autorun.inf is a file written to the
root of a data CD. If the user's PC autorun has not been disabled, then
the commands in autorun.inf will be executed when the CD is inserted.
We strongly recommend all software authors
include autorun.inf on their CDs, especially if the target market
consists of relatively unsophisticated users. We have found that if
applications launch when the CD is inserted, customer support calls and
e-mails will be greatly reduced. We get many complaints of
"defective CDs", just because some authors don't include autorun.inf.
autorun.inf can be written with any
text editor. Here is the content of a typical file:
[autorun]
OPEN=setup.exe
In this case, the file setup.exe in the
CD root will automatically start when the CD is inserted by the user.
A couple of important notes:
-autorun.inf will not work on Macs
-The OPEN command must be followed by an
executable file. You cannot force an application to run by using file
associations. For example, OPEN=readme.txt will not force the
opening of the user's default text editor
-There is an excellent freeware tool called
BrowserCall which opens the user's default web browser. You can download
a copy here. Using BrowserCall, you can then have an HTML menu run
when autorun.inf executes. An example autorun.inf file
might be:
[autorun]
OPEN=browsercall.exe \menu.html
This will open menu.html in the CD root
directory, using the PC's default web browser. NOTE: Be
sure to include the backslash (\) prior to the document name, or your browser
will probably look to the internet for the file, instead of looking at the
CD-ROM drive. As always, we strongly recommend you test your autorun.inf
on as many machines and OS configurations as possible.
There are many more commands and complex
routines that can be run with autorun.inf, and there are many
references on the internet to help you along. If you only do the minimum
and write autorun.inf to launch your setup application, you will greatly
reduce your customers' frustration levels, and reduce customer support issues
for yourself and for SwiftCD.
Good luck!
If you have any questions, please ask
here.
