Autoplay doesn't work for Guest account

[Lou]

I'm reasonable sure I have configured WindowsXP and the applications
correctly.

Autoplay works fine under my account with administrator authority.

Autoplay does not work under the Guest account. CDs and DVDs can be
played under Guest but only by starting the applications first. When
a CD or DVD is inserted in the CD drive, the files on the CD are
displayed rather than playing.

Does autoply function in Guest for anyone else?

Particulars: WindowsXP SP2, AudioCentral player ver 1.1 packaged
with Roxio Easy CD & DVD creator version 6, PowerDVD version 4.0

Thanksl

Lou

 

[Lou]

I've given up trying to get autoplay to work on Guest account.

I created another restricted user and autoplay works fine.

This is on Windows XP Home edition.

Lou

 

[Kelly]

Hi Lou,

If you want to try this again, run the edit on line 264 (right hand side)
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

And run the tool listed here: Why doesn't Auto-Play work?
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/top10faqs.htm

 

[Lou]

Hi Lou,

If you want to try this again, run the edit on line 264 (right hand side)
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

The registry was/is correct.

And run the tool listed here: Why doesn't Auto-Play work?
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/top10faqs.htm

Tool shows no error under my administrator account. I suppose it is
because there is no problem under this account

I cannot run the tool under Guest account. The tool merely stops. I
suppose it is because the Guest account does not have the authority
to make the checks.

That little problem continues to gnaw at me but the alternate solution
of creating a functional account with limited access accomplishes what
I wanted to do.

Thanks anyway.

Lou

 

[OShah]

The registry was/is correct.



Tool shows no error under my administrator account. I suppose it is
because there is no problem under this account

I cannot run the tool under Guest account. The tool merely stops. I
suppose it is because the Guest account does not have the authority
to make the checks.

That little problem continues to gnaw at me but the alternate solution
of creating a functional account with limited access accomplishes what
I wanted to do.

Thanks anyway.

Lou

Policies are not editable by limited users. Doing so would eliminate the
purpose of those policies.

I'll Assume that the user profile is located at C:\Documents and
Settings\Guest, and is accessible from administrator. You are logged in as
an adminstrator and fast user switching is not being used.

Actions:

Open regedit
Select the HKEY_USERS key
Go to File -> "Load Hive"
Navigate to "C:\Documents and Settings\Guest\ntuser.dat"
{edit path as necessary}
When prompted for a name, enter HKEY_USER_GUEST
navigate to HKEY_USERS\HKEY_USER_GUEST\Software\Microsoft\Windows
\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
{Watch wrap on previous line}
Set the [REG_DWORD] "NoDriveTypeAutoRun" to 91 [hex]
Set the [REG_DWORD] "NoSaveSettings" to 0 (if present)
Navigate to HKEY_USERS\HKEY_USER_GUEST
Go to File -> Unload Hive -> Yes.

The registry is now edited.


--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
oshah
Control Panel -> System -> Advanced -> Error Reporting -> Choose Programs
-> Do not report errors for these programs:

Acrobat.exe
waol.exe

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Lou]

Policies are not editable by limited users. Doing so would eliminate the
purpose of those policies.

I'll Assume that the user profile is located at C:\Documents and
Settings\Guest, and is accessible from administrator. You are logged in as
an adminstrator and fast user switching is not being used.

Actions:

Open regedit
Select the HKEY_USERS key
Go to File -> "Load Hive"
Navigate to "C:\Documents and Settings\Guest\ntuser.dat"
{edit path as necessary}
When prompted for a name, enter HKEY_USER_GUEST
navigate to HKEY_USERS\HKEY_USER_GUEST\Software\Microsoft\Windows
\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
{Watch wrap on previous line}
Set the [REG_DWORD] "NoDriveTypeAutoRun" to 91 [hex]
Set the [REG_DWORD] "NoSaveSettings" to 0 (if present)
Navigate to HKEY_USERS\HKEY_USER_GUEST
Go to File -> Unload Hive -> Yes.

The registry is now edited.

