External DVD Drive for Region 2 DVDs

Greetings from a Japan . I have a made for Japan Dell PC / Windows 7 with Cyberlink Power DVD pre-installed . The PC's drive I'm pretty sure is locked in to region 1 ( I have had the PC for 4+ years and don't recall if I ever tried to play a region 2 DVD on it . I realize that after 5 switches from region 1 to 2 the drive automatically locks into the last one used ) and I use Windows Media Player when viewing discs . I would like to buy an external DVD drive for region 2 but want to make sure that I can use the PC's drive for region 1 and have the second external drive to use with only region 2 dvds . I'm worried that when I switch from one drive to the next that that will affect the region code on my computer and eat up my 5 only chances to switch region codes. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks from a PC dummy ! Cheers !

On my ODD (CD -DVD -BD) you have to open properties and select the Region you want it to be compatible and then set OK.
I understand that it doesn't change it automatically to match the media on it.

Really ? I have been told that the external DVD drive should work indepently of the PC's drive without selecting region , etc...Just want to make sure . Again - I am in Japan with a Japanese Dell playing region one discs via Windows Media Player and want to play region 2 ( namely Japanese DVDs ) via the made in Japan external DVD drive . Thanks for the reply !

As I wrote, on MY ODD (CD -DVD -BD) you have to set the region.
Other ODD my work different.
Google "dvd region set" and you going to find more answers.

If you're going to have 1 internal ODD an one USB external ODD drive, always put one region type in one and the other region type on the other ODD.

Thanks again for all the replies . So you are saying that if I continue to use the internal drive for region one DVDs , and use the external drive for region two ONLY all will be ok . It is what I assumed but wanted to make sure .

Megahertz07 said:

If you're going to have 1 internal ODD an one USB external ODD drive, always put one region type in one and the other region type on the other ODD.

Thanks for your replies . Not one other person helped ! Great ( not ) forum . If you are a computer dummy like me you deserve no support it seems .

There are some media players and programs circumvent your computer's built-in region encoding, allowing you to play any DVD with your laptop's DVD drive, regardless of the region of the drive or the disc.

Using VLC Player

Step 1

Download and install the VLC Player. This is a free media player that bypasses region encoding.

Step 2

Insert the disc you want to play in your disc drive and launch VLC player.

Step 3

Go to "Media" then "Open Disc." In the "Disc" tab go to "Disc Device." Select the drive the disc is in and click "Play" to begin playing the disc.

Using Any DVD

Step 1

Download and install Any DVD. This is a paid program, but the trial version will work for several days before you have to pay.

Step 2

Restart your computer.

Step 3

Log back in to your computer after it restarts. Any DVD will automatically boot up and disable all region encoding on your disc drive.

Thanks for the reply .

I got a new external drive using electronics store points that I had accumulated and had to use by end of October so it was in essence free .

From what I understand , if I use it for region two only , and continue to use my PC's internal drive for region one , I should have no problems . Would you agree with that ?