[FIX] Optical Drives (CD/DVD) Icon Not Showing in My Computer Window

Many times Windows users face strange problem when they can’t see the icon of optical drives (CD/DVD drives) in My Computer (also known as Windows Explorer or This PC) window. The drive icon doesn’t show in Explorer but the drive works fine in other computers.

If you are also facing this problem and can’t see your optical drives (CD/DVD Drives/Writers) in My Computer window, this tutorial will help you.

Simply follow the simple steps given in following methods to fix the problem:

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METHOD 1:

1. Type regedit in RUN dialog box and press Enter. It’ll open Registry Editor.

2. Now go to following key:

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

Delete_UpperFilters_LowerFilters_Keys.png

3. Look for “UpperFilters” and “LowerFilters” strings in right-side pane. If you find them, delete them.

4. Restart the system and now you should  have access to your optical drives.

METHOD 2:

If the above method doesn’t work for you or if you can’t see “UpperFilters” and “LowerFilters” keys in Registry, then following steps will help you:

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1. Open Registry Editor and go to following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi

2. Create a new key Controller0 under atapi key.

3. Select the new Controller0 key and in right-side pane, create new DWORD EnumDevice1 and set its value to 1

3. Close Registry Editor and restart your system.

That’s it. Now you’ll be able to see your CD/DVD drive in My Computer window.

METHOD 3:

If the above mentioned method doesn’t work for you, you can directly add the DWORD in Registry by executing following command in Command Prompt:

reg add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi\Controller0" /f /v EnumDevice1 /t REG_DWORD /d 0x00000001

Make sure you open Command Prompt as Administrator as mentioned here.

METHOD 4:

If you don’t want to modify Registry yourself, download following ZIP file, extract it and you’ll get a ready-made Registry script which will modify Windows Registry automatically:

Download Registry Script to Fix CD/DVD Drive Missing in Windows

METHOD 5:

If the above mentioned methods don’t work for you, try following solution given by our reader “Vishal”:

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.

You can also try to restart your computer.

Published in: Troubleshooting Guides, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

Comments

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  1. THANK YOU!!! I tried about everything I knew , and every hint I could find on the internet. I even installed a new DVD/CD Drive but nothing made it show up until I tried Fix #2. Made the changes in registry editor and Voila! I’ve been beating myself up over this, thanks for the easy fix…wish I’d have seen this 10 hours and two installations ago.

  2. Oops – spoke too soon. The drive was discovered and worked exactly once. I removed the DVD and the next time I tried to use it the computer could not see it. I rebooted and still nothing. I tried removing the DVD/CD as in Method #5 and now I cannot see the DVD/CD entry at all AND I cannot fix it by using Method #2 as I did before, So, something else is going on and I don’t know what it is.

  3. Hi…guys, here’s what worked for me:
    I reset bios settings, changed SATA device mode to IDE and enabled CD boot. Then did fresh install of Windows. Just that.

  4. I followed methed 5 and uninstalled CD/ROM drives. But after doing scan for hardware changes it didnt appear back in my device manager let alone on my computer. So, plz help

  5. sir,
    I have tried all of them ideas but the solution could not be done , so please tell me another way to fix this problem , i have been facing this problem since last one year, pleast tell me solutions
    my windows is 8.1 pro 64 bit

    Thank You

  6. Method 4 worked for me (script) perfectly after a restart. Thank you so much for this. I installed Win 10, dual booting with the existing Win7. Drive was working perfect on Win7 but not even showing in Win10 device manager. This fix sorted it – Thank you

  7. Thank God for Linux! – How else could we deal with the curse of Windows??

    But I come prepared – two boxes on my desk, one runs Linux, the other struggles with MS miracles …

  8. I used the first deleted upper and lower filter now my screen tura blue after restarting and an error showing inaccessible boot device plz fix this😭😭😭😭😭 I don’t want my data to lost

  9. Thanks!
    I was in a very difficult situation. I had to flash a Windows ISO to DVD, but it was not showing up.
    You saved me. The 5th method worked for me! It took less than 1 minute.

  10. i try all but the method 5 i deleted the drives but i did not see them again ? what do i do now?… it did not work bro… help me out

  11. Thanks!!!! This is the most informative article on this problem on the web. After messing around for over a week, an hour here and there, I found that Method 4 works. This problem only arose after the latest 2020 Anniversary version of Windows 10 was loaded. Motherboard is older Asus P6T Deluxe V2 with an Asus DVD drive

  12. after uninstalling DVD in device manager it did not come back after scan,,,what can I do now

  13. my laptop problem is, not open my dvd/cd in acer company…please solution … please help.

  14. After upgrading an older HP AMD based laptop (14-AC100NA) to Windows 10, the DVD drive appeared under the ‘disks’ section of Device Manager and wouldn’t work. I found that installing the AMD AHCI driver resolved the problem. I found a compatible driver by searching for the hardware ID (in this case VEN_1002&DEV_4391) and using the link from Solution.

  15. Currently, this hardware device is not connected to the computer. (Code 45)

    To fix this problem, reconnect this hardware device to the computer.

    How do i fix this ??

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