swarfega said:

hmm my drive isnt missing but CDBurnerXP says its not compatible (works with ImgBurn).

it might be 32 BIT?

What is CDBurnerXP?
CDBurnerXP is a free application to burn CDs and DVDs, including Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs. It also includes the feature to burn and create ISOs, as well as a multilanguage interface. Everyone, even companies, can use it for free. It does not include adware or similar malicious components.

Key Features
burn all kinds of discs
audio-CDs with or without gaps between tracks
burn and create ISO files
data verification after burning process
create bootable discs
multi-language interface
bin/nrg → ISO converter, simple cover printing and much more!
Operating Systems: Windows 2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista/2008/Win7 (x86 / x64)

sorry it is

extract from there site

Q: Is my drive compatible with CDBurnerXP?
A: Usually every drive is compatible if it is not too old. You can see at tested drives list which drives were tested by our users. However, if your drive is listed there, there is no guarantee that it will work. A correct system configuration is also needed and and we cannot verify the information given by our users.

Q: CDBurnerXP does not recognize my drive!
A: See our CDBurnerXP: Troubleshooting and errors

JMH said:

Microsoft is offering users an automatic fix for issues related to their CD or DVD drives in Windows 7 but also in older releases of Windows, including Windows Vista and Windows XP.

Some Softpedia readers might have come across previous articles detailing problems that Windows 7 customers reported with their CD or DVD drives not being recognized or missing entirely.

Essentially, users affected by these issues find that they cannot access or play CDs or DVDs. According to the Redmond company, the problems can appear after users install, uninstall or update certain programs.

“This issue may have occurred after one of the following situations: you upgrade a computer to Windows Vista or install Windows Vista Service Pack 1; you install or uninstall CD or DVD recording programs; you uninstall Microsoft Digital Image,” the software giant stated.

The issues are generally accompanied by a number of error messages. However, customers need to try and view the CD drive or the DVD drive in Device Manager before they actually get the error messages:

Automatic Fix for Windows 7 DVD Drive Missing or Not Recognized - Softpedia

great post thanks helped me in a thread the fix worked ok if i could rep you in this thread i would