how to disable autorun of ebooklibrary ?

[zelda_pinwheel]

i installed sony's ebooklibrary software v. 3 today. now every time i plug in my 600 the software starts automatically. since i don't use it i don't want this. i thought i saw a post explaining how to disable the software autorun but when i searched for it i only found posts about disabling autorun in windows registry for all usb devices (not what i'm looking for). anybody know what thread i'm talking about (or did i dream that) ? is it possible to disable that somehow so the ebl will run only if i launch it manually ? should i go back to the previous version ?



in the interest of clarity / completeness : i installed v 3 because windows started having trouble seeing the 600 when i plugged in the usb cable, so i was hoping that the ebl software contained a driver which might help (i know it's a standard windows driver. but when you are having mysterious usb device troubles, re-installing a driver can sometimes help). also i wanted to update the firmware, and according to sony's support page the ebl update was required for that. it does seem to be more reliably recognised when i plug it in since i've updated, although it continues to frequently lose the connection after a few minutes even during communication, which is really annoying.

thanks in advance for any advice.

[Mikesbook]

Yes I had a thread running on exactly this problem. After having it happen on two different computers, one xp and one vista, and no real answers on the forum, I contaced Sony support. They were hopeless. First they said it was my computer and I should restore from a previous backup and then they told me I needed to send the PRS-600 back to them as it was faulty. I declined this option as so many other people had experienced the same problem. I think that most people don't see it because they have "autorun" disabled.

Sorry this hasn't helped but at least you know it's not just you.

[MSJim]

You can turn off AutoPlay for one specific drive, not all drives, by patching the registry. This Wiki article on AutoRun provides guidance.

I'm not going to try to explain the process. The Wiki does a much better job than I could. However, I will point out that the first step is determining which drive letter your reader is mounted as when you plug in the USB. That is the drive to turn off for AutoPlay. The other drives will not be affected.

This process gets rid of the prompt to install EBL, but it does not stop the AutoRun launch of the EBL program. I haven't been able to turn that off. I've been holding off deleting the program entirely, but I'm about out of patience. I use calibre exclusively, and don't buy from the Sony store, so I guess I'm about out of reasons to keep EBL.

[zelda_pinwheel]

thanks jim for your answer. i think that might be the solution for mike's problem (i'm pretty sure his is not the same question as mine), but my problem is the same as yours (launching the application, not the prompt for what to do with the files on the device / installer).

like you i use calibre exclusively and don't buy from the sony store, but i might start when they make the switch to epub, and i think i want to keep the access to google books (then again, i've so far not even registered with them, so maybe that's a sign that there's really no point. ). but i'm also running out of patience quickly so perhaps at the least i'll de-update and go back to the older version, now that i've installed the firmware update.

anyway, a solution for this would be great, if anyone finds one.

one note about your solution though, for me at least, the sony drive letters aren't necessarily always the same, since it depends on whether i've already got other usb drives plugged in when i connect it. but i imagine it shouldn't be too hard to correct for that.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

one note about your solution though, for me at least, the sony drive letters aren't necessarily always the same, since it depends on whether i've already got other usb drives plugged in when i connect it. but i imagine it shouldn't be too hard to correct for that.

The solution to that is to manually assign the Reader drives "high" drive letters (eg "Y" and "Z"), so they won't clash with anything else you plug in. To do that, run "Disk Administrator", select each drive in turn, right click, and select the "Change Drive Letter" command from the pop-up menu.

[zelda_pinwheel]

ok, thanks harry. i don't actually care about that personally, i just want to stop the software from opening every time i plug in the usb cable.

and if anyone has any suggestions for optimising the connection as well (so it doesn't "lose" it after a few minutes and make me eject/unplug/wait/re-plug/wait) that would be great.

[kovidgoyal]

you could try formatting the autorun partition on your reader though this may have other side effects. you could also just rename the executable that launches EBL

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

ok, thanks harry. i don't actually care about that personally, i just want to stop the software from opening every time i plug in the usb cable.

There is probably a daemon running that looks for the presence of the reader being connected and when it detects it the software is launched. You just have to go into your registry and stop this program from automatically running. (and kill it in task manager or restart your PC).

