If you find that your CD or DVD drive is missing or not showing or recognized by Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8.1 or, Windows 7, as a result of which you cannot play or access a CD or DVD, then this post may help you.

CD or DVD drive is missing or not recognized

This issue may have occurred after one of the following situations:

You upgrade a computer to a newer version of Windows.
You install or uninstall CD or DVD recording programs.
You uninstall Microsoft Digital Image.

What you need to fix:

Your CD or DVD Drive does not read or write and is shown as disabled
The media in your CD or DVD drive cannot be read
The media cannot be written to by your CD or DVD drive
A class-specific or device-specific driver is missing or corrupt error
A CD or DVD drive cannot be found or is not connected error
The CD or DVD drive is experiencing a problem that prevents it from working properly error
The CD or DVD drive is not accessible via an assigned drive letter error

You may see one of the following error messages:

The device is not working properly because Windows cannot load the drivers required for this device (Code 31).
A driver for this device was not required and has been disabled (Code 32 or Code 31)
Your registry might be corrupted. (Code 19)
Windows successfully loaded the device driver for this hardware but cannot find the hardware device. (Code 41)

Carry out the following suggestions to resolve the issue?

1] Run Troubleshooters

Windows 11 and Windows 10 users may use the Hardware and Devices Troubleshooter and see if it helps you.

If you are using Windows 8 or Windows 7, then you may also open the built-in Playing and Burning CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray Discs Troubleshooter from the Control Panel and run it.

2] Check BIOS settings and chipset drivers

3] Update or reinstall the driver

Follow one of the methods below to update your drivers:

You may check for Driver Updates via Windows Update to update your drivers
You may visit the manufacturer’s site to download the drivers.
Use a free driver update software
If you have the driver file already on your computer then:
- Open Device Manager.
- Select the Driver
- Select Update Driver.
- Follow the on-screen wizard to finish updating your driver.

4] Remove and reinstall IDE/ATAPI drivers

To remove the drivers:

Open Device Manager.
Select the Driver
Select Uninstall device.
Follow the on-screen wizard to finish.
Restart your PC and let Windows reinstall the driver.

5] Fix corrupted registry entries

If you wish, you may also fix the corrupted registry manually. Create a system restore point first and then Run regedit to open the Registry Editor. Next, navigate to the following key:

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

In the right pane, click UpperFilters. Delete it.

In the right pane, you will also see LowerFilters. Click on it and Delete it too.

Restart your computer.

6] Create a registry subkey

Open Registry Editor and navigate to the following key-

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi

Right-click atapi, point to New, then select Key.
Type Controller0, and then press Enter.
Right-click Controller0, point to New, and then select DWORD(32-bit) Value.
Type EnumDevice1, and then press Enter.
Right-click EnumDevice1, select Modify.
Type 1 in the Value data box, and then select OK.

Restart your computer and see.

PS: If you need more tips, please visit – CD or DVD drive not working or not reading.