CD-R drive or CD-RW drive is not recognized as a recordable device (316529)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional
This article was previously published under Q316529
IMPORTANT: This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry

SYMPTOMS

When you attempt to burn data to a compact disc recordable (CD-R) drive or compact disc rewritable (CD-RW) drive, you may not have the option to send data to the CD-ROM drive.

When you view the properties of the CD-R drive or CD-RW drive, you may notice that the Recording tab is not displayed in the CD Drive (drive_letter:) Properties dialog box, where drive_letter is the letter of the CD-R drive or CD-RW drive.

Note To view the CD Drive (drive_letter:) Properties dialog box, click Start, click My Computer, right-click the CD-R drive or CD-RW drive that you want, and then click Properties on the shortcut menu.

CAUSE

This issue can occur when the drive is misdetected as a non-recordable device.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, edit the Microsoft Windows registry to identify the CD-R drive or CD-RW drive as a recordable drive. To do this, follow these steps.WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.
  1. Click Start, and then click Run.
  2. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
  3. Expand the following registry subkey:

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CD Burning\Drives

  4. On the File menu, click Export.
  5. In the File name box, type backup of drives key, and then click Save.

    Note You can restore this registry subkey by double-clicking the backup of drives key.reg file that you saved.
  6. In the left pane of the Registry Editor window, click the Volume{GUID} folder under Drives, where GUID is a 32-character hexadecimal globally unique identifier.

    Note If you have more than one CD-ROM drive in the computer, an additional Volume{GUID} folder is listed for each drive.
  7. In the right pane of the Registry Editor window, double-click Drive Type.
  8. In the Value data box, type 1 or 2, depending on the drive type, and then click OK.

    The drive type should be 1 if it is a CD-R and 2 if it is a CD-RW.
  9. Quit Registry Editor.
  10. Click Start, and then click My Computer.
  11. Under Devices with Removable Storage, right-click the CD-R drive or CD-RW drive, and then click Properties on the shortcut menu.
  12. If the Recording tab is displayed, Windows recognizes the drive as a recordable device.
  13. Click Cancel.

    Note If you have more than one CD-ROM drive, DVD-ROM drive, or CD-RW drive in the computer and the Recording tab is not displayed, an incorrect drive may have been configured as "recordable" in the Windows registry. To troubleshoot this issue, follow these steps:
    1. Follow steps 1 through 9 to edit the Drive Type value of the Volume{GUID} folder whose value you previously changed.
    2. In the Value data box, type 3, and then click OK.

      The drive type value of 3 indicates that the drive is a standard CD-ROM and is not writable.
    3. In the left pane of the Registry Editor window, click the next Volume{GUID} folder.
    4. Follow steps 7 and 8 to change the Value data entry to 1 or 2, depending on the drive type.
    5. Quit Registry Editor, and then follow steps 10 through 12 to confirm that the Recording tab is displayed in the properties dialog box of the CD-R drive or CD-RW drive.

MORE INFORMATION

This procedure may not work in all cases. This is only a workaround in a situation where the CD-R drive or CD-RW drive is capable of functioning in Windows XP and for some reason has been misidentified. If the drive is not on the Hardware Compatibility List (HCL), the drive may not work with the built-in CD copying functionality, regardless of this registry setting.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:6/23/2005
Keywords:kbACWsurvey kbHardware kbprb ocsso KB316529
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