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TICKET ARCHIVE -> iPhoto auto-running upon inserting USB

JesseRPI - Jul 6, 2007 - 10:01 am

Every time I insert my USB thumb drive, iPhoto runs automatically. How do I disable this? I tried going to the system preferences and disabling autorun for CD's & DVD's, but this does not affect the USB drive.

Thanks.

DeltaMac - Jul 6, 2007 - 7:03 pm

I suppose the system thinks there are pictures on the USB flash drive (Is that accurate?)
Open your Image Capture app, and go to preferences. Change the Camera to no application (or some other app of your choice.)

JesseRPI - Jul 6, 2007 - 10:19 pm

I deleted all the files from the flash drive, but it still forces open iPhoto. I tried your suggestion of starting up Image Capture while the flash drive was inserted. Unfortunately, it would not let me access preferences (when I clicked on the selection nothing happened.) However, there was an options button. I made sure to uncheck all the options (only two were checked--"Create custom icons" and "Embed ColorSync profile.") I'm not even sure why these were checked. Perhaps they are the default setting. Anyway, even so, iPhoto still launches whenever I connect the drive.

DeltaMac - Jul 6, 2007 - 10:48 pm

I'm trying to discover which app you actually opened ?

You wouldn't be able to change the prefs while the device that you want to change is inserted, and I didn't suggest that. Please don't 'read between the lines'
Leave the flash drive out.
Open Apple's Image Capture app (it's in your Applications folder), and choose Preferences from the Image Capture menu. Change the Camera drop-down menu to 'no application', if that's what you want to do.
If you want to also prevent the flash drive from triggering some unknown event like with iPhoto, then you could try erasing the flash drive in your Disk Utility. DON"T choose the option to write zeroes to all blocks, as you will make the flash drive unusable.

JesseRPI - Jul 6, 2007 - 11:28 pm

Ok, I ejected the flash drive and re-opened Image Capture.app. The application starts and there is a little picture of a camera on the left side of the window. In the middle of the window is says, "No Image Capture device connected." There is no camera drop down visible. I then clicked on the Image Capture menu item at the top of the screen and selected Preferences... Nothing happened. I tried again, and nothing happened.

I tried erasing the flash drive using disk utility, but the result is the same.

A bit of a head scratcher, eh?

DeltaMac - Jul 8, 2007 - 6:34 am

Delete the Image Capture preference file.
You can find that in your ~/Library/Preferences folder. It will be named com.apple.ImageCaptureApp.plist

The camera drop-down will be in the Image Capture preferences after click the General tab.

If this sort of thing is not really working for you, you should do some of the general system maintenance - repair disk permissions, Repair the disk from Disk Utility when booted to your restore disk, etc.
I never asked, but have you tried simply restarting your MacBook Pro?
- Dale

JesseRPI - Jul 8, 2007 - 9:33 pm

I found the answer! Apparently, when I first got my MacBook Pro and opened iPhoto initially, I set it as the default application to manage cameras. iPhoto was also detecting the flash drive as a camera for some reason. Anyway, when I deleted the ~/[user]/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iPhoto.plist file, the auto-iPhoto startup problem went away. I just need to remember not to inadvertently set iPhoto as the default camera application again. But even with this problem solved, I wonder why OSX thinks that the flash drive is a camera? It's just a regular 8 GB flash drive; nothing fancy.

And yes, I did try to repair disk permissions, restart, and so forth before I posted my question, but to no avail.

Thanks for your help!

DeltaMac - Jul 8, 2007 - 9:57 pm

When you set iPhoto to be the default, the app that controls that is not iPhoto, but Image Capture. That's how you change the setting if you want to. That's also why I was offering that as a tip.
Can you now open Image Capture preferences? If so, you will see there are camera settings to change the default app from iPhoto to something else.
Your Mac doesn't think your flash drive is a Camera. You may have transferred pictures from that drive to your computer. So, OS X is guessing that you might have pictures on it again, similar to a photo CD, which will also launch iPhoto.
Glad you discovered a work-around. You should check if your Image Capture app is working (and that you can open the preferences for that)

JesseRPI - Jul 9, 2007 - 11:35 am

Thanks for following up. I just deleted the Image Capture plist file, but when I launch the Image Capture application I am still unable to access preferences. I see it there; I click it; but nothing happens. The Image Capture window says "No Image Capture device connected." When I try browsing devices, none are found (no flash drive/scanner/camera is connected besides the built-in iSight.)

DeltaMac - Jul 9, 2007 - 12:22 pm

That's quite strange, and I would be curious what else is wrong with your system...
Have you tried?:
Repairing Disk Permissions (from your Disk Utility)
Reinstalling the combo updater for your OS X system? This one thing can often help manage strange issues that show up, especially after some updates have already been applied over a period of time.
For example, here's a link to the download for the combo updater for 10.4.10 for your Intel Mac. http://www.apple.com/support/downloa...ev11intel.html

If you do that update, be sure to again repair permissions after the update restarts.
Just so you realize what is happening, your Mac will restart TWICE after the combo updater, and will often take several minutes before you get back to your Desktop. This is a one-time thing, and later restarts will be normal for you.
Hope this will help
- Dale

JesseRPI - Jul 9, 2007 - 2:19 pm

Thanks for your help, Dale. I reinstalled the combo updater and repaired disk permissions (no errors were found.) The Image Capture application still behaves the same way. I've actually never even used it until you mentioned it to me, so perhaps I can continue as I have been. Also, Image Capture does provide me with options when I plug in my scanner, and I can access those options just fine. It's just the "preferences" that are inaccessible. Strange. Maybe I'll have one of the Apple Genius' check it out sometime. Anyway, thanks for your help and prompt responses. I really appreciate it.