Changing Behavior for Audio CDs

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated February 26, 2018)

Whenever Jerry inserts an audio CD into his PC, Windows automatically starts to play the CD using Windows Media Player. This bugs Jerry, as he doesn't always want to play whatever CD he inserts. Many times he wants to perform some other action, such as treating the audio CD as data. Jerry wonders if there is a way to stop Windows from always trying to play his CDs when he inserts them.

Actually, Windows makes it rather easy to modify what happens when it detects a new audio CD being inserted in your system. Just follow these general steps:

  1. Display the Control Panel.
  2. Click the Hardware and Sound link.
  3. Click the AutoPlay link.
  4. Scroll down a bit until you see the CDs area. (See Figure 1.)

    5. Figure 1. The AutoPlay area of the Control Panel.

  5. Using the drop-down list to the right of the Audio CD label, choose what you want Windows to do when it detects an audio CD. (Jerry will probably want to select either Take No Action or Ask Me Every Time.)
  6. Click Save.
  7. Close the Control Panel.

That's it. The next time you insert an audio CD into your system, Windows will take whatever action you specified in step 5.

 This tip (12242) applies to Windows 7, 8, and 10.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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