Thanks but ....

NoDriveTypeAutoRun was already set to x'91' = 145
NoSaveSettings did not exist so I did nothing

AutoPlay in Guest account still does not work. When an audio CD is
inserted in drive D: (Audio CD) a file folder pops up listing the
contents of the drive is displayed.

I'm having fun with this (perhaps at your expense). It is a minor
problem that I have circumvented by creating another limited user
account. But I enjoy seeing there are a lot of people interested in
minor details of operating systems. It reminds me of my days as a
system programmer supporting IBM's MVS/DB2/CICS systems.

I would appreciate a solution to the problem but not at the expense of
more pressing matters with other more serious problems.

Lou

 

[OShah]

NoDriveTypeAutoRun was already set to x'91' = 145
NoSaveSettings did not exist so I did nothing

AutoPlay in Guest account still does not work. When an audio CD is
inserted in drive D: (Audio CD) a file folder pops up listing the
contents of the drive is displayed.

I'm having fun with this (perhaps at your expense). It is a minor
problem that I have circumvented by creating another limited user
account. But I enjoy seeing there are a lot of people interested in
minor details of operating systems. It reminds me of my days as a
system programmer supporting IBM's MVS/DB2/CICS systems.

I would appreciate a solution to the problem but not at the expense of
more pressing matters with other more serious problems.

Right click the drive, and fiddle with the autoplay tab (press "restore
defaults").

There are some good resources on troubleshooting autoplay here:
http://forum.gladiator-antivirus.com/index.php?showtopic=15090&st=0
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/WinXP/Q_20942805.html
(although this is for troubleshooting camera autoplay, it also applies to
Audio CD, watch wrap).

Things to check for are the installation of RealPlayer, starting the Shell
Hardware Detection Service, and looking for the above settings in Group
policy.

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
oshah
Control Panel -> System -> Advanced -> Error Reporting -> Choose Programs
-> Do not report errors for these programs:

Acrobat.exe
waol.exe

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Lou]

Thanks for the help. The ability to modify restricted accounts under
Administrator is handy. Dangerous but quite handy in a crunch.

Follow up on your last note:

Shell Hardware Detection Service is STARTED AUTOMATIC in the
Administrator account.

RealPlayer is installed but the start up task has been disabled via
MSCONFIG. Came pre-installed with the system. I do not use it for
any function of which I am aware. Perhaps I should remove it???

I've looked on a few sites for fixes for autoplay. I manually checked
my registry against the suggested fixes. I did not have to make any
changes other than the one you suggested previously.

New Information:

Administrator account and restricted Visitor accounts work (audio and
DVD CDs autoplay). AutoPlay tab exists in the CD properties.

Guest account does not work (no autoplay) and there is no AutoPlay tab
in the CD properties.

The system is a Dell Inspiron 5150 with a Sony CDRW/DVD CRX830E. I
noticed when I open Computer the drive is properly identified in the
Administrator and Visitor (DVD/CD-RW Drive (D, whereas in the Guest
account the drive is identified simply as CD Drive (D

I have another system, Dell Dimension 4550, that also fails to
autoplay in Guest but works in Administrator or Visitor. That system
has 3 CD devices. Devices are correctly identified in Administrator
and Visitor but not in Guest. Guest also does not have AutoPlay tab
in CD properties for any of the 3 drives.

Perhaps this is more than you bargained for.

Lou

 

[OShah]

Responses inline.

Thanks for the help. The ability to modify restricted accounts under
Administrator is handy. Dangerous but quite handy in a crunch.

Secondary Logon (Fast user switching) does that Load Hive stuff
automatically. However it gives the hives some horrible names, based on
the user SID (eg. s-1-5-20...). This makes it difficult to discern which
registry belongs to who. Trudging down those keys may reveal clues who it
belongs to.

Follow up on your last note:

Shell Hardware Detection Service is STARTED AUTOMATIC in the
Administrator account.

RealPlayer is installed but the start up task has been disabled via
MSCONFIG. Came pre-installed with the system. I do not use it for
any function of which I am aware. Perhaps I should remove it???

