accessing cds

Question

I have cd's that I bought in 2008-9-time frame. I am on Windows-11. Disc will not load. What can I do to fix this?

Answer 1

Hello, john macco.

As practice shows, SD / DVD discs can spoil over time. Not completely, but on many drives are no longer readable (I have a large collection of discs 2000-2010, so there is such experience)...

To begin with, try to clean the laser lens on the drive with a special cleaning disc. Then carefully clean the surface of the "problematic" CD disc. These products are sold in computer stores. If this doesn't work, try contacting a nearby service center and asking them to copy the SD drives to a new one or to a flash drive/SD card/external HDD.

Answer 2

Try these steps in order on Windows 11 to get the CDs to load.

1. Check that Windows sees the drive
   • Press Windows key, type Device Manager, press Enter.
   • Expand DVD/CD-ROM drives.
   • If the drive is missing or has a yellow exclamation mark, continue with the steps below.
2. Update or reinstall the CD/DVD drive driver
   • In Device Manager, under DVD/CD-ROM drives, right‑click the CD/DVD device and select Uninstall device.
   • Confirm with Uninstall.
   • Restart the PC. Windows will automatically reinstall the driver.
   • Try the CD again.
3. Remove and reinstall IDE/ATAPI controller drivers (if the drive still does not work or is not detected)
   • Open Device Manager again.
   • On the View menu, select Show hidden devices.
   • Expand IDE/ATAPI controllers.
   • Right‑click and Uninstall each of the following entries if present:
     • ATA Channel 0
     • ATA Channel 1
     • Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
     • Any additional similar entries.
   • Restart the PC so Windows reinstalls these drivers automatically.
   • Test the CD again.
4. Fix possible corrupted registry entries (only if the drive appears with errors and previous steps did not help)
   This can affect how Windows recognizes CD/DVD drives.
   1. Press Windows key + R, type regedit, press Enter, and approve the prompt.
   2. In the left pane, browse to:
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
   3. In the right pane, look for UpperFilters. If present, select it and on the Edit menu choose Delete, then confirm Yes.
   4. Then select LowerFilters (if present), choose Delete, and confirm Yes.
   5. Close Registry Editor and restart the PC.
      Notes:
   • An administrator account is required.
   • Modifying the registry incorrectly can cause system issues; back up the registry first using the guidance in the linked article in the documentation.
   • After this change, some CD/DVD recording apps might need to be reinstalled.
5. If the drive is still not detected at all
   • Verify the drive is enabled in the PC’s BIOS/UEFI and that all cables (power, data, or USB for an external drive) are firmly connected.
   • If using an external USB CD/DVD drive, try a different USB port or cable.

If Windows detects the drive and the disc spins but specific media files will not play in Windows Media Player, the issue may be missing codecs. In that case, check the file properties and install an appropriate codec pack as described in the Windows Media Player troubleshooting article.

---

References:

• Your CD or DVD drive is not recognized by Windows or other programs
• Troubleshoot Windows Media Player Errors
• Unable to use an attached CD player - Microsoft Q&A
• windows11 does not detect external cd dvd drive - Microsoft Q&A
• My external DVD drive is not working - DW316 - Microsoft Q&A