Devices Enable or Disable AutoPlay for All Drives in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable AutoPlay for all drives for all users in Windows 10 and Windows 11.

AutoPlay lets you choose an action for different kinds of media when you plug in a device or insert media. You can set AutoPlay to open different kinds of content, such as photos, music, and video on different kinds of media, such as drives, CDs, DVDs, cameras, and phones. For example, you can use AutoPlay to select an app that will automatically open photos on a removable drive when you plug it into your PC. With AutoPlay, you don't have to open the same app or reselect preferences every time you plug in a certain device.

When the Shell detects the insertion of new media or the attachment of a hot-plug device, the contents of the device or media are determined. AutoPlay, depending on its current settings, does one of the following.

• Plays the content automatically.
• Displays a dialog box prompting the user to choose a default handler for a single content type.
• Presents, in the case of mixed content, a list of available handler applications to launch. The chosen handler then automatically plays its associated content type.
• Displays a standard folder view of the files.
• Does nothing if, earlier, the user had chosen Take no action for that content type as well as specified Always do the selected action. You can turn off AutoPlay for specific media or devices by choosing Take no action as its AutoPlay default.
• You will only see an AutoPlay notification when you have AutoPlay turned on and connect a device, media, or content that you chose Choose a default (default) or Ask me every time as its AutoPlay default.
• If you connect a storage device to your PC (for example, a USB flash drive or other external drive), that device won't appear under Devices in AutoPlay. AutoPlay will only show non-storage devices, such as some digital cameras, video cameras, and phones. You can view storage devices in the This PC window in File Explorer.
• You can press and hold the Shift key when you insert devices or media into your PC to open an AutoPlay notification, regardless of the default setting.

You can use the Turn off AutoPlay group policy to disable AutoPlay for all drives no matter what users have set in AutoPlay for their accounts.

You must be signed in as an administrator to enable or disable AutoPlay for all drives.

This will not affect AutoPlay for non-volume devices like cameras or phones.

Disabling AutoPlay for all drives will also remove the Open AutoPlay context menu for removable drives.

EXAMPLE: "Ask me every time" AutoPlay notification

The Local Group Policy Editor is only available in the Windows 10/11 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions.

All editions can use Option Two.

1 Open the Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc).

2 Navigate to the policy location below in the left pane of the Local Group Policy Editor. (see screenshot below)



3 In the right pane of AutoPlay Policies in the Local Group Policy Editor, double click/tap on the Turn off AutoPlay policy to edit it. (see screenshot above)

4 Do step 5 (enable) or step 6 (disable) below for what you would like to do.

This is the default setting.

7 You can now close the Local Group Policy Editor if you like.





1 Do step 2 (enable) or step 3 (disable) below for what you would like to do.

This is the default setting.

(Contents of REG file for reference)





(Contents of REG file for reference)

4 Save the .reg file to your desktop.

5 Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

6 When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

7 You could now delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.


That's it,
Shawn Brink