Autorun.inf

[gr8digital]

Trying to put together a slideshow. When I open the Autorun.inf file to modify the file name, I get a message that says "Sorry, the trial period of your presentation has expired". Does anyone know why and what I can do???

Also, when I tried to open my Notepad to write a new Autorun file, the notepad does not open/appear onto the screen. Anyone know why??? How to fix it???

[keffs]

How are you trying to open your Autorun.inf file? What are you trying to use to edit it? It is exceedingly unlikley that trying to open this file for editing will result in this message. You could be just trying to run the file instead of edit it.

Is notepad opening up off screen? Does it appear on your task bar? If it does, right-click on it on the task bar. If move is greyed-out, select restore. Right click again, select move. Left click and drag until your cursor appears on screen, then release.

Steve

[gr8digital]

The Notepad is not appearing off-screen. So I don't know what is happening to my computer - why Notepad does not open up.

I tried to modify the Autorun.inf file like I have in the past - opened it up in Windows Explorer. BUt this time it would not let me. Any other advice?

[Guest Techman1]

Great Digital,

Try running NOTEPAD from the Run command by doing the following:

Click on START

Click on RUN

Type NOTEPAD and press Enter

This should cause Notepad to start up. If it doesn't there is probably something wrong with the Notepad program file. There are a few viruses that corrupt this program or it could be something else. If Notepad doesn't work, do you any any other editors like (MSWord, Word Perfect, etc.) as they could be used to create a new Autorun.inf file.

I agree with Steve regarding the Time Limitation, the Autorun was probably being executed which then was running the PTE slideshow that has an expiration date embedded in it.

Good luck and let us know if this works.

Fred

[gr8digital]

Fred & Steve,

Thanks for the advices. I was able to open up Notepad via "Run". I created a new Autorun.inf file & replaced it over the existing one. However, when I try to open the new file in Windows Explorer it said the trial period has expired and the text file would not open.

I also created a new CD with the presentation and the autorun file. When I inserted the CD into another computer, the CD does not auto start.

ANy more advice as to why this is happening? I have done this numerous times in the past months and never encountered this problem before.

Thanks.

Kurt

[Guest Techman1]

Kurt,

Was this a PTE presentation that you created? If so, you may need to recreate it and not specify an expiration date in it. If someone else created it, you'll need to ask them to give you an updated version.

Regarding the Autorun.inf file, does the other computer play other CD's that have Autorun.inf's included? You can turn off the Autorun feature within Windows so that a CD inserted will not automatically start running. This may be the case. On this other PC can you double-click on the Autorun.inf file from the CD and get it to start (although you will still get the expiration issue if running the same PTE file)?

Try to give us a little more information and I'm sure someone on the forum can help.

Good luck!

Fred

[gr8digital]

Fred,

The PTE file was created by me. The issue is not the PTE file, but rather the Autorun.inf file itself. I do not know why, but all of a sudden when I double click on the Autorun.inf to change the PTE file name, the error message I get is that the Autorun.inf file's trial period had expired. This is really weird as I have a full subscription to Winsoft.

Additionally, when I burned a CD copy of my presentation, I also included the Autorun.inf file. However, when I go to Windows explorer to read the CD drive containing the CD I created, it does not show the Autorun.inf file - only the presentation.

How can I fix or modify the Autorun.inf file? I would like to CD to run automatically whenever my client pops the CD into the drive.

I hope I have provided more information.

Thanks.

Kurt

[Guest Techman1]

Kurt,

I have a few more questions for you:

1) Can you run your PTE.exe file without the Autorun.inf file and does it start running properly?

2) If you look at the file attributes of your Autorun.inf file, does it show to be hidden?

3) Can you provide the two or three lines of your Autorun.inf file so we can look at it to verify that it is correct?

Hopefully this will help isolate the problem further.

Thanks,

Fred

[gr8digital]

Fred,

To answer your questions:

1) I can run the PTE.exe file without the Autorun.inf file. The problem is that the presentation does not automatically start when I load the CD.

2) I checked the file attributes and it does not show that it is hidden.

3) Below is the text of my Autorun.inf file:

[autorun]

open=FathersDay2004.exe

icon=FathersDay2004.exe

BTW - would you know when I cannot load the Notepad directly from Accessories? I can load it via the Start-Run-Notepad, per your earlier instructions.

Thanks!

Kurt

[keffs]

Kurt,

Again, how are you trying to open your .inf file? If you don't answer this, we can't help you. A .inf file, as you know is just a plain text file, but the default action, if it has not been changed, is to run it, not edit it. It sounds as though you are running it, but if you don't answer the question, I don't know.

