I'm using Windows xp sp2 and all my dvd burning software is not detecting my drive as a burner... the drive works when I pop a cd in. But it's just not detecting it as a burner.. what can I do?

What software do you have?

XP has no native DVD support.

I have nero 7 essentials and I just downloaded a trial version of cheetah to see if it works.. but both aren't able to detect my drive.

Is this a new problem? Did it ever work?

In general a DVD burner needs software for XP which was developed prior to DVD's.

Most new burners come with their own software to install.

Does the drive play DVD's?


Another approach if you have the proper software is to Uninstall the DVD drive via the Device Manager then re start your computer. This forces XP to reinstall the basic drivers.

If you open the device properties for the DVD drive, is there a Recording tab? If not, see these articles for how to resolve this:

CD-R drive or CD-RW drive is not recognized as a recordable device
Windows XP CD Burning Secrets

Jephree, it used to work. I just stopped working recently. It plays everything fine.
By reinstalling it, do you mean just uninstall it, take it out and plug it back in? I don't think my dvd drive came with anything.

Ztruker, there is a recording tab.

You can try deleting the Upper and Lower filters for the drive. This sometimes fixes wierd problems like this. See here:

Your CD drive or DVD drive is missing or is not recognized by Windows or other programs

Since this requires editing the registry, it would be a good idea to make a backup first. There is s good tutorial here for doing so:

How to backup and restore Windows XP registry using ERUNT

Try remove all jumpers at teh back of the DVD drive and restart PC to let the PC recapture the device.

Could be the onboard controller or the DVD drive faulty.

Hope this helps!
Bill