TechTips - Windows 7 AutoPlay is Missing Windows Media Center Option

I installed Windows 7 and found a weird problem that wasn't a huge deal but slightly annoying, when I put in a DVD it never displayed the AutoPlay selection for Windows Media Center. This is a problem mainly with upgrades but it happened for me when I did a full install of Windows 7 Ultimate. This problem doesn't cause any real performance issues but it annoyed me, luckily there is a fix. In this guide I will explain how to get the Windows Media Center AutoPlay selection back in Windows 7.

First let me explain what is going on, when I put in a DVD my computer displays the AutoPlay prompt, which before my upgrade displayed a few options for playing my DVD. The one that is now missing is the play file with Windows Media Center. So what I need to do is get this back into my AutoPlay prompt.

Normally this would be a very simple fix, in Vista you would simply go to your control panel to get the Windows Media Center Option back, using these steps:

Click Start

Click Control Panel

Double Click AutoPlay Icon

Click the DVD Movie Drop Down (In Windows 7 you will see that the option is not there)

So to fix this problem we actually have to edit the registry of Windows 7 to get the option in the AutoPlay prompt. So to add the Windows Media Center Option to your AutoPlay prompt via the registry follow these steps:

Click Start

Click Search Bar

Type CMD

Hit Enter

Navigate to the Key (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ explorer \ AutoplayHandlers\EventHandlers\PlayDVDMovieOnArrival)

Add the DWORD Value EHomeDVDDropTarget

Close the Registry

Reboot your PC

Now you can put in your DVD and when the AutoPlay prompt opens up you should now see the "Play DVD Movie using Windows Media Center" option. So this really is a simple fix, there just isn't a simple way through the Control Panel to make the changes you actually have to edit your registry. I don't know if Microsoft will fix this problem in later updates but for now it's a problem that some people are running into after installing/upgrading Windows 7.

Well I hope using this guide you are able to fix the problem where Windows 7 AutoPlay is missing the Windows Media Center Option.