DVD drives disappear after Windows 7 install

This is strange - AND driving me nuts. After a green light from the Windows 7 upgrade advisor, I installed Windows 7 Ultimate x32 on an HP Pavilion a6530f. I expected some software issues, and chose the 32-bit version to keep those to a minimum. The machine belongs to a client who is quite attached to some old programs.

Installation went great and one of the first things I did was test his printer. I was so happy when, without any interference from me, his printer worked. But then he asked me to try printing a CD label, something he does a lot, and I realized I needed to install the whole Epson kit & kaboodle. I used one of his DVD drives to do so. Still having problems, I found an Epson Windows 7 upgrade to download and that got his labels going. Thought things were great....

BUT, after a reboot, I noticed his DVD drives were no longer visible in My Computer. They ARE in BIOS AND Device Manager. I KNOW the drives were there before, so I know that, in some configuration, Windows 7 CAN handle his drives on this machine. They just don't anymore.

I searched in vain for BIOS updates, drivers, firmware, but HP apparently doesn't support Windows 7 on this particular model. It seems crazy, because I'm typing this on an HP notebook which has a much slower processor and half the RAM but comes with Windows 7 Home Premium x64.

When I ask Windows to search for driver updates, it tells me they're already updated. I've tried uninstalling both drives (not physically) and that doesn't work, either. Needless to say, they've stopped reading discs.

So I'm wondering if there's a work-around, or if I should try 7 x64 (his machine originally came with Vista x64, but I "upgraded" it to XP.) The machine is NOT on the list of HP machines which handle Win 7, as I found out as I dug around. :/

Try the solution on the following link - Your CD drive or DVD drive is missing or is not recognized by Windows or other programs

Thanks for that. I saw that link from a page someone shared with me on Facebook:

Windows 7 DVD Drive Not Working Problem Missing Disappeared Error Gone Not Found Not Recognized in x64 and x86 | Capitalhead.com

The MS page, however, is quite adamant about the fact that the solutions are not for Windows 7. I really wish I'd waited on this particular machine, but the person who owns it is really psyched about the upgrade. If the drives had never been visible and if I hadn't actually used one (read, anyway) while running Win 7, I think I'd just give up and go back to XP. But they WERE there, so he doesn't wanna give up, and I guess I won't be, either.

It's no fun being in the early days of a new O/S. (My new Best Buy bargain HP notebook, however, comes with 7 and it's zippy and I love it.)

Dont worry they just havent got around to making it official - its solving a lot of problems in the forums just search the forums for missing dvd drive if you need confirmation - anyhow go into the registry, and see if the filters are there, and manually delete them - you can export the folder to the desktop before doing so, and if it doesnt fix the problem (reboot first) just click on the file and the registry will be restored.

Solved! The culprit was CloneCD - a program my client wanted installed. It installs its own drivers. I decided to go 64 bit, anyway, so I didn't do anything specific to restore the drives. A clean install of 7 x64 did the trick.

Thks for the reply - good common sense, and you solved it .

whest said:

Thks for the reply - good common sense, and you solved it .

Click to expand...

Actually, YOU solved it. I jumped the gun.

I installed different DVD authoring software, after verifying it was compatible with Win 7 and, tada! The drives disappeared again. This time, there were no drivers added to in Device Manager, so I sorta got the feeling that any software accessing optical drives would cause this DVD-disappearance problem. I went to the MS page you posted and used the very, very easy Vista regedit fix and it worked. After that, I installed the software the client likes and the drives stayed put. Whew!!!

Hope this thread keeps others from spending too much time banging their heads against walls. Thanks.

Thks for the reply again - solved this time - now you know more about it then you would of if you just applied the fix .

window 7 DVD/CD drives dissapear

Just thought id post a quick msg, i have had issues with Win7 ... the fact that after a clean load of Win7 ultimate all seemed fine, then after windows updates my DVD/CD drives vanished .. after trying multiple soloutions posted on various thread i had to resort to removing ALL windows updates which seemed to do the trick.

I have turned off automatic updates so i dont get this issue again.... but it wud be nice to know Exactly which update causes this so i can load all the other updates and avoid the dodgy one ...

So if anyone has ANY idea which update causes this issue can u please let me know.. any info would be appreciated..

Thumper

@thumper131 Hope you got your problem resolved. I just came across your post while browsing for solutions for my DVD.

Win 7 no longer reads CD or DVD discs

whest said:

Try the solution on the following link - Your CD drive or DVD drive is missing or is not recognized by Windows or other programs

Click to expand...

I just had a problem where after booting my PC and found my DVD no longer read DVD or CD discs. Scared the bejeebees out of me, because it would write CDs but then tell me that there was no legitimate media in the drive when I tried to read them back. (The scare is I don't want to have some store chain technician touching my PC for warranty support.)

I ran the Windows diagnostic that you linked in your post. It too, told me there was no legitimate media inserted.

None of my previously works discs were readable.

I disabled the device, rebooted, renabled it, and all seems well again.

I still don't know the cause, but I remember using this trick back in the days of printer support with older versions of Windows.

Just an FYI for the next person trying to resolve that Windows 7 no longer reads CD or DVD discs.