Windows XP CD DVD-ROM drive missing

05/04/2010 at 2:54 am | Posted in windows | Leave a comment

Is your CD-ROM or DVD drive missing  for no apparent reason? It could be because of a new program installation or even a windows upgrade. First, check that the BIOS detects the drive and you can see the power is on and it is connected.

From my knowledge it also affect Vista and Windows 7 as well. Even virtual drives of Daemon tools or  Magic ISO is affected. Don’t bother going to Microsoft for a fix because their fix doesn’t work. This one does for most of us however it does require some registry editing knowledge. Here are the steps to restore the drives.

1. Run regedit
2. Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class
3. Key Name: {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
4. Note : there the key also applies to other devices so choose only the one pertaining DVD drive
5. Value Data: [Delete All Value Data from UpperFilters and LowerFilters]
6. Exit Registry and Reboot