If you open My Computer one day and realize your CD or DVD drive is missing, there are two possible causes. The first is a physical issue, where the drive has died or a power or IDE cable has somehow come unplugged. The second is a problem with the registry. This is not an uncommon problem. If you have ruled out a problem with the drive itself, you should be able to fix this issue by removing a couple registry keys. Since working with the registry is dangerous, you will want to create a System Restore point before you begin. To do that, go to Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>System Restore.
Editing the Registry
To begin this process, make sure you are logged in as Administrator. Vista and XP handle this pretty much the same way. Go to the Start>Run in XP (or in Vista the Windows button, then the search box) and type regedit and hit enter. You will now be in the system registry. Navigate down through the menus to this point HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}. You will see entries for UpperFilters and LowerFilters in the right side of the screen. Highlight them one at a time and click Edit, then Delete.
You might see an entry for UpperFilters.bak. It is not necessary to remove it. If you do not see entries for these filters, your only recourse might be to do a system restore to a point when you knew the drives were working.
Once both UpperFilter and LowerFilters have been deleted, exit out of the registry editor and restart the PC. When Windows reboots, it should find the drive again and install any basic drivers automatically. If you have special burning software, you might need to reinstall it, too. But chances are if the drive is recognized, the software that was previously installed (like Nero) will work without any issues.
If you still have problems finding your CD or DVD drives in My Computer, be sure to visit our computer forums for more help. pzjast824f
