How to Turn On or Off AutoPlay for Cameras and Phones in Windows 11

What is AutoPlay?

AutoPlay decides what happens when devices connect or media is inserted. Photos, videos, or music can open automatically, or Windows can prompt you to choose an action every time. Mixed content might trigger a list of available apps, or folders can open directly without extra prompts. Users can also configure the system to ignore a specific device entirely.

• Automatically open photos, videos, or music from your device.
• Ask you what you want to do each time you connect a device.
• Show you a list of apps to choose from if your device has different types of content.
• Simply open the folder with your files.
• Do nothing if you’ve told it not to act on that device before.

Holding the Shift key while plugging in hardware forces the AutoPlay prompt to appear regardless of current configurations.

How to Turn On or Off AutoPlay for Cameras, Phones, and Other Devices (Non-storage Devices)

Administrative privileges are required to modify these settings.

Option 1Using Local Group Policy Editor (🪟 Windows 11 Pro, Enterprise, Education only)

Windows 11 Home lacks this tool. Users running the Home edition should skip directly to Option 2.

1. Press Windows + R on your keyboard to open the Run box.
2. Type gpedit.msc and press Enter to open the Local Group Policy Editor.
3. In the left panel, go to:
   
   Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > AutoPlay Policies
4. In the right panel, find and double-click Disallow AutoPlay for non-volume devices.
5. To enable AutoPlay (default):
   
   Select Not Configured or Disabled, then click OK.
6. To disable AutoPlay:
   
   Select Enabled, then click OK.
7. Close the Local Group Policy Editor.

The policy editor displays these options:

Option 2Using the Windows Registry (All 🪟 Windows 11 editions)

Registry modifications serve as an alternative when the Group Policy Editor is unavailable. Creating a system restore point beforehand protects against unintended errors during editing.

To Enable AutoPlay (default):

reg delete "HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer" /v NoAutoplayfornonVolume /f
reg delete "HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer" /v NoAutoplayfornonVolume /f

Deleting or removing the NoAutoplayfornonVolume value turns AutoPlay back on for these devices.

To Disable AutoPlay:

reg delete "HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer" /v NoAutoplayfornonVolume /f
reg add "HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer" /v NoAutoplayfornonVolume /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

This adds a value to turn off AutoPlay for cameras, phones, and other non-storage devices.

How to apply these changes:

• Or you can open Registry Editor (regedit), navigate to the keys, and change or delete the values manually.
• Restart your PC or sign out and back in for changes to take effect.

Summary

• AutoPlay helps you quickly open photos, videos, or music when you connect cameras, phones, or other devices.
• You can turn AutoPlay on or off for these devices using either the Group Policy Editor or the Registry Editor.
• You need to be an administrator to change these settings.
• AutoPlay settings only affect non-storage devices (like cameras and phones), not USB drives or external hard drives.
• Press Shift when plugging in a device to force the AutoPlay prompt to appear.

Configuring AutoPlay preferences saves time and eliminates unwanted prompts upon hardware connection.

Official Microsoft documentation provides additional details regarding this setting: Disallow AutoPlay for non-volume devices.