Realplayer is known to hijack the autoplays for a number of devices. I was
about to reply asking you to remove Realplayer's file associations. But
then... (see below)

I've looked on a few sites for fixes for autoplay. I manually checked
my registry against the suggested fixes. I did not have to make any
changes other than the one you suggested previously.

New Information:

Administrator account and restricted Visitor accounts work (audio and
DVD CDs autoplay). AutoPlay tab exists in the CD properties.

Guest account does not work (no autoplay) and there is no AutoPlay tab
in the CD properties.

Now here's something interesting, I just logged myself on as guest on a
clean installation of Windows XP (SP2). My installation is a integrated
SP1 install of WinXP Pro, then SP2 was applied. Nothing else is installed.

And Yes! The Autoplay tab is missing when I log on as guest too! A missing
autoplay tab would mean Explorer cannot get autoplay to work.

I've reproduced your problem! I'll give out more information once I've
investigated further.

The system is a Dell Inspiron 5150 with a Sony CDRW/DVD CRX830E. I
noticed when I open Computer the drive is properly identified in the
Administrator and Visitor (DVD/CD-RW Drive (D, whereas in the Guest
account the drive is identified simply as CD Drive (D

I have another system, Dell Dimension 4550, that also fails to
autoplay in Guest but works in Administrator or Visitor. That system
has 3 CD devices. Devices are correctly identified in Administrator
and Visitor but not in Guest. Guest also does not have AutoPlay tab
in CD properties for any of the 3 drives.

Perhaps this is more than you bargained for.

It's been my experience with tech support, that you can almost never have
too much information. The more information that is divulged, the easier it
is for the technician to diagnose the problem.

For example, had you not told me that the autoplay tab was missing in the
guest account, I would have never tried to check it myself (as guest),
thus never would have reproduced your problem.

Thanks.


--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
oshah
Control Panel -> System -> Advanced -> Error Reporting -> Choose Programs
-> Do not report errors for these programs:

Acrobat.exe
waol.exe

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Lou]

It's been my experience with tech support, that you can almost never have
too much information. The more information that is divulged, the easier it
is for the technician to diagnose the problem.

Thanks for your help. Glad you reproduced problem. Final piece of
information.

When setting up the Guest account, I erroneously set the Fax driver as
my default printer. Then I tried to print a test page. I got a
message saying the Shell Hardware Detection Service was not started.
I found my error and corrected the printer setting. Not knowing
exactly what Shell Hardware Detection Service was I ignored it. With
my current insight I thought that information might be of help to you.

Lou

 

[Incognitus]

Thanks for your help. Glad you reproduced problem. Final piece of
information.

When setting up the Guest account, I erroneously set the Fax driver as
my default printer. Then I tried to print a test page. I got a
message saying the Shell Hardware Detection Service was not started.
I found my error and corrected the printer setting. Not knowing
exactly what Shell Hardware Detection Service was I ignored it. With
my current insight I thought that information might be of help to you.

Lou

I've also experienced this autoplay problem with the Guest account, as I let
nobody here log on to anything but the Guest account in order to play games
and listen to music from CD's, and now that autoplay doesn't work I'm not
sure I like the idea of a file folder opening instead.

 

[OShah]

Thanks for your help. Glad you reproduced problem. Final piece of
information.

When setting up the Guest account, I erroneously set the Fax driver as
my default printer. Then I tried to print a test page. I got a
message saying the Shell Hardware Detection Service was not started.
I found my error and corrected the printer setting. Not knowing
exactly what Shell Hardware Detection Service was I ignored it. With
my current insight I thought that information might be of help to you.

Lou

Well, I've completed my analysis of the problem. It's a pity I'm not from
Microsoft, because only they can fix the problem.

First some background:
As you've guessed, Windows Autoplay is implemented by the Shell Hardware
Detection Service. This service allow Windows to detect changes to
hardware, such as when you plug in a printer, or a memory flash card or a
usb device, or (in our case) inserting a CD. Upon inserting the CD, the
shell hardware detection tells explorer: "Hey, somebody inserted a cd,
what do you want me to do about it?"

