How AutoPlay Works

The implementation of AutoPlay relies on the following three items:

·32-bit CD-ROM device drivers.

CD-ROM device drivers for Windows 95 are designed to detect when you insert a CD into a CD-ROM drive. This feature was not present in device drivers designed for previous versions of MS-DOS and Windows. When you insert a CD into a CD-ROM drive, Windows 95 immediately checks to see if the CD has a personal computer file system. If it does, Windows 95 looks for a file named Autorun.inf.

·Autorun.inf file.

This file resides on the CD and specifies the application that AutoPlay runs. Autorun.inf can contain other information as well.

·Startup application.

Although you can run any application on the CD by specifying it in the Autorun.inf file, typically the application performs a startup or installation function. By including your own startup application, you can control the install, uninstall, and run processes for the program distributed on the CD.