How To Restore Missing CD or DVD Drive On Your PC

Sometimes your CD or DVD drive doesn’t show up in the My Computer section. You can’t use your CD/DVD drive in spite of actually having it on your computer. Also, sometimes it may happen that it shows up but is unable to play the files in CD/DVD.

Such problems in Windows aren’t that uncommon.

This could arise due to many reasons. Some common reasons are:

• Corrupted registry entry.
• CD/DVD driver problem.
• Installation and un-installation of  DVD recording programs.
• Un-installation of Microsoft Digital Image.

This trick elaborates all the necessary steps you have to perform to solve the missing drive problem in Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows XP.

• How to solve missing cd/dvd drive issue:

You can solve this problem by using the in-built trouble-shooter in Windows 7 or by tweaking your computer’s registry settings in Windows Vista and XP. Note that if you change or delete a wrong registry file then it might result in serious issues with your PC. Therefore it is highly advisable to backup your registry before starting the process. If this solution doesn’t work then you have to uninstall your CD/DVD device driver and reinstall it. We’ll talk about that later as well.

• Windows 7:

If you don’t find CD or DVD drive on your Windows 7 computer then you can take help of “Playing and Burning CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray Discs troubleshooter” to resolve the issue.

1. Click Start button

2. On search box, type Troubleshooting. Open the result.

3. On left click “View All”.

4. Click “Playing and Burning CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray Discs”.

If this method doesn’t work,  it might be possible that the problem exists inside your computer’s hardware. You can make use of “Hardware and Devices trouble-shooter”. It checks all the hardware issues and confirms that your CD/DVD drive is installed correctly or not.

1. Again click on “Start” button.

2. On search box, type Troubleshooting. Open the result.

3. Under “Hardware and Sound” setting, click “Configure a device”. If prompted for confirmation click “Yes”.

4. Now reboot your computer and check for drive by clicking on Start button and then “Computer”. If the drive is listed then your problem is solved.

• Windows Vista:

1. Press “Start” button.

2. In search box enter “regedit”. Click on the result “regedit.exe”.

If prompted for a confirmation, click “Allow”. It will open the Registry Editor.

4. In registry editor you have to locate a registry key by expanding directories on left pane. Go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\

Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

5. Click on folder named “{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}”.

6. In the right pane, right click on “Upper filters” and select delete from the context menu. (see picture below) If asked to confirm the deletion, click “Yes”.

Note If you see a registry entry “UpperFilters.bak” then don’t delete it.

7. If you don’t find any UpperFilters entry then there should be LowerFilters entry. Right click on it and delete it. If asked to confirm the deletion, click “Yes”.

8. Exit Registry editor and reboot your computer. This should resolve the issue and your CD drive icon should now show up.

• Windows XP:

1. Click Start. Click Run.
2. In the Run box, type regedit and click OK.

3. In registry editor, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\
Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

4. Click on {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} .
5. On the right pane, right click on UpperFilters and select delete from the context menu. If asked to confirm the deletion, click “Yes”.
6. If you don’t find UpperFilters registry entry then there should be LowerFilters registry entry. Right click on it and select delete from the menu. If asked to confirm the deletion, click “Yes”.
7. Exit Registry editor and reboot your computer.

If the above steps don’t work and drive still doesn’t show up You have to remove and reinstall the device drivers for the drive.

Here I am explaining the process for Windows Vista and Windows XP. Process for Windows 7 is almost same as Windows Vista:

• Windows Vista and Windows 7:
  

1. Click Start button.

2. Type Device manager in the search box. Click on the result.

3. On device manager, expand “DVD/CD-ROM drives”. Right-click the CD and DVD devices, and then click “Uninstall”.

4. Reboot your PC.

5. The drivers will be automatically installed after your PC restarts.

• Windows XP:

1. Go to Start > Control Panel.
2. Click System and Maintenance > System.
3. Open the Hardware tab, click “Device Manager”.

4. Expand DVD/CD-ROM drives, right-click the CD and DVD device, and then select Uninstall.

5. Reboot your PC. All the drivers will be automatically reinstalled after restart.

By applying the above mentioned steps, you can troubleshoot your missing drive problem. If still you are unable to solve the issue then you could take help of Microsoft Customer Support Services Web site.