On Windows hosts, the Autorun feature causes CDs and DVDs to run automatically when you insert them in to the CD-ROM or DVD drive on the host system.

To enable or disable the Autorun feature on a Windows host system, select Edit > Preferences > Devices. You must be logged in as a member of the Administrators group to change this setting.

To run Autorun programs, some operating systems poll the CD-ROM drive every second or so to determine whether a disk is present. Polling can cause Workstation Pro to connect to the host CD-ROM or DVD drive, which can make the drive spin up while the virtual machine appears to pause. Because this behavior is undesirable, the Autorun feature is disabled by default in Workstation Pro.

Note:

You can use Windows Explorer to open a disk on the host system when the Autorun feature is disabled.