.0
USB Port. The 1st time I connected the HDD to my PC, I saw Driver
Installing...Driver Properly Installed. The AutoPlay Window opened...the one
that provides selections, View Files, Etc. The AutoPlay Window only opened
that 1 time, it no longer Opens when I connect the HDD. The HDD is running
fine, I here the 2 Beeps when connecting, I can access the HDD thru My
Computer, I can save and delete files...so it is working Fine.

But since the 1st time, the AutoPlay Window no longer opens. I can connect
a Thumb drive to the same Port and the AutoPlay Window Opens...so it is not
the PC.

Suggestions?

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Running Vista Home Prem 32Bit

Purchased a Portable Hard Drive. This portable HDD is Powered off the 2.0
USB Port. The 1st time I connected the HDD to my PC, I saw Driver
Installing...Driver Properly Installed. The AutoPlay Window opened...the
one
that provides selections, View Files, Etc. The AutoPlay Window only
opened
that 1 time, it no longer Opens when I connect the HDD. The HDD is
running
fine, I here the 2 Beeps when connecting, I can access the HDD thru My
Computer, I can save and delete files...so it is working Fine.

But since the 1st time, the AutoPlay Window no longer opens. I can
connect
a Thumb drive to the same Port and the AutoPlay Window Opens...so it is
not
the PC.

Suggestions?

It is normal for Autoplay to run each time for thumb drives but not for
external harddrives. Once the driver for the hard drive is installed the
system knows that it is a mass storage device upon future connections.
Thumb drives behave more like cds and dvds in this regard.

 

[Richard G. Harper]

Open the Autoplay tool in Control Panel, devices should be listed near the
bottom. Select the desired action for your external drive there.

 

[denmarfl]

Followed your instructions....the Portable HDD did not display under Devices.
However, as I wrote, the HDD is operating just fine and, when connecting it
to my Desktop and Laptop, the AutoPlay Window does not open. I do wonder if
the response provided by Colin may be the answer. He replied, ''It is normal
for Autoplay to run each time for thumb drives but not for external
harddrives. Once the driver for the hard drive is installed the system knows
that it is a mass storage device upon future connections. Thumb drives behave
more like cds and dvds in this regard.

Await your further advices....thank You

 

[DL]

I would venture that it would be unusual to *want* autoplay to kick in when
you connect a hard drive.
What purpose would it serve?

 

[Bill Daggett]

I would venture that it would be unusual to *want* autoplay to kick in when
you connect a hard drive.
What purpose would it serve?

The same freaking purpose that it would serve on an optical drive or a
flash drive perhaps?? While YOU may not be able to imagine such a
use, that doesn't mean someone else hasn't.

 

[Richard G. Harper]

Frankly, I can't say that I've seen the same behaviour - when I plug my
drive in I get the autoplay window every time. What is on the drive - what
type of files? Mixed or all of one type?

 

[denmarfl]

The drive has a few .exe files pre-loaded by Western Digital none of which I
have run, or even need. After I connected the drive and its driver installed,
I created a New Folder and saved pictures into that folder. I do have a 3yr
old USB Ext HDD
and when I re-connect it, AutoPlay does open. Now I do know that the very
1st time I connected this new Portable HDD (its the type that Communicated
and is Powered thru the USB Port...it has no separate Power supply), that I
saw AutoPlay because I remember one of the items listed in the AutoPlay
Window was did I want to Run one of the .exe files (which I believe was to
preform Backups). But since that connection, AutoPlay has not appeared.

 

[Richard G. Harper]

Try putting a few pictures and documents in the root directory of the HDD
(not in a folder) and see if that restores the AutoPlay dialog.

 

[denmarfl]

Moved 3 pictures (.JPG) and 2 Word Documents (.doc) into the root (the
Directory that opens when you click on the Drive in MyComputer). I also have
another 4 Folders in the root.......

AutoPlay still does not open when connecting the drive. This is strange
because if I connect another USB HDD, or my Thumb Drive to the USB Port,
AutoPlay does open. So, its just this WD Passport HDD that when
connected...AutoPlay fails to open.

 

[Richard G. Harper]

Sorry, I'm out of ideas. Hopefully someone else will have a thought.

 

[denmarfl]

Thanks.... I have spoken with tech Support at WD and Dell; both want to
point the figer at the OS and suggest I contact Microsoft. My arugment back
to them is, if they were Microsoft and I told them that AutoPlay opens for
every Device I have except this Portable HDD, they would conclude the problem
cannot be the OS......it wouldn't open for the other Devices...the problem
somehow is with the Poerable HDD. Dell has after much discussion agreed to
replace the HDD. I know the 1st time I connected it I saw the AutoPlay
Window open because I remember seeing in the AutoPlay Window wdsetup.exe
which is a software to run backups.....so it opened once and never thereafter
oneither my Desktop or Laptop (only opened 1 time and that was the 1st
connection and it was on my Laptop...when I connected it to my Desktop the
1st time AutoPlay did not open).....so sosmething happened during that
initial connection to my Laptop.