Concerning starting Notepad, navigate to your accessories menu, but right click on Notepad, and at the bottom of the menu, select properties. This will bring up a dialog that shows where the exe file is. What is in the "Target" edit box? Check that notepad.exe does exist there.

When you left click, what exactly is happening? Also what OS are you on?

Steve

[gr8digital]

Hello Steve,

1) According to PICT-TO-EXE instructions, in order to have the CD start automatically when it is popped into the drive, I am supposed to change the file name in the Autorun.inf for each presentation I develop. So, in the past, I would go to Windows Explorer and then to the appropriate folder where the Autorun.infi located, double click on it. Once opened, I would change the "presentation.exe" name. However, this time I am not able to open it.

I even deleted the old Autorun.inf file and created a new one, but still got the same error message "Sorry, the trial period has expired".

2) As for ntoepad, the "notepad.exe" does not exist. There is a notepad.exe "pf" file in a folder called "prefetch". When I try to open Notepad via the Start Menu - the computer does nothing when I left click it.

I am running Windows XP.

Thanks for the patience and hope I have given more information.

Kurt

[Conflow]

Kurt,

I had the same problem as yourself -

When I changed from the "old PTE Program" to the "new PTE Program (V4.2)

I had to re-load my Subscription Key into the new Program. Then everythings O.K.

Another fault that can occur is when the Computer Clock suddenly changes Date.

in my case it had jumped back to 2003 - and on investigation I traced the fault to

a bad Battery connection - they do get oxidized over time.

I also had a similar problem with another program last year (Not PTE) -guess what ?

I found out that Notepad and Wordpad are Time/Date sensitive. Because Notepad

and Wordpad are the basic "scripter documents" on the PC you need to make sure

that the Time/Date Tab is 'unchecked' - its found under the Edit Dropdown Tab on

any Notepad Document - when checked all types of INI File problems occured.

You might also check that the basic Autorun Template is clear of script - you will find it

under:- Start -> Find/Search, type in Autorun -> it will be the 1st File on the list,viz:-

Autorun ... C:\Windows. Its looks like a Notepad Icon with gearwheel

Hope this helps,

Brian Kelly.Conflow.

conflow@iol.ie

[Ken Cox]

Kurt

on my xp home

notepad.exe

is LOCATED in

c:\WINDOWS

as well as

c:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

as well as

c:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\dllcache

all dated 8\23\01

and in a couple more places

so i would run xp' search for notepad.exe in the windows folder to locate all instances for starters

ken

[gr8digital]

Hi Brian - I'm a new subscriber to Pict-To-Exe (May 2004) and signed up under the 4.20 Version. I have not had this problem until this week. When I ran a search and left mouse clicked the "Autorun.inf" files I still get the following error message:

Sorry, but trial period of this presentation has expired.

Also, in the Notepad, I went to "Edit" then "Time/Date" - how do I uncheck as you indicated below?

Hi Ken - Thank for the advice below. I did run a search for "Notepad.exe" and did not find out. There is a "Notepad" icon though under C:\Windows. Again, I cannot seem to understand why I the Notepad does not come up when I left mouse click it.

I am normally computer-saavy, but do not know why I am having so much problems with the Autorun.inf file - why I keep getting the message below.

Anyway advice is greatly appreciated!!!!

Kurt

[Ken Cox]

Kurt

maybe you should run a system restore, to a point prior to the point you started having problems --

ken

[Alan Lyons]

Hi All, The last time I got this Message:

"Sorry, but trial period of this presentation has expired." It had nothing to do with the auto run but with the fact in the Project Options for the show in P2E, I had set an expiry date for the show.

Youneed to load your .pte file into P2E and remove the date limit. Then re create the show and overwrite to your cd.

What catches people out is the date here is entered MM/DD/YY and not DD/MM/YY so if you enter incorectly a show will expire on the wrong date i.e. a show you want to expire on 1st Nov 2004 if entered incorectly will expire on 11th Jan 2004.

Alan

[Lloegyr]

Hi Kurt

I have just picked up this thread and the first thing I notice is that if your Autorun file really is like the below which is direct from one of your messages then you better change the icon line. This appears to being calling the exe file twice, which it cant.

