How To: Turn Off USB Auto Run in Windows 7

How to turn off autoplay Windows 7 for USB flash drives.

Some may want to turn off the USB auto play so that when a USB device is connected the auto pop-up window doesn’t appear.  I don’t mind the pop-up window as it usually defaults to the area or program I’m trying to get into anyway, but for some, I could see the frustration.  So on that note, here is a quick USB tutorial on how to turn off the USB auto run function.

First, click START > RUN and type in gpedit.msc  then click RUN.

Next you’ll want to navigate to the location shown below.  That would be:

Computer Configuration > Admin Templates > Windows Components  Once there you would double click Windows Components

That will take you to the following area where we can select the menu to edit the USB autorun functions.  Double click the AutoPlay Policies

Next select the Turn Off Autoplay by double clicking it.

Finally we have the right area to edit the USB autorun functions.  It seems a bit counter intuitive, but you need to Enable [turn on] the “Turn OFF Autoplay”  Check the radial button as shown below.  You wall also want to select All Drives which will include CD-ROM as well.

Once you are done simply click Apply and OK and your USB autorun is now off.  There is no reason to reboot your computer, the setting will take place immediately.

To turn off USB autorun for Window XP Home or turn of USB autorun for Windows XP [none Home version].