Windows 11 and CD playback does not work well.

Question

I can get it working by reinstalling the driver, but it only works for one CD. When I try to play a second CD, it has reverted back to not recognising the disc. This means each time I want to play a CD I have to reinstall the driver. Needless to say, this is very annoying.

Answer 1

Hi Dee,

I completely understand how frustrating this issue must be. Here are a few steps you can try that might help fix the problem:

1. Check for Windows Updates Make sure your system is fully up to date:

Go to Settings > Windows Update

Click Check for updates and install any available updates

2. Update or Roll Back the CD/DVD Driver

Open Device Manager

Expand DVD/CD-ROM drives

Right-click your CD/DVD drive and choose Update driver

Select Search automatically for drivers If that doesn’t help, go to the Driver tab and check if the Roll Back Driver option is available.

3. Disable Power Management for the Drive

In Device Manager, right-click the CD/DVD drive > Properties

If there’s a Power Management tab, uncheck “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power”

4. Run the Hardware Troubleshooter

Press Windows + R, then type: msdt.exe -id DeviceDiagnostic

Press Enter and follow the on-screen instructions

If you're comfortable using the Registry Editor, try this:

• Open Registry Editor (regedit)
• Go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi\Controller0
• Right-click the right pane > New > DWORD (32-bit) Value
• Name it EnumDevice1 and set its value to 1
• Restart your computer

And sometimes the default app can cause conflicts. You could try:

VLC Media Player (free and supports many formats)

Groove Music (built into Windows 11 for audio CDs)

Hope this helps get things working smoothly again!