AutoPlay FAQ

I have wasted a lot of time to get AutoPlay to work like I want, thereby examinating a lot of resources. Here are the most usefull one I have found:

What is AutoPlay good for?
See Microsoft Technical Support Article ID: Q136214.

How to can I use AutoPlay? What's the syntax of the AutoRun.inf file?
See "Supporting AutoPlay" from Microsoft Windows Interface Guidelines for Software Design (Thanks to Mr. Roger A. Champagne for this hint).
See "Using AutoPlay for Windows '95" from the Australian Visual Developers Forum.
See also "Andy McFadden's CD-Recordable FAQ" from the The CD-Info Company.

How can I test my AutoRun.inf file before writing a CD-ROM?
See Microsoft Knowledge Base Article ID: Q136214.

How can I quickly enable and disable the autoplay capacibility?
See free AutoPlay test configurator from GS Technologies.

How can I differ from before and after installation from CD-ROM?
See AutoRun.EXE from Dirigo Multimedia.

How can I AutoPlay advice to open an document with an appropriate application(e.g. a html file with an internet browser)?
See usenet article posted from Rich Hunziker <vampire@wwa.com>:

The open command will only open the file. What you need to do is use the start command.
[autorun]
open=start start.html
Either that or use the open=whatever.bat then in the whatever.bat have it do the start command.

How can I suppress the DOS-Box when Start opens a document?
Because I haven't found an good freeware program, I have witten autorun.exe (freeware) by myself. It opens the first document it finds in the following search order: autorun, start, index and ReadMe with extension html, htm, doc, wri and txt.

Now I have found one, it's called Autorun, written by Steven Blackburn. It opens the document given as command line parameter.

In the c't magazine I have read about shelexec, written by the evil-doer Microsoft. The usage is the same as Autorun from Steven Blackburn:
[autorun]
open=shelexec index.html


Bernhard Fischer, 98/11/13. 1