jonathanmoeller (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} jonathanmoeller) wrote,@ 2008-05-01 15:45:00 |
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How to fix a disappearing CD/DVD drive in Windows
I have noticed in Windows Vista (mostly Vista, but also older NT versions) that sometimes the CD/DVD drive will disappear entirely from My Computer. If you check Device Manager, the drive will still show up, but with an error message of Failed To Start or Error Code 10, and neither Windows nor your applications will be able to access the drive.
Barring an actual physical failure of the drive itself, this problem can often (but not always) be solved with a quick Registry edit:
-Go to the Start Menu, and then select Run. (In Vista, hit the Windows Key+R on your keyboard, or type regedit in the Start Menu's search line.)
-When the Run dialog box appears, type regedit and click OK.
-This will bring up the Registry Editor. Take extreme care when using the Registry Editor, as it's quite possible to render your computer inoperable by deleting the wrong Registry key. Note you can only edit the Registry at your own risk.
-Navigate to the following Registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControl
-Once you select {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}, look in the right-hand pane. Any values that say either UpperFilters or LowerFilters must be deleted:
In the screenshot above, you'd need to delete the value named LowerFilters.
-Once you have deleted the values, close Registry Editor, and reboot your computer. After the reboot, your CD/DVD drive should reappear in My Computer
I am not entirely certain yet what causes this error; I suspect several CD/DVD burning applications add bad values to the Registry key, thereby creating the problem. Good ol' iTunes, in particular, seems to do this a lot.
UPDATE: Further research has revealed that you also need to alter the following Registry keys:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControl
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\C
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet003\C
Remove any values that say "UpperFilters" or "LowerFilters".
For further detail about this problem, here is an excellent post at the Open Source Journal and the official Microsoft KB article about the problem.
-JM
I have noticed in Windows Vista (mostly Vista, but also older NT versions) that sometimes the CD/DVD drive will disappear entirely from My Computer. If you check Device Manager, the drive will still show up, but with an error message of Failed To Start or Error Code 10, and neither Windows nor your applications will be able to access the drive.
Barring an actual physical failure of the drive itself, this problem can often (but not always) be solved with a quick Registry edit:
-Go to the Start Menu, and then select Run. (In Vista, hit the Windows Key+R on your keyboard, or type regedit in the Start Menu's search line.)
-When the Run dialog box appears, type regedit and click OK.
-This will bring up the Registry Editor. Take extreme care when using the Registry Editor, as it's quite possible to render your computer inoperable by deleting the wrong Registry key. Note you can only edit the Registry at your own risk.
-Navigate to the following Registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControl
-Once you select {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}, look in the right-hand pane. Any values that say either UpperFilters or LowerFilters must be deleted:
In the screenshot above, you'd need to delete the value named LowerFilters.
-Once you have deleted the values, close Registry Editor, and reboot your computer. After the reboot, your CD/DVD drive should reappear in My Computer
I am not entirely certain yet what causes this error; I suspect several CD/DVD burning applications add bad values to the Registry key, thereby creating the problem. Good ol' iTunes, in particular, seems to do this a lot.
UPDATE: Further research has revealed that you also need to alter the following Registry keys:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControl
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\C
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet003\C
Remove any values that say "UpperFilters" or "LowerFilters".
For further detail about this problem, here is an excellent post at the Open Source Journal and the official Microsoft KB article about the problem.
-JM
