Does that window look familiar? Ever wish you could customize it with options such as:

  • opening a file,
  • opening a website, or
  • running a program?

Guess what?

You can. And here’s how!

  1. Create an autorun.inf file. This is the file that will contain your customizations. Put it in your flash drive (not in a folder though.) Open it in TextEdit or any text editor.
  2. At the top of the file, type “[autorun]” (without quotes, of course), then hit Enter.
  3. There are now a variety of ways you can customize the autorun. Just follow the examples below:
    • Naming your USB drive: label = Name of usb drive
    • Giving your USB drive an icon: icon = Iconname.ico OR ProgramName.exe (in the latter case, the USB icon will be the ProgramName’s icon.
    • Opening a program:open = ProgramName.exe
      action = Description that will be shown in the window
    • Opening up a website:shellexecute = http://bit.ly/deathgleaner

An example of an autorun.inf file:

[autorun]
open=Eclipse.exe
label=Deathgleaner's awesome drive
shellexecute=http://bit.ly/deathgleaner
action=Open up Deathgleaner's website and Eclipse.exe

In this case, clicking on the option in the box will open up Eclipse as well as this blog.

For more tips, check out this website.

Published by Geoffrey Liu

A software engineer by trade and a classical musician at heart. Currently a software engineer at Groupon getting into iOS mobile development. Recently graduated from the University of Washington, with a degree in Computer Science and a minor in Music. Web development has been my passion for many years. I am also greatly interested in UI/UX design, teaching, cooking, biking, and collecting posters.

3 thoughts on “Making the most of your USB: Autorun.inf”

  1. Pingback: Very best Wireless Router for Home

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.