Aug 28, 2015 I recently upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 7 and previously my DVD/CD Drive was working perfectly. Now, nowhere on my. Hi, It really isn't my day. I recently upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 7 and previously my DVD/CD Drive was working perfectly. My dvd/cd drive is not recognised, at all Hi. I am having trouble on an Acer Aspire.
Have you ever needed to open your CD or DVD drive (generally referred to as your 'optical drive') but couldn't? Just your luck, your favorite movie, video game, or music was probably stuck inside.
Maybe the laptop's power died, maybe the drive in your desktop just quit responding, or maybe the door was just stuck or the disc came loose from a try just enough to jam things up.
Regardless of what's happening, or what you think might be happening, there's no reason to rush out and replace the disc or drive just because the eject button doesn't do what you expected it to do.
Fortunately, one of the following two methods almost always does the trick to get the drive open:
How to Force Eject a Disc From Within the OS
We'll start with the easiest way to get the drive open - skip the physical button on the outside and ask your operating system to force eject the disc. You can only try this if your computer has power and is working. Skip down to the next section if that's not the case.
Time Required: Forcing your CD, DVD, or BD drive to eject via your operating system's commands is very easy and should only take a few seconds to try.
Open File Explorer if you're using Windows 10 or Windows 8. Search for it or use the WIN+X menu to open it quickly.
Open Windows Explorer in earlier versions of Windows. You can do this by looking for that option when you right-click the Start button.
Once open, navigate to the optical drive from the menu on the left. This drive is often auto-named based on what disc is inside the drive but there's usually a small disc icon to help identify it.
If you have trouble finding it, look for This PC on the left in Windows 10 or 8, or Computer in earlier versions. Click the icon to the left to expand this if it's collapsed.
Right-click or tap-and-hold on the optical drive and choose Eject from the menu that pops up or down.
The drive bay or disc should spin down and eject within seconds.
Using a Mac? Similar to the method described above for Windows, find the disc icon, right-click on it, and then choose Eject. Here are some more ideas.
If this doesn't work (Windows, macOS, Linux, etc.), it's time to get physical with it!
How to Open a CD/DVD/BD Drive... With a Paper Clip
It sounds strange, yes, but most computer optical drives, including external ones and those you'll find in your game systems like Xbox and PlayStation, have a tiny pinhole that's designed as a last resort method to get the drive bay open.
Time & Tools Required: You'll need a single, heavy-duty paper clip - not industrial sized, but not one of those flimsy plastic ones, either. The whole process will take less than a few minutes and is very easy.
Unfold the paper clip until there is at least 1 to 2 inches (2 to 5 cm) that are as close to straight as you can get it.
Look closely at your disc drive. Directly under or above the drive bay door (the part that 'ejects' the disc), there should be a very small pinhole.
If you have one of those desktop optical drives where a large door flips down before the drive bay ejects, pull that down with your finger and then look for the pinhole.
Some older desktops require the opening of the front panel, sort of like a large 'door' to the computer's housing, to get to this pinhole.
Insert the paper clip into the pinhole. Inside the drive, directly behind the pinhole, is a small gear that, when rotated, will begin to manually open the drive.
Remove and reinsert the paper clip as often as needed to eject the drive bay enough to grab hold of it.
Slowly pull the drive bay until it's fully retracted. Take care not to pull too quickly or to continue to pull when you feel resistance.
Remove the CD, DVD, or BD disc from the drive. Slowly push the drive bay back into the drive until closed or press the open/close button if the drive is still working.
If these steps don't work, or you find yourself using the paper clip trick often, it may be time to look at some other options...
No Luck? Here's What to Do Next
At this point, there's likely something physically wrong with the drive or another part of the computer. Here are some things to consider doing:
If your drive is external, unplug and plug back in both the data cable and the power cable.
Check internally that the power and data cables are firmly connected.
Restart your computer and try again.
Replace the drive. Optical drives are relatively cheap — Amazon sells many for around $20 USD.
Those are not necessarily in a step-by-step troubleshooting order. What steps you take depends on a lot on the type of computer and optical drive you have, as well as your specific situation.
Your computer can play music CDs and DVDs and, if it’s powerful enough, can show films and TV programmes on disc. You can also buy new computer programs on disc or put blank discs into your computer to do things like copying photos, documents or music.
CDs and DVDs are played within optical disc drives that come as part of a computer. There are two types of these drives:
readers – these only read from the discs
writers (also known as recorders or burners) – these can copy data on to discs.
Many drives are reader-only, but writers are usually only available in combination with readers.
It can take a bit of detective work to figure out how to play a CD or DVD.
Follow these step-by-step instructions on how to put a CD or DVD into your computer
Step 1: First, you need to discover what sort of disc drive(s) you’ve got.
The PC above has two drives: a DVD reader at the top, and a combined DVD/CD reader/writer underneath. These are actually drawer-like trays, into which a DVD or CD is laid and then the tray is closed.
The laptop above has a combined DVD/CD reader/writer on the side of the keyboard.
All-in-one and touch-screen computers often have a drive in one side, immediately behind the screen.
It’s also possible that access to the drive is only a slot. If this is the case, as it is in Apple iMac computers and iBook laptops, just gently feed in the disc and the computer will take it.
Step 2: Now you need to find out how to open your disc drive. This is normally done with the push of a button.
In the PC (right), the ‘open’ (or ‘eject’) buttons are underneath the tray.
In the laptop (left), the button is actually on the tray.
Press the button on your computer. If the tray is motorised, it will open completely. If not, it will open slightly and you can gently pull it open.
Step 3: Put your disc into your computer’s disc drive:
The tray is ‘indented’ so that the disc sits in it.
Which side of the disc is uppermost is important. The side that has writing on it should be facing up. If you have a computer with a slot drive, you should first position the disc so that the written side is facing you and then push it in gently.
Step 4: If the tray is motorised, press the button again and it will close. Don’t push it in manually – you could break it. However, if it isn’t motorised, press the tray gently until it clicks shut.
Step 5: An icon of the CD/DVD will appear on your computer desktop. At the same, you’ll see a menu asking you what you want to do with the disc.
The above menu appeared when an audio CD was put into a PC using Windows 7. If it had been a DVD or a computer program disc, a similar menu would have appeared. Once you’ve made your choice, the appropriate software will come into action to play the music, allow the film to be shown, launch the computer program or whatever.
Step 6: To eject the disc, close the software that you’ve been using with the CD/DVD. Then drag the CD/DVD icon to the ‘Recycle Bin’. This should cause the tray to open automatically if the drive is motorised so that you can remove the CD/DVD. If it’s not motorised, gently pull it open.
Don’t try to remove the CD/DVD from the tray without first getting rid of the icon from the screen – otherwise you could damage your computer.