You can use autoruns from sysinternals.com to help with this.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb963902.aspx

BOb

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

you could try formatting the autorun partition on your reader though this may have other side effects.

i hear it's read-only.

you could also just rename the executable that launches EBL

so simple !!! thanks kovid, i feel a bit stupid now not to have thought of that myself. i changed C:\Program Files\Sony\Reader\Data\bin\eBook Library.exe to C:\Program Files\Sony\Reader\Data\bin\_eBook Library.exe and now i get an error message saying that windows can't find C:\Program Files\Sony\Reader\Data\bin\eBook Library.exe which i have to clear but that's preferable to the app launching, and if i launch it manually it still works fine.

i also noticed that in C:\Program Files\Sony\Reader\Data\bin\ there is a repertory called "launcher" containing "eBook Library Launcher.exe" (which i have renamed to "_eBook Library Launcher.exe_" just to be sure). i am not sure what it is exactly but somehow i suspect it's involved , and i think both of them are sollicited by the reader when you plug it in, as i did get 2 error messages about unfound ressources.


sadly, the usb connection seems only marginally more reliable than previously, but at least it only took 2 tries before it was recognised today rather than 20 or more yesterday...

cheers kovid ! karma for that.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

There is probably a daemon running that looks for the presence of the reader being connected and when it detects it the software is launched. You just have to go into your registry and stop this program from automatically running. (and kill it in task manager or restart your PC).

You can use autoruns from sysinternals.com to help with this.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb963902.aspx

BOb

ah, thanks bob, i will look into that as well, it would be great to kill the thing properly, although it's less annoying now that i have a workaround.

[kovidgoyal]

You can also remove the error message by simple substituting some innocuous exe for the EBL exe

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

There is probably a daemon running that looks for the presence of the reader being connected and when it detects it the software is launched. You just have to go into your registry and stop this program from automatically running. (and kill it in task manager or restart your PC).

You can use autoruns from sysinternals.com to help with this.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb963902.aspx

BOb

i have code stuff starter already installed so i used that and found an entry called "eBook Library Launcher" in the registry so i disactivated it, and then i killed the currently running process. i changed all the file names back to the way they were and plugged it back in (eleventy times. ) : woot !! no ebook library, nor error message ! in theory this should hold even after i reboot the pc, i'll let you know if it manages to come back by itself. thank you, bob !

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

You can also remove the error message by simple substituting some innocuous exe for the EBL exe

good idea for future reference, i suppose i could make a copy of notepad launch or something...



on the down side, this erratic usb connection is getting SERIOUSLY annoying. i never had this problem with the 700. i think i might even end up trying to exchange my 600 once they finally arrive in france. we'll see how that goes...

[dordale]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

on the down side, this erratic usb connection is getting SERIOUSLY annoying. i never had this problem with the 700. i think i might even end up trying to exchange my 600 once they finally arrive in france. we'll see how that goes...

Zelda--Have you tried another cable--maybe the one that came with your 700? Maybe it's the cable that's having problems and not the 600.

dordale

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by dordale

Zelda--Have you tried another cable--maybe the one that came with your 700? Maybe it's the cable that's having problems and not the 600.

dordale

yep. tried two other cables, tried 2 other usb ports (including one in back), tried plugging in the 600 when it was off and when it was on and when it was in sleep mode, tried plugging it in *before* i boot the pc, tried resetting it first, tried installing the latest ebook library software (hoping it has a driver in it), tried updating the firmware... the problems are pretty recent or at the very least have gotten much worse lately ("lately" being relative, as in "a few days only", since i've only had the bloody thing less than a month ). and i'm using the same cable and usb port as i used for the 700 (and various other usb thingies) and never had a problem before.

thanks for the recommendation though, i know it's a sound one.

[orion2001]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

i installed sony's ebooklibrary software v. 3 today. now every time i plug in my 600 the software starts automatically. since i don't use it i don't want this. i thought i saw a post explaining how to disable the software autorun but when i searched for it i only found posts about disabling autorun in windows registry for all usb devices (not what i'm looking for). anybody know what thread i'm talking about (or did i dream that) ? is it possible to disable that somehow so the ebl will run only if i launch it manually ? should i go back to the previous version ?



in the interest of clarity / completeness : i installed v 3 because windows started having trouble seeing the 600 when i plugged in the usb cable, so i was hoping that the ebl software contained a driver which might help (i know it's a standard windows driver. but when you are having mysterious usb device troubles, re-installing a driver can sometimes help). also i wanted to update the firmware, and according to sony's support page the ebl update was required for that. it does seem to be more reliably recognised when i plug it in since i've updated, although it continues to frequently lose the connection after a few minutes even during communication, which is really annoying.

thanks in advance for any advice.

The easiest solution (one I used) is to type msconfig in the "Run" dialog in Windows, and then go to the "Startup" tab and uncheck the box for the Sony Reader software. That should stop the software loading up everytime you plug the reader in. This way, I can load up the software only when I want to. Windows will probably still pop up a prompt asking you what you want to do with the newly detected drive (as it recognizes the memory on the Reader as an external disk). You can disable that by disabling autoplay.