[FIX] Optical Drives (CD/DVD) Icon Not Showing in My Computer Window

Many times Windows users face strange problem when they can't see the icon of optical drives (CD/DVD drives) in My Computer (also known as Windows Explorer or This PC) window. The drive icon doesn't show in Explorer but the drive works fine in other computers.

If you are also facing this problem and can't see your optical drives (CD/DVD Drives/Writers) in My Computer window, this tutorial will help you.

Simply follow the simple steps given in following methods to fix the problem:

METHOD 1:

1. Type regedit in RUN dialog box and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.

2. Now go to following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\ {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

3. Look for "UpperFilters" and "LowerFilters" strings in right-side pane. If you find them, delete them.

4. Restart the system and now you should  have access to your optical drives.

METHOD 2:

If the above method doesn't work for you or if you can't see "UpperFilters" and "LowerFilters" keys in Registry, then following steps will help you:

1. Open Registry Editor and go to following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi\

2. Create a new key Controller0 under atapi key.

3. Select the new Controller0 key and in right-side pane, create new DWORD EnumDevice1 and set its value to 1

3. Close Registry Editor and restart your system.

That's it. Now you'll be able to see your CD/DVD drive in My Computer window.

METHOD 3:

If the above mentioned method doesn't work for you, you can directly add the DWORD in Registry by executing following command in Command Prompt:

reg.exe add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi\Controller0" /f /v EnumDevice1 /t REG_DWORD /d 0x00000001

Make sure you open Command Prompt as Administrator as mentioned here.

METHOD 4:

If you don't want to modify Registry yourself, download following ZIP file, extract it and you'll get a ready-made Registry script which will modify Windows Registry automatically:

Download Registry Script to Fix CD/DVD Drive Missing in Windows

METHOD 5:

If the above mentioned methods don't work for you, try following solution given by our reader "Vishal":

1. Open Device Manager using devmgmt.msc command and enable "View -> Show hidden devices" option. Now locate the DVD/CD-ROM drives and IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers items.

2. Right-click on each entry present under both "DVD/CD-ROM drives" and "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers" sections one bye one and select Uninstall.

3. Once all have been removed, right-click again and select Scan for hardware changes.

The drives will be rediscovered and when the drivers are loaded back, the drives will re-appear in My Computer window.

You can also try to restart your computer.

PS: You can also check out solutions for other common PC problems in following exclusive topic:

[Help & Support] Frequently Asked Problems with Solutions

Credit to http://www.askvg.com/optical-drives-are-not-showing-in-my-computer/