CD/DVD Driver missing on install  

It is NOT always a bad DVD burn. Some of us have some sort of hardware compatibility problem with the Win7 DVD (particularly those of us with Gateways). To prove this I just did an experiment.

On my lovely gateway computer, any win7 disk that I try gives the missing driver error. But the same disks work fine on other computers. So I took the drive out of the gateway, and used a USB adaptor on it. The same drive on the same computer (gateway) but booted through USB instead of IDE does NOT give the missing driver error. So the drive can read the disk fine. There has been some sort of change on the way win7 installs or something.

I am happy for those that it is just a bad burn. But for some of us that is not the case.

Just thought I'd post my experiences:

New build for friend, MSDN x64 pro iso
CD/DVD device driver error on trying a clean install on top of RC. Format the drive using other software, install works fine

My rig:
Attempt to reinstall (custom) windows after a repair install failed and rendered the system unable to boot. My usb stick (which I'd used to install 3 other systems MSDN x64 pro iso) gives me the CD/DVD device driver error. tried bios options (legacy, native, etc), removing CD drive, removing old OS drive, nothing worked.

I'm currently reformatting the usb stick with a fresh digitalriver iso. If this doesn't work I'm screwed.

Well, finding a way to get win7 installed seemed like the big battle. But after installing it on that computer, I never tried to put a CD/DVD in it until now. Windows 7 completely refuses to find the IDE drive. And of course no updated drivers from Gateway for it, or from Microsoft. Looks like I am totally screwed for using any internal IDE drives. The hard drive is SATA. Maybe a SATA CD/DVD drive would work, but that would screw me out of putting a second hard drive in it. Looks like only external USB drive for me. Thanks Gatewrong and Microshaft

maximus57 said:

livinginkaos said:

Now, I had one friend who's machine's bios said it did not allow to boot from USB, but still created the flash and started the install from the dvd, but when it got to the point of needing the driver, it continued from the flash drive....

Finally, someone hit the simple solution! You don't need to make a bootable usb. You can simply copy the files from the dvd to the root of a usb flash drive or hard drive partion, and use the dvd to boot from. When it would normally give the missing cd/dvd driver message, it finds the files on the usb instead. Intallation continues and windows 7 is installed
(Note that at least in my case the usb drive had to be left in for the first reboot, otherwise it would hang at "completing installation" and the install would fail)

And for those that still get the missing driver error booting from usb, try putting the files on a separtate partion on the hard drive (or on a second hard drive if you have 2). Simply make a small (4GB) logical partion, copy the files there, boot the win7 dvd, and install to the primary partion. Afterwards you can delete the small partion and extend the primary to take the space.

I have tested this on my gateway and it works, from usb flash, usb hard drive, and a logical partion on the same hard drive I was installing to. I will say that I am installing win7 on a logical partition, as my primaries are taken up. So things could go a little different for you, but it should be the same.

This solution really helped me install Win7 on my Laptop! I copied the entire dvd to my external harddisk (did not made it bootable), entered setup with the dvd and when it gave the missing cd/dvd driver message I connected the external harddrive, closed the message and hit 'set-up' again, and it worked! After the install I disconnected the harddisk and everthing was (is) ok.

Many thanks for this solution!

what's an external harddrive??
And i keep getting the same message too... i burned the cd in 2x speed and it still didnt work.. I Updated IDE driver which was Nvidia something blah blah blah... I still don't know how to fix this problem someone told me about changing settings in bios but i still don't get it.. plzzz help ME!!!!!!! BTW my cpu is HP i don't know if that has anything to do with the installation...

PS my CD is HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GH10L SCSI CdRom Device. and when u update IDE driver u update at device manager right?

JeLLoKIM said:

what's an external harddrive??

The external hard drives we are talking about in this case are drives that plug into the computers USB port. This can be a full large hard drive, or just a simple flash drive (pen drive). You can get a 4GB USB flash drive for about $10 or so, and can be found at stores like walmart or office depot. It needs to be at least 4GB or bigger to copy the DVD files to it.

JeLLoKIM said:

And i keep getting the same message too... i burned the cd in 2x speed and it still didnt work.. I Updated IDE driver which was Nvidia something blah blah blah... I still don't know how to fix this problem someone told me about changing settings in bios but i still don't get it.. plzzz help ME!!!!!!! BTW my cpu is HP i don't know if that has anything to do with the installation...

PS my CD is HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GH10L SCSI CdRom Device. and when u update IDE driver u update at device manager right?

Updating the drivers in the current windows installation will not help any for installing Windows 7. The intallation DVD does its own thing with its own drivers. I can not help with your bios settings, hopefully someone else might be able to.

Oh ok... but is this really gonna work? No other way?

JeLLoKIM said:

Oh ok... but is this really gonna work? No other way?

There is no garentee. What exactly are you trying to do? I assume you are trying to update an older system to Windows 7 by what you have said. Is this correct? If so, why? Did you pay for Windows 7 to do the upgrade? What operating system are you upgrading from? Is it a free upgrade for a Vista computer that was bought after a certain date?

The next major question is do you know how to recover your computer if the installation goes bad? Do you have all important data backed up?

Xunomei said:

This solution really helped me install Win7 on my Laptop! I copied the entire dvd to my external harddisk (did not made it bootable), entered setup with the dvd and when it gave the missing cd/dvd driver message I connected the external harddrive, closed the message and hit 'set-up' again, and it worked! After the install I disconnected the harddisk and everthing was (is) ok.
Many thanks for this solution!

I have to ask... Does win7 see your cd/dvd drive now after installing? Mine can't