not showing cd/dvd drive

anshu007

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Jul 12, 2013
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I have problem with my cd/dvd drive.It is not visible in "My computer".
The power connection of the cable is ok as i am able to eject or close the drive.using window 7 solve my problem
 
Solution
Whether or not empty devices show in the "Computer" window of Explorer depends on how you have set your options. You can elect to show or hide empty devices.

Nickolie

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Jan 29, 2008
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Not true. Windows 7 still shows the DVD drive when it doesn't have a disk in the drive.

 

USAFRet

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Well...I'm looking at my Windows Explorer right now, and it does exactly that. No DVD drive appears until I insert a disk.
 

boju

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Yea i was thinking the same thing Nickolie, maybe was confused with something else, anywho;

Anshu, when you open "my computer" click on the arrow next to 'Devices with removable storage' I'm hoping its minimized and will show the drive when expanded.
 

USAFRet

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Win 7 Ultimate:

Open Windows Explorer
Left pane shows:
Local Disk C (Os partition)
Local Disk D (Win 8.1 partition)
Various mapped drives

We do not see an E until and unless there is a disk in the drive


Click on Computer
In the right pane we do see it listed under "Devices with Removable Storage"
 

boju

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ok i see now. First time i seen that, did exactly what you said when i inserted a cd, must be just the way windows is.

In my computer the cd/dvd drive is missing the op is saying, im guessing the arrow may have been clicked to hide it.
 

boju

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lol i think we're getting confused with the 'my computer' thing. Its been a long time since using winxp but had used it for many years, wasn't there an icon with 'my computer'? pretty sure there was and win7 renamed it to just computer. I'm guessing phrase used in the ops question was literally taking into account its my computer. o:

Confused.

 

USAFRet

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Well...he's got this tagged as "Windows 7". We'll just have to wait and see his response.
 

boju

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no thats what i mean, up until this moment. im being honest now lol, it might sound dumb, but till this moment ive always thought of it as my computer until i looked at it properly since this thread and things have now changed lol. Maybe its the same for the op ;P
 

USAFRet

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Right. XP and earlier, it was 'My Computer'. 7 & 8, just "Computer'.
 

cadillacmike

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Jan 3, 2012
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Old thread, but this was bugging me. This is Win 7 pro 64.
Half of my computers show the DVD drive even when there is no disc in the drive (in win explorer / file mgr), but the other half wouldn't. Put a disc in and it shows up as E:. Take the disc out and bye bye. These were ALL machines restored from the SAME backup onto very similar ThinkPad T61s. It drives me crazy because when I put in a USB, it will grab the E: drive letter that is supposed to be for the DVD drive. I have backup / sync routines that want the USB sticks to be G: or H:. These machines usually have internal or local attached drives C, D, E, and F already in use and the USBs are G and H.

I found the setting. It's in Win explorer.
Tools / Folder Options. General Tab.
Make sure the box that says Show All Folders it checked and the empty DVD drive now shows up!
 

phatdaddy

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Mar 9, 2017
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Windows 10 solution is basically the same but the names are changed to confuse the innocent!
Open File Explorer
Click on "View" tab, then click on "Options" (way off to the right side)
Click on "View" tab and scroll Waaaaay down to the bottom and click/check the box "Show all folders"
and like CaddilacMike says, there it is!

I like this forum!