How to open files from an old cd-r

Question

i have this old cd-r that has my sisters photos on her birthday when she was younger, i could open the when it is fed on a dvd player but when feed it to my laptop there's no files and it only shows a desktop.ini file that is hidden, i was hoping to get an answer on how to view the files.

Answer 1

Hello Cristian Josh Suyo,

The desktop.ini you see under "Files Ready to Be Written to the Disc" is actually not content from the disc itself — it's a temporary file Windows automatically creates in its local burn staging area. It's unrelated to your photos.

The real issue is likely how the CD-R was originally burned. If it was written using Live File System (UDF/packet writing) format, or if the burning session was never properly finalized/closed, Windows File Explorer may not be able to read it — even though a DVD player can, since most DVD players have more tolerant disc readers that handle open or non-finalized sessions just fine.

The good news is your photos are most likely still on the disc. To recover them, you can download and install IsoBuster (free third-party app). Insert the CD-R and open IsoBuster — it will automatically detect all sessions and disc content. Then, browse to your photos and extract/save them to your PC.

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