Newer versions of Windows have shut down "Auto Play" Mike.

Not saying you're wrong but I find that very hard to believe Rich, for what possible reason would they do this and when you put a movie into the drive, how would you get it to play without having to open the file in explorer?

Actually it is "Auto Run" that changed in Windows 7, my bad.

http://blogs.technet.com/b/srd/archive/2009/04/28/autorun-changes-in-windows-7.aspx

From what I understand this relates to USB drive and not a machine's internal drive?

It's possible that AutoPlay has been turned off.

 

Open AutoPlay by pressing winkey + X simultaneously, and then clicking Control Panel. In the search box, type AutoPlay, and then click AutoPlay.

 

Make sure Use Autoplay for all media and devices is checked.

When the owner gets the new HDD and brings back the laptop I will look into this, thanks.

Okay, Mike. If that doesn't work, there is something else you can try using the command prompt.

 

Press winkey + Q button simultaneously, type CMD in search box, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.

 

At the command prompt, type net start shellhwdetection, and then press Enter.

 

Restart your computer

Doesn't work Cindy , I am getting this:

 

"System error 5 has occured.

 

access is denied"

You need to right click the command prompt and select "Run as an administrator", Mike.

ok, after better following the instructions and after hitting ENTER it shows "The requested service has already started". I restart and pop in the dvd but still nothing.

Does any disk start automatically or is it just DVD's?

Only a software disk auto starts, well opens and asks for your action. I installed Media Player Classic, it doesn't autoplay but works and plays fine when selecting cd's and dvd's and when you click on PLAY in MPC when playing a CD, WMP will auto open and play the cd.

Did you reboot after you followed the instructions for the command prompt, Mike?

Yes, I tried that option a few times and rebooted each time

Is this Win 8 Pro, Mike?

 

Windows 8.1 and Windows 8.1 Pro don't come with DVD movie playback capability. If you're running Windows 8.1 or Windows 8.1 Pro, you can search for a DVD player app in the Windows Store. If you have Windows 8.1 Pro, you can also buy the Windows 8.1 Media Center Pack that includes DVD playback.

I always add VLC Player because it plays many things Media Player won't and avoids the need for Cyberlink and those other road hog nasty players.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html

no, it's win8 standard

Did you change the default program to MPC?

no, MPC does not show as an option in Autoplay, only WMP shows just it does not work for dvd, it works now for cd's.

BTW Cindy, in win8 how do you find the Start and search All Programs as in win7 please?

Swipe up or click the arrow at the bottom of the Start screen to see a list of all your apps.

 

All Programs are now called All Apps.

I am not seeing windows media player listed, also if I need to find a program like Paint, how can I find it?

Why not download the free 8.1 update, Mike? It will bring the start menu and everything else with it. It makes it so much easier to find everything. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/update-from-windows-8-tutorial

Thanks, doing so now so I am guessing only win8 core [standard] did not come with the start menu?

No version of Win 8 came with the Start menu as we know it. LOL