Explorer, then looks at the cd to find its contents (is it music? is it
pictures? Or something else?). Explorer then tells the Detection service
what kind of cd it is (eg. music). The Detection service then looks up the
"AutoPlayHandlers" registry to find out what to do for Music cds. Now the
computer knows how to run music cds, so all that's left to do is for
explorer to run it.

For all of this to work, Explorer and the Shell Hardware Detection Service
must be able to freely communicate with each other.

So why does Guest fail??

Have you noticed that when you try to enter services.msc as Guest, you get
an Access Denied message? The key to this entire problem is that Guest
does not belong to the "NT_AUTHORITY\Authenticated Users" group. When
WinXP entered the beta stages (back in 2001), Microsoft removed the Guest
account from the "Authenticated Users" group, for some rather complicated
reasons (hint: Nimda).

To communicate with the Shell Hardware Detection, a program needs to
invisibly open up services.msc, scroll down to the service, check if it's
started, then start communicating with it.

Unfortunately, you can only open up services.msc if you are an
"Authenticated User", which Guest is not. And there is NO way to let non-
Authenticated Users access services.msc (that's as quoted by Microsoft).

So this is what happens instead. You insert the CD, the shell hardware
detection service tells Explorer that a new cd was inserted. Explorer
finds out what's on the CD (eg. music). Then tries to talk back to Shell
Hardware Detection.

Here, XP discovers that Explorer is on Guest, and Guests aren't allowed to
talk to Services, thus blocking the message. So explorer is left there
without a reply, so Explorer says: "Hmm, autoplay doesn't seem to be
running, but then what am I supposed to be doing with this CD?" Explorer
then falls back to its default (Win95) behaviour of just opening up the CD
folder.

This looks like it's more than you needed to know.



Enough Background, So how do we fix it?

The only workaround I can find is to turn Guest into a normal user.
Although that's quite easy for XP Pro (lusrmgr.msc), it's not exactly easy
for XP Home. Maybe "control userpasswords2" can help.

The only other solution is to do what you are already doing (use a
different account). These are the only two workarounds, no solution is
available (That is, until MS provides a way to change the ACLs on SCM).


--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
oshah
Control Panel -> System -> Advanced -> Error Reporting -> Choose Programs
-> Do not report errors for these programs:

Acrobat.exe
waol.exe

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Lou]

This looks like it's more than you needed to know.

No. That is exactly the kind of explanation I like.

Thank you for your efforts and the explanation.

Enough Background, So how do we fix it?

The only workaround I can find is to turn Guest into a normal user.
Although that's quite easy for XP Pro (lusrmgr.msc), it's not exactly easy
for XP Home. Maybe "control userpasswords2" can help.

The only other solution is to do what you are already doing (use a
different account). These are the only two workarounds, no solution is
available (That is, until MS provides a way to change the ACLs on SCM).

I will continue to use my Visitor account and my grand children will
be happy.

Lou

 

[Incognitus]

Well, I've completed my analysis of the problem. It's a pity I'm not from
Microsoft, because only they can fix the problem.

First some background:
As you've guessed, Windows Autoplay is implemented by the Shell Hardware
Detection Service. This service allow Windows to detect changes to
hardware, such as when you plug in a printer, or a memory flash card or a
usb device, or (in our case) inserting a CD. Upon inserting the CD, the
shell hardware detection tells explorer: "Hey, somebody inserted a cd,
what do you want me to do about it?"

Explorer, then looks at the cd to find its contents (is it music? is it
pictures? Or something else?). Explorer then tells the Detection service
what kind of cd it is (eg. music). The Detection service then looks up the
"AutoPlayHandlers" registry to find out what to do for Music cds. Now the
computer knows how to run music cds, so all that's left to do is for
explorer to run it.

For all of this to work, Explorer and the Shell Hardware Detection Service
must be able to freely communicate with each other.

So why does Guest fail??

