A customer was having problems with the optical drives, which was diagnosed as maladjusted Autoplay settings. When the opportunity for a hands on look arose, it was quickly apparent why adjusting these settings did not cure the problem. Windows was no longer recognizing the drive!
As this is the first time this particular problem was brought to our attention, some web searching was done. Fixing a problem without knowing the cause puts one in the position of treating the symptoms but not providing a cure. It was discovered that this problem was quite common and was experienced by users of both Windows XP and Windows Vista. Much grumbling was found on the web about Microsoft not fixing this problem. Among all the grumbling, cooler heads on the web were pointing at third party software loading CD/DVD drive drivers during installation as the cause. Third party software that users choose to install on their computers is pretty much beyond the control of Microsoft but the situation is covered by the Knowledge Base article KB314060 in the support section of Microsoft's web site, which includes the problem fix.
The fix detailed by KB314060 involves the deletion of the UpperFilters & LowerFilters data values in a registry sub-key. The steps outlined by this article will be reproduced here. Since KB314060 refers the reader to another KB article for details of Registry Editor use, these have been included here. Pictures have been added to reassure those who are wisely reluctant to alter the Windows registry. Also an extra step has been added that was found to be necessary for the success of this fix. The warning to be careful when modifying the Windows registry will also be included, as such modification can lead to a computer that no longer functions
Modifying your Windows Registry requires the use of a registry editor. Although a third party editor could be used, the built in Windows Registry Editor is sufficient. To access the Registry Editor open the "Run" box. Windows XP has this entry in the left column of the Start Menu. Windows Vista users will need to open the Accessories folder of the Start Menus left column. The illustration is the Run Box found in Windows XP but is similar to that found in Windows Vista. This screen shot is recycled from another article and the item "wbemtest" in the "Open:" box should be replaced by "regedit". Click the OK button at arrow 2 and the Registry Editor will open. Vista users will see a dialog from User Account Control first but clicking the Continue button will solve that.
Shown here is a highly resized version of the Windows Registry Editor. Full screen view is recommended for regular use of this utility. Clicking the button in the upper right with the box symbol as indicated by the arrow will provide this view. When you have adjusted the size of the Registry Editor to suit your tastes, expand the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE folder in the left pane to display its contents. Circled in the illustration, this folder is expanded by clicking the "plus" symbol in Windows XP or the hollow arrow used in Windows Vista.
The next step is to look for and expand the SYSTEM folder. In this folder find and expand the folder CurrentControlSet.
With CurrentControlSet open, look for then expand the Control folder. Upon getting this far along, you will begin to understand the reason for recommending a full screen view of the Registry Editor. The size of the scroll bar is an indicator of how much material there is available for viewing. At any rate, with the Control folder open locate and expand the CLASS folder.
With the CLASS folder open locate the sub-key {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} and left click on it to display its contents in the right hand pane. You may find it easier to accomplish this by making the left hand pane wider. You can do this by placing your mouse pointer on the divider between the right and left panes of this window and gently moving it until the cursor changes to a double headed arrow with a vertical divider bar. When the new cursor appears, hold down your left mouse button and move (drag) the pointer to the right.
You will have noticed that there are several instances of this sub-key. To be sure that you are modifying the correct instance check the (Default) data value and the Class data value. As shown in the screen shot the (Default) data value should be "DVD/CD-ROM drives" and the Class data value should be "CDROM". Sharp eyed individuals will have noticed that this screen shot doesn't contain UpperFilter or LowerFilter data values. The optical devices installed on this particular computer were not only recognized by Windows Vista but were also functioning without any problem.
While this screen shot is from a computer that doesn't have problems with the installed optical drives, it does show an UpperFilter data value. Right click this data value and select Delete on the context menu. If there is a LowerFilter data value, delete this also. This finishes the task needed to be performed with the Registry Editor. Closing the Registry Editor is recommended at this time to prevent inadvertent modifications to the Windows Registry.
The steps described here are usually shown written out rather than the one step at a time
method used here. The form used appears similar to this:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
Web pages that offer help with the disappearing optical drive problem have this path and
instructions as described here. The one thing that is either missing or not made plain is
that the affected drive or drives must be removed from the Device Manager.
Windows XP users will need to right click "My Computer" on the Start Menu then left click Properties on the resulting context menu. Windows Vista users right click "Computer" then left click Properties on the resulting context menu. In either case the System Properties dialog will open. The screen shot shows the Windows XP tabbed System Properties dialog with an arrow indicating the Hardware tab, which needs to be left clicked.
This screen shot shows the Hardware tab view of the Windows XP System Properties dialog. Those users who still have not acquired Windows XP Service Pack 2 will find that their Device Manager button is located in the center section of this dialog. There are still a surprising number of users that are running XP without any Service Packs installed. At any rate, find and click the Device Manager button on this screen.
The System Properties dialog of Windows Vista does not use tabs but instead uses links in the left hand column. The graphic here shows the necessary link circled in white. With this arrangement Vista users can arrive at the Device Manager with one less click than that required by Windows XP.
From this point the difference between Windows XP and Windows Vista is strictly cosmetic. Find the entry "DVD/CD-ROM drives" in the device list and left click the plus symbol to expand the entry. This will show a list of the computers optical drives.
The next step is to right click on the optical drive and on the resulting context menu left click "Uninstall". It will not hurt to remove all the drives if more than one is shown here because Windows will re-install them. The final step is to restart your computer. After Windows goes through the shut down process and restarts you should be able to access your optical drives once again. The program that installed the filter drivers that caused the optical drive to stop working will most likely now be the item that is not working. Once the culprit has been identified we recommend replacing this program rather spending a lot of time trying to get it working again, unless the software company has an updated version which doesn't use conflicting filter drivers.
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