How to open a compact disc (cd) to view the contents

When you insert a compact disc into your cd drive in your computer there are a few ways to view the contents of the cd. Obviously if the compact disc is blank there will be nothing to see, however if there are files you can view, copy, and paste them to your computer. Also if there are music files such as mp3′s, you can play them from the disc. If you have a game CD it will most likely open and show up on the screen.

How to open a compact disc automatically to see the contents?

Sometimes an Autoplay dialog box will appear automatically when you insert a cd. This will enable you to choose what action to take with the cd. To see the contents of the compact disc that you have just inserted simply press on Open folder to view files. See the screenshot below. This screenshot was taken from Windows Vista, however in Windows XP it looks very similar.

How to change the Compact disc auto play options?

Windows Vista

1. Go to the start menu, choose control panel.
2. Find the Autoplay icon. Double click on it.
3. Choose your action for each process by pressing the drop down arrow to choose form the list.

Windows XP

1. Go to the start menu, choose my computer.
2. Find your cd rom icon.
3. Right click on it and choose properties from the menu.
4. The CD drive properties will appear.
5. Go to the Autoplay tab.
6. Press the drop down arrow to see your choices. Music files, Pictures, Video Files, Mixed content, and Music CD. See circled arrow below.
7. This is where you can change what happens when you insert a cd.

If you choose pictures from the list, the actions will change to things you can do with pictures. You can choose to print pictures from a cd, extract them to a folder, view a slide show, and so on. If you choose music you can choose to play the music, open the folder to view files, or take no action at all. After you have set your options press apply and then ok. See the screenshots below for more details. Windows XP CD auto play options are very different to Windows Vista.

How do you open a compact disc when auto play does not work?

If your cd does not open automatically then you can open it through my computer. Simply go to the start menu, choose my computer or computer for Windows Vista.

When my computer appears you will see all drives on your computer. Some compact discs will show a unique icon so you can tell where they are, however a data cd will look similar to an empty cd drive. The only difference may be a name, however in this case there is a string of grey text saying how much free space is on the drive. The drive with nothing in it has no grey text as it is empty.

Simply double click (click the left mouse button twice) on the cd drive you want to open to see the contents. The same applies for both Windows XP and Windows Vista.

Why do you need to know how to open a compact disc?

If you have a computer you will need to know how to open a compact disc to view contents of a disc. Maybe someone might give you a photo cd or a cd with files on it. Or maybe you will want to install a program from a compact disc.

Notes on opening a cd to see its contents:

• You can experiment and try to open a cd drive. Put a disc in your cd drive and then go to my computer and try to open the cd to see its contents.
• If you open the wrong cd drive nothing will happen, just close that and open the correct one.