Auto Running CD's - Problem

[Mark Johnson]

Hi:
I hope that someone here can help me with a bit of a problem: I found, in this forum, detailed
instructions on how to make an auto running presentation CD using Powerpoint Viewer 97 (Article
ID:Q173937). The presentations have worked great on most computers, however.... Last night I gave a
presentation using someone else's notebook, and it didn't start automatically. Unfortunately, all I
know is that it was a version of XP on the notebook. A message came up saying that it couldn't find
ppview.dll and then nothing happened. Fortunately, the notebook had PPT on it (but that won't always
be the case), and the presentation worked great once I manually started it from within PPT. BTW, I
use both PPT 97 and PPT 2000 for creating the presentations, depending on which computer I happen to
be working on at the time.

Here are my questions:

1) Are there any known problems (and solutions) for using PPT Viewer 97 with XP?
2) Can I use a later version of Viewer to accomplish same and is there a step-by-step article (like
the one mentioned above) for this process or would it virtually be the same arrangement as PPT
Viewer 97?

I look forward to your answers.

Thanks,

Mark Johnson

 

[Sonia]

1. The PowerPoint 97 Viewer works just fine with Windows XP. The problem
you experienced on the notebook was caused by a Registry setting on the
system. The
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdrom\AutoRun setting
was probably set to 0. A setting of 1 causes Windows to open and execute
autorun.inf if it exists.

2. The PowerPoint 2003 Viewer really doesn't offer you anything if you are
using PowerPoint 97 or 2000. In fact it has some quirks and bugs that will
make you unhappy. Stick with the PowerPoint 97 Viewer until you upgrade to
PowerPoint 2003.
--
Sonia, MS PowerPoint MVP Team
Autorun CD software, templates, and tutorials
http://www.soniacoleman.com/

Hi:
I hope that someone here can help me with a bit of a problem: I found, in this forum, detailed
instructions on how to make an auto running presentation CD using Powerpoint Viewer 97 (Article
ID:Q173937). The presentations have worked great on most computers,

however.... Last night I gave a

presentation using someone else's notebook, and it didn't start

automatically. Unfortunately, all I

 

[Mark Johnson]

Hi Sonia:
Thanks for the answer, very concise, and good advise. But it brings a question. I send out
these presentations (which are more like an interactive web site with pdf files, MP3's, videos and
other stuff that execute on demand without download time) often. Do step by step instructions exist
on how to change the registry setting to 1 so that the presentation will begin by itself? If this
notebook I used the other night did not have PPT loaded, it would have been impossible to view the
presentation. I tried several tricks but was not able to get it to work until I ran PPT and loaded
the pres. manually. It would help for me to be able to offer a step-by-step solution to this
problem. Thanks again for your quick reply.

Mark

 

[Sonia]

The instructions should just tell the user to locate PPVIEW32.EXE, double
click on it, and then locate your presentation and open it. I missed the
part in your post about the ppview.dll being missing. Is it in fact missing
from the CD? If so, that would actually be the reason that it didn't
autorun. If possible, burn a corrected CD and test it on the same machine
to confirm that was the problem. You definitely don't want to recommend
that people modify their Registry. If they screw it up, guess who gets
blamed?

Hi Sonia:
Thanks for the answer, very concise, and good advise. But it brings a question. I send out
these presentations (which are more like an interactive web site with pdf files, MP3's, videos and
other stuff that execute on demand without download time) often. Do step by step instructions exist
on how to change the registry setting to 1 so that the presentation will begin by itself? If this
notebook I used the other night did not have PPT loaded, it would have been impossible to view the
presentation. I tried several tricks but was not able to get it to work until I ran PPT and loaded
the pres. manually. It would help for me to be able to offer a step-by-step solution to this
problem. Thanks again for your quick reply.

Mark

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Mark,

Apart from Sonia's wise advice against risking mucking up the registry, consider that
this would also mean that you're deliberately altering a setting on somebody else's
computer. Since Autorun ON is the default, it means you're changing something that
they've gone to some (small, but some) trouble to turn OFF. If it's off, it's because
they specifically WANT it off. And will likely get very irritated if they catch you
changing it. If it were me, it'd be the last time that CD or anything from the same
source got anywhere near my computer.

In short, it's a breach of trust. You don't want to go there.

Far better to make sure that all the necessary viewer bits are there on the CD and
include instructions that tell the user what to do if the CD doesn't autorun.

 

[Mark Johnson]

The instructions should just tell the user to locate PPVIEW32.EXE, double
click on it, and then locate your presentation and open it. I missed the
part in your post about the ppview.dll being missing. Is it in fact missing
from the CD? If so, that would actually be the reason that it didn't
autorun. If possible, burn a corrected CD and test it on the same machine
to confirm that was the problem. You definitely don't want to recommend
that people modify their Registry. If they screw it up, guess who gets
blamed?

The ppview.dll file was in the setup folder, where it should have been. For some reason, this
notebook couldn't find it, even when I manually clicked on PPVIEW32.EXE. And yes, telling someone to
modify their registry goes to an area that I am not comfortable with. The same CD worked on several
other computers. Not sure why it tanked on this one. If it is just the registry problem, logic would
be that clicking on PPVIEW32.EXE would be the solution. It wasn't. Any other ideas?

Mark