Have you noticed that when you try to enter services.msc as Guest, you get
an Access Denied message? The key to this entire problem is that Guest
does not belong to the "NT_AUTHORITY\Authenticated Users" group. When
WinXP entered the beta stages (back in 2001), Microsoft removed the Guest
account from the "Authenticated Users" group, for some rather complicated
reasons (hint: Nimda).

To communicate with the Shell Hardware Detection, a program needs to
invisibly open up services.msc, scroll down to the service, check if it's
started, then start communicating with it.

Unfortunately, you can only open up services.msc if you are an
"Authenticated User", which Guest is not. And there is NO way to let non-
Authenticated Users access services.msc (that's as quoted by Microsoft).

So this is what happens instead. You insert the CD, the shell hardware
detection service tells Explorer that a new cd was inserted. Explorer
finds out what's on the CD (eg. music). Then tries to talk back to Shell
Hardware Detection.

Here, XP discovers that Explorer is on Guest, and Guests aren't allowed to
talk to Services, thus blocking the message. So explorer is left there
without a reply, so Explorer says: "Hmm, autoplay doesn't seem to be
running, but then what am I supposed to be doing with this CD?" Explorer
then falls back to its default (Win95) behaviour of just opening up the CD
folder.

This looks like it's more than you needed to know.



Enough Background, So how do we fix it?

The only workaround I can find is to turn Guest into a normal user.
Although that's quite easy for XP Pro (lusrmgr.msc), it's not exactly easy
for XP Home. Maybe "control userpasswords2" can help.

The only other solution is to do what you are already doing (use a
different account). These are the only two workarounds, no solution is
available (That is, until MS provides a way to change the ACLs on SCM).

I'm having the same problem, the guest account did autoplay correctly before
SP2.

Your investigation is interesting because I found something earlier in the
registry that's confusing due to the fact that (H:\) is referenced and I
have no H: drive, only A: C: D: (XP) E: F: and G: (CD).

Below are the exported keys:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AutoplayHandlers]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AutoplayHandlers\EventHandlersDefaultSelection]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AutoplayHandlers\UserChosenExecuteHandlers]
"H:\\\\?\\IDE#CdRomSAMSUNG_CD-ROM_SC-148F__________________F007____#5&1c6242b&0&0.0.0#{53f5630d-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}+PlayCDAudioOnArrival"="MSPlayCDAudioOnArrival"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AutoplayHandlers\UserDefaults]
"H:\\\\?\\IDE#CdRomSAMSUNG_CD-ROM_SC-148F__________________F007____#5&1c6242b&0&0.0.0#{53f5630d-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}+PlayCDAudioOnArrival"="MSPlayCDAudioOnArrival"

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-1547161642-1580436667-1708537768-1004\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AutoplayHandlers]

[HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-1547161642-1580436667-1708537768-1004\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AutoplayHandlers\EventHandlersDefaultSelection]

[HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-1547161642-1580436667-1708537768-1004\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AutoplayHandlers\UserChosenExecuteHandlers]
"H:\\\\?\\IDE#CdRomSAMSUNG_CD-ROM_SC-148F__________________F007____#5&1c6242b&0&0.0.0#{53f5630d-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}+PlayCDAudioOnArrival"="MSPlayCDAudioOnArrival"

[HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-1547161642-1580436667-1708537768-1004\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AutoplayHandlers\UserDefaults]
"H:\\\\?\\IDE#CdRomSAMSUNG_CD-ROM_SC-148F__________________F007____#5&1c6242b&0&0.0.0#{53f5630d-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}+PlayCDAudioOnArrival"="MSPlayCDAudioOnArrival"

My thanks for your time as I've been trying to fix this for two weeks, now I
know.=)

 

[Incognitus]

No. That is exactly the kind of explanation I like.

Thank you for your efforts and the explanation.


I will continue to use my Visitor account and my grand children will
be happy.

In my case it's great-grand children.=)

I thought the guest account was a safe haven for them to play games and
music, I'm not sure how I'll handle them now.