In Windows operating system such as Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 (including R2 variants), the AutoPlay or AutoRun feature on USB, FireWire, eSATA and CD/DVD-ROM devices may not work with no dialog box displayed when external devices been plugged in.

Most VMWare virtualization products, such as VMWare Workstation, VMWare Player and VMWare Server, modifies the AutoPlay feature of Windows in some way or another in order to avoid conflict when a disc media is inserted into CD or DVD drive, or a device is plugged into the computer. The issue happens even though users have unchecked or unselected option to disable auto-run on VMWare.

The symptom can also be different where only certain drives AutoPlay feature does not work. For example, AutoRun may work for CD or DVD drive, but does not work for any other drives such as USB flash memory stick or removable storage drive.

In order to resolve and fix the AutoPlay or AutoRun disabled or not working issue, just amend the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer

And change the value data of NoDriveTypeAutoRun to one of the value below, in hexadecimal (or decimal), depending on which AutoPlay features to enable:

0×000000B5 (181) disable AutoRun on CD-ROM drives, plus default unknown drive, removable drive (meant for floppy or ZIP), network drive and reserved drive type.

0×000000FF (255) disable AutoRun/AutoPlay on all drive types.

0×00000091 (145) default in Windows Vista and Windows 7.

0×00000095 (149) default in Windows XP.

0x000000000 (0) enable all AutoPlay and AutoRun.

0×00000080 (128) disable AutoPlay on unknown reserved file type.

Log off and log on again or restart the computer after changing the value.

Another possible registry key which affects the CD and DVD optical drive is at the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Systems\CurrentControlSet\Services\cdrom\

The AutoRun registry value should be set as 1.