Changing available programs when USB device is plugged in

  • Thread starter Thread starter John
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J

John

When I plug my camera into the USB port, I'm offered a choice of two
programs: Microsoft Camera Wizard and Photoshop Elements. I don't
want to use either one of those, I'd rather open Windows Explorer and
copy the pictures to where I want them.

But Windows Explorer is not one of the choices offered, so I have to
close the dialog box, then click on My Computer and select the camera
in order to get to the pictures.

How can I add Windows Explorer to the choice of programs offered when
I plug the camera in?


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John
 
John said:
When I plug my camera into the USB port, I'm offered a choice of two
programs: Microsoft Camera Wizard and Photoshop Elements. I don't
want to use either one of those, I'd rather open Windows Explorer and
copy the pictures to where I want them.

But Windows Explorer is not one of the choices offered, so I have to
close the dialog box, then click on My Computer and select the camera
in order to get to the pictures.

How can I add Windows Explorer to the choice of programs offered when
I plug the camera in?


Reply-to address is real
John
Click to expand...

Usually, Windows Explorer is one of the choices; I don't know why it's
not on your system. Nevertheless, you should be able to add it using
TweakUI from
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Downloads/powertoys/Xppowertoys.mspx

Some people miss the section of TweakUI where this is done:
1. Click the + next to "My Computer"
2. Click the + next to "AutoPlay"
3. Select "Handlers"

The first thing to do is to see if there is an entry in the list of
Autoplay Handlers to "Open folder to view files using Windows Explorer."

If there is, click the "Edit" button and make sure that all of the boxes
under "Supported Media" are checked except "Blank CDR."

If there is no Windows Explorer handler, click the "Create" button to
make one.

The default "Args" are /idlist,%I,%L exactly as written here.
--
Lem -- MS-MVP

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm
 
Usually, Windows Explorer is one of the choices; I don't know why it's
not on your system. Nevertheless, you should be able to add it using
TweakUI from
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Downloads/powertoys/Xppowertoys.mspx

Some people miss the section of TweakUI where this is done:
1. Click the + next to "My Computer"
2. Click the + next to "AutoPlay"
3. Select "Handlers"

The first thing to do is to see if there is an entry in the list of
Autoplay Handlers to "Open folder to view files using Windows Explorer."

If there is, click the "Edit" button and make sure that all of the boxes
under "Supported Media" are checked except "Blank CDR."

If there is no Windows Explorer handler, click the "Create" button to
make one.

The default "Args" are /idlist,%I,%L exactly as written here.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Lem.

But I did all that, and found that it was already set as it was
supposed to be (i.e., everything except Blank CDR checked). And I
still get no choice of Explorer when I plug the camera in.

Any idea what else to try?

Reply-to address is real
John
 
John said:
Thanks, Lem.

But I did all that, and found that it was already set as it was
supposed to be (i.e., everything except Blank CDR checked). And I
still get no choice of Explorer when I plug the camera in.

Any idea what else to try?

Reply-to address is real
John
Click to expand...

If you right-click on your CD or DVD drive and select Properties and
then the Autoplay tab, is "Open Folder to View Files" listed as one of
the options (you'll have to click the "Select an action to perform"
radio button in order to scroll)?

What about the same if you insert a USB thumb drive (if you have one)?

See if there's anything here that helps:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/autoplayhandlers.htm

If using Ramesh's CleanHandlers utility to scan doesn't reveal any
problems, the problem is either that the Handler "MSOpenFolder" is
missing or corrupted (in which case it probably doesn't show for the CD
and USB drives either) or the entry for that handler in the "Event
Handler" associated with your camera is missing.

See Ramesh's site linked above for the registry locations of the
Handlers and Event Handlers. If you decide to try editing the registry
manually, be *sure* to back up things first.


--
Lem -- MS-MVP

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm
 
Thanks, Lem.  

But I did all that, and found that it was already set as it was
supposed to be (i.e., everything except Blank CDR checked).  And I
still get no choice of Explorer when I plug the camera in.

Any idea what else to try?

Reply-to address is real
John
Click to expand...

After plugging in my camera, I have always just closed the offered
list and used Explorer, but thought I would give this good idea a
shot.

I added it in Tweak UI and it looks good there, but Explorer does not
show up in the offered list when I plug in my camera. As a matter of
fact, the presented list doesn't really match the Tweak UI list at
all. There seems to be two of everything and Explorer is not one of
them. Maybe I just never noticed it was screwed up before. I did
reboot.

Tweak UI shows about 20 things, but when my camera comes on I see only
8 things, and they don't even show up in Tweak UI at all. They ones
in Tweak UI are all in the registry, and I see the one I added with
Tweak UI in the registry.

Hmmm...
 
Jose said:
After plugging in my camera, I have always just closed the offered
list and used Explorer, but thought I would give this good idea a
shot.

I added it in Tweak UI and it looks good there, but Explorer does not
show up in the offered list when I plug in my camera. As a matter of
fact, the presented list doesn't really match the Tweak UI list at
all. There seems to be two of everything and Explorer is not one of
them. Maybe I just never noticed it was screwed up before. I did
reboot.

Tweak UI shows about 20 things, but when my camera comes on I see only
8 things, and they don't even show up in Tweak UI at all. They ones
in Tweak UI are all in the registry, and I see the one I added with
Tweak UI in the registry.

Hmmm...
Click to expand...

Note that the list of "actions to perform" depends on the content type
reported by the device that's plugged in. A camera *should* report
"pictures" or at least "mixed content." I don't know what happens if
the device handler gets the content type wrong.

--
Lem -- MS-MVP

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm
 
If you right-click on your CD or DVD drive and select Properties and
then the Autoplay tab, is "Open Folder to View Files" listed as one of
the options (you'll have to click the "Select an action to perform"
radio button in order to scroll)?
Yes

What about the same if you insert a USB thumb drive (if you have one)?
Click to expand...

Yes, it's there, too.

Interestingly, when I look at Properties for the camera, it doesn't
have an Autoplay tab at all. Is that normal? (It does have a
somewhat-equivalent Events tab in which you can select the "Camera
Connected" event -- the only one available -- and then select what
action to perform. But opening WE is not one of them.)
See if there's anything here that helps:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/autoplayhandlers.htm

If using Ramesh's CleanHandlers utility to scan doesn't reveal any
problems, the problem is either that the Handler "MSOpenFolder" is
missing or corrupted (in which case it probably doesn't show for the CD
and USB drives either) or the entry for that handler in the "Event
Handler" associated with your camera is missing.
Click to expand...

It looks like CleanHandlers is geared to fixing existing or invalid
autoplay settings, rather than adding new ones. Its scan didn't find
anything amiss.
See Ramesh's site linked above for the registry locations of the
Handlers and Event Handlers. If you decide to try editing the registry
manually, be *sure* to back up things first.
Click to expand...

I think I'll just live with it. It's an annoyance, rather than a
serious problem, and not worth mucking around in the registry for.

Thanks for your effort, Lem. I appreciate it.


Reply-to address is real
John
 
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