TechNote (Archived)

Creating an AutoRun CD

Director itself does not have the ability to burn CDs or enable AutoRun features for projectors. This TechNote provides resources and information for achieving these goals. Macromedia does not provide technical support for CD burning or AutoRun issues.

CD burning

Projector files are platform specific. You can not play a Macintosh projector on a Windows system and vice versa. You can, however, create a hybrid CD that contains both Macintosh and Windows projectors. This requires CD burning software which has the ability to create a hybrid CD. Toast, by Roxio has the ability to create hybrid CDs. Please see the information Roxio has provided on their web site, How to create a hybrid CD with Toast.

The AutoRun feature

AutoRun is a feature that can be implemented when the CD is burned. Note that the AutoRun feature can be disabled on each individual system, in which case an AutoRun-enabled CD will not automatically launch. On Macintosh systems, the AutoRun feature (called AutoPlay) can be accessed through the QuickTime Settings control panel. For more information about disabling the AutoRun feature on Macintosh and Windows systems refer to the following articles on Microsoft's and Apple's Web sites:

AutoRun on Windows

The AutoRun feature on Windows is implemented by putting an INF file in the parent directory of the CD. Create a text file called"AutoRun.inf" using a program such as Notepad. Include the following text, replacing "whatever" with the name of the application you wish to launch:

[AutoRun] open=whatever.exe icon=whatever.ico

The third line (icon=whatever.ico) is not required. It allows the drive icon of the CD to be changed. For more information about making custom icons see How to make a custom icon for Director projectors (TechNote 19274). For additional information on creating an AutoRun CD, refer to Microsoft's article HOWTO: Enable Autorun for Applications Distributed on CD- ROM.

AutoPlay on Macintosh System 9.x and below

On the Macintosh, the AutoPlay functionality is not executed as a program or as a script launching an application (like the INF file on Windows). This is not a feature of the operating system itself but was actually part of Quicktime 2.0's feature set. The real goal of the AutoPlay feature in Quicktime 2.0/2.1 is for users to be immediately engaged, upon insertion of a CD ROM product, in an experience of the developer's choice. Thus, any file type can be specified to AutoPlay, including data files.

To create a Macintosh projector that uses the AutoPlay feature you must have CD burning software that has an AutoPlay option, such asToast or other similar CD burning software.

AutoPlay on Macintosh OSX

The AutoPlay feature was silently dropped under Mac OS X. For usability purposes, a readme file can be added to a CD's root folder to instruct the user about what to do. Many Macintosh resources recommend this for OSX as well System 9.

A number of workarounds to enable AutoPlay on OSX have been posted on various online resources. For supported procedures regarding the AutoPlay feature, check the Macintosh Developer website.