DVD/CD DRIVES NOT SHOWING UP IN WINDOWS EXPLORER - WINDOWS XP FIX

If you can't see your optical drives (CD/DVD Drives/Writers) in My Computer window, follow these solutions to fix the issue.


OPTION 1

a) Right click on my computer (or type diskmgmt.msc on run window: on this way you can go to step d directly)
b) Click on manage 
c) then click on disk management 
d) then right click on your device - DVD/CD
e) select Change Drive letter and path
f) Assign a Drive letter.

OPTION 2

1.Go to start, run and type regedit. Locate the key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}.

2.Locate the values on the right for UpperFilters, and/or LowerFilters. Remove these values; then reboot your computer. Be careful here, there are very few second chances when it comes to the registry.

3.Restart the Computer 


OPTION 3

If you cant find the above registry key , Open Command Prompt as Administrator, and copy the below code and press enter to add. Restart the computer
reg.exe add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi\Controller0" /f /v EnumDevice1 /t REG_DWORD /d 0x00000001

OPTION 4

1. Open Device Manager using devmgmt.msc command and enable "View -> Show hidden devices" option. Now locate the DVD/CD-ROM drives and IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers items.

2. Right-click on each entry present under both "DVD/CD-ROM drives" and "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers" sections one bye one and select Uninstall.

3. Once all have been removed, right-click again and select Scan for hardware changes.

The drives will be rediscovered and when the drivers are loaded back, the drives will re-appear in My Computer window.

4. Restart your computer.