Nothing to do with the out of time thing which does sound like its set in PTE, but you have to eliminate all possibilities

[autorun]

open=FathersDay2004.exe

icon=FathersDay2004.exe

Mike

Mersea Island

[Conflow]

Hi Kurt,

As I said, when in Notepad go to Edit - if Time/Date is checked, simply Click on it to remove

the Check Tic - it has a 'toggle'action, ie:- Clk once = On, Clk again= OFF (leave it off)

2) Are you absolutely sure you are working with PTE 4.20 and not the Trial Version ??

To be sure, PTE 4.2 has a 'Video Button' on the PTE Control Bar on the bottom of its

Opening Window.

Following on from Fred, Mike, Steve and Ken would you do the following:-

3) Open the PTE Program as if you were going to make a New Slideshow.

Clk/On-> Project Options then -> Clk/On-> Advanced Tab. On the bottom of this Window

you will find a section 'Protection of the Presentation'-

It has 4 Radio Buttons a Text Screen and a large a Button 'Customise Trial Use Details'

4) Make sure that all Buttons are 'blank and that the Text Screen is 'blank'

5) As Mike said - you can not have 2 Exe's in the Autorun INI. File

To be honest I had a lot of problems with Autorun - IT MUST BE FORMAT AND TEXT PERFECT

and must be in the root directory of the CD. To be sure,to be sure (thats Irish) click on the

Explorer and when it opens make a Folder and call it "Upload" - throw the EXE and the INI

and a copy of any 'Startup Window' including its WAV File into it. Now go to your Burner File

and INDIVIDUALLY drag each file from the Upload Folder into the Burning Folder leaving you

with an empty Upload Folder. - and even then, on some PCs' it wont run !

I got "cheesed off' with this mullarky and bought myself a Copy of "Autorun Wizard" from

www.rjlsoftware.com costing$10 - it does a proper job with its own

Exe, the PTE Exe, the Autorun INI, the Autorun INF and a Dat File plus Start Screen & Wav

and choice of Icon and a great AUTORUN TEST before BURN facility plus ISO Save As to make

multiple copies. It runs on IRISH RAILS Mainframe and everything else from '95 upwards.

It was the best $10 dollars I ever spent !!

Brian Kelly.Conflow.

conflow@iol.ie

[keffs]

Kurt,

1) OK, the problem you have when opening the .inf file is clear. On Windoze, each file type will have a "default" action. This action is what happens when you "run" the file, such as double-click or hit enter from explorer. Other file types have other actions. E.g. a .txt file will open in notepad, a .doc file will open in Word (if installed). This is all configuarble, but for a .inf file the default end up running the contents of the file. This is the same as when the CD is inserted in the CD drive. So, double clicking executes the presentation, and you have that presentation set to expire after a certain date, which is before now. If you right-click on the .inf file, you should have an option "open with". Select this, and if a suitable edit prog is not listed, select the "choose program..." option. Then navigate to your editor prog. This will then open it for editing, and that prog will be available of the open with menu for this file type in the future. There are other ways of doing this, but this is probably the easiest.

2) What are you getting in the target box when you select properties after right-clicking on the notepad menu item? It sounds as though this has got messed up. You have a "search for target" button. Use this to navigate to where notepad.exe does exist. On my system, it is "%SystemRoot%\system32\notepad.exe". Try pasting this into the target box, without the quotes, but with the %.

Steve

[keffs]

I have just picked up this thread and the first thing I notice is that if your Autorun file really is like the below which is direct from one of your messages then you better change the icon line. This appears to being calling the exe file twice, which it cant.

This is not calling the exe file twice. It is calling it once, and loading the icon from the exe.

There is nothing wrong with this .inf file, and it has nothing, repeat nothing, to do with the original problems posted here.

Steve

[keffs]

Hi Kurt,

As I said, when in Notepad go to Edit - if Time/Date is checked, simply Click on it to remove

the Check Tic - it has a 'toggle'action, ie:- Clk once = On, Clk again= OFF (leave it off)

2) Are you absolutely sure you are working with PTE 4.20 and not the Trial Version ??

...

5) As Mike said - you can not have 2 Exe's in the Autorun INI. File

All Time/Date does in notepad is insert the date in the document. It has no relevance to the problem here.

The version of PTE has no relevance to the problem here.

You can have 2 exe files in the Autorun.inf, and besides it has no relevance to the problem.

Just to remind everybody, Kurt has two problems:

1) How to open his .inf file in notepad for editing.

2) The notepad menu item from his start button is not starting notepad.

Lets try and help him by staying on track.

Steve

[Conflow]

Hi Steve,

If you 'review' Kurts' origional post on the 20/6/04 (PAGE 1)- there are 2 queries raised,viz:-

1) Time Trial Period expired Notification.......

