How to prevent video from automatically playing when I open it

Copper Contributor

I have a pretty simple problem that I'm not able to figure out. I have a video that I'm trying to open from my desktop, but whenever I try to open it, it automatically starts playing. I would like for it to not play until I hit the "play" button when opening it. The only thing I can find is the "autoplay" function and disabling that in settings which I've done. It looks like that only applies to USB and media devices. Is there any setting that I can choose which will prevent a video from automatically playing upon opening from the desktop? These are mp4 files.

 

Patrick

1 Reply
Yes, there is a way to prevent a video from automatically playing when you open it from the desktop. Here's what you can do:

1. Right-click on the video file you want to open and select "Properties" from the context menu.
2. In the Properties window, click on the "Details" tab.
3. Scroll down to the "Content" section and find the "Attributes" field.
4. Check if the "Hidden" attribute is enabled. If it is, uncheck it and click "Apply" to save the changes.
5. If the "Hidden" attribute is not enabled, then click on the "Advanced" button located at the bottom of the Properties window.
6. In the Advanced Attributes window, check the box next to "Do not allow this file to have its contents indexed".
7. Click "OK" to close the Advanced Attributes window, and then click "Apply" to save the changes.

By setting the "Do not allow this file to have its contents indexed" option, you are essentially preventing Windows from generating a thumbnail preview for the video file, which is what causes the video to play automatically when you open it.

After making these changes, try opening the video file again, and it should no longer play automatically. You can now click the play button to start the video when you're ready to watch it.
I hope I could help you.