Ahhhh...I have had this same problem, and locating a fix for it was a pain, but try this... look under the following key [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}] Under this key you will see UpperFilters and LowerFilters. Normally there should not be anything here unless your CD/DVD requires it (or you use a product like AnyDVD. Try deleting these keys and reboot. Your drive should be restored. "UpperFilters"=- "LowerFilters"=- On a side note, if you use AnyDVD, it is ok to delete the UpperFilters, but leave/reset the lower filter to "LowerFilters"=hex(7):41,00,6e,00,79,00,44,00,56,00,44,00,00,00,00,00 (make sure the above code is all on one line) I use this at the end of my unattended installs and it seems to have no problems as of yet... hope this helps