2) Problem trying to edit his Autorun.inf.......

Answer to 1 above

Surely as Forum Members we should try to establish that Kurt is using the right version of PTE in the 1st instance, and that it is being used correctly. We all make mistakes the firsttime around, its very easy to accidentally activate the 'Protection of Presentation' facility and then forget about it, and as you know this facility 'blocks' the programs' execution ?.

Answer to 2 above

Surely turning off the PC and 'activating' a Cold Start would re-establish Notepad, Wordpad

and any other Document or Start Indexed Program as that is what the PC is designed to do

under its "msconfig set-up".

If that is not happening then the questions must be asked, why?

Is Notepad corrupted ? Has it been "seized" by another executable ? Is it "blocked" for some reason ? Has it been "moved" into another Folder ? (and thats easy to do)

And then there is the simple matter of the Autorun.inf he wishes to edit ? can he open it ?and if not, why not ?

I wonder has Kurt run "Scandisk" (Thorough Mode/Auto-Fix Errors)

If that don't work then he really has a problem.

I don't know the answers to his Autorun & Notepad problem - I do know that a systematic approach is far more likely to identify his problems rather than making 'assumptions' that Notepad is the only issue to be concerned about.

I will say that the "RJL Autorun Wizard Program" avoids all this hastle -

Best from Dublin.

Brian Kelly.Conflow.

[gr8digital]

Hello Everyone,

I really appreciate all the help and hope I can consolidate and address all the input into this one response.

1) After running a search, I found:

a. C:\Windows\Notepad

b. C:\WIndows\Prefetch\Notepad.exe-189578DA.pf

I did not see a result for Notepad.exe elsewhere.

2) I purchased the full subscription to P2E in May 2004 under version 4.20. I did verify tonight the version I am currently using - which is the full 4.20 version.

3) I ran Norton Anti-Virus last night and did a system restore (as recommended by another member below) - but I still do not see Notepad.exe.

4) With regards to the Autorun.inf file, as stated below by Steve, the 2 .exe commands are irrelevant. The problem lies when I try to open the Autorun.infi file to modify the .exe names (to match up with the presentation names). THe Autorun would not open and states "Sorry but trial period of this presentation has expired". I have created about 6 CDs so far and did not have any issues until this last CD.

I apologize if I am confusing anyone - but please understand that this is baffling to me too.

Thanks.

Kurt

[keffs]

Hi Steve,

If you 'review' Kurts' origional post on the 20/6/04 (PAGE 1)- there are 2 queries raised,viz:-

1) Time Trial Period expired Notification.......

2) Problem trying to edit his Autorun.inf.......

Answer to 1 above

...

Brian Kelly.Conflow.

Brian,

Concerning 1), he is reporting this as a result of the problem he is having, and not the problem itself. If he did not get this, but had a presentation that ran, he would still have the same problem. He has subsequently confirmed that his problem is as per my understanding, so lets leave it there.

Kurt,

If you have no Notepad.exe on your machine, how come you managed to run it from the command prompt, in response to a previuous post? Depending on how you are doing your search, you have to search system folders. This is often an option somewhere. But just try the one I suggested last time. This is the Windows std installation, and if this does not work, then notepad.exe muist have been moved, but I reckong it is still there, but in a system folder.

Steve

[Conflow]

Hi Kurt,

I can't understand all this talk about Notepad.exe ? etc;etc;etc.

In our Electronic Workshops we have 5 PC's of different Makes and Ilks

and 2 Laptops.

On each PC, Notepad is a Windows "Application File" of 52kB approx.

There is no "Notepad.exe" (exe) extension to this File on any of our PCs'.

Notepad is found on the HD.Drive in the Win.Folder: Notepad...C:\Windows

and thats it. Your Post of the 22nd confirms its in the right place and its

not "trapped" in another Folder.

There is also an LGC File: Notepad...C:\Windows\Catroot\Applog but this is

not the "Application File" we are talking about.

I refer again to my post of (Steve 21st June) are you absolutely sure that you

had not accidentally enabled the "Protection of Presentation" facility on your

PTE Slideshow? - because if you did it gives the message Time expired....etc;

Make a Slide Show and set for 2 Hour "Presentation Protection" and see

for yourself the message you get after expiration !

Once the PTE.Exe is made up there is nothing you yourself can do about this-

Thats all I have to say on this subject -

Best of Luck,

Brian Kelly.Conflow.