Vista Tutorial - The Classic CD/DVD Drive Missing Issue

Alright, so here's the deal. I let my little brother use my computer for a few hours and when I got back on it, my cd/dvd drive was no longer recognized by Windows. I asked my brother what he did, and he told me that he only installed itunes and was using it. So I searched the issue on google and indeed, found the original solution of "Deleting the Upper and lower filters". Unfortunately, when I look in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}, there is no Upperfilter or Lowerfilter to be found. Every now and then, I'm lucky and I'll have the Cd Drive for a couple of hours. But even without restarting the computer, I'll check My Computer and it'll be gone. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. My laptop is only a little over a year old, and I'd like to keep it in great condition.

-Toxic Tension

Hello Toxic Tension,
Try here, there's an auto fix feature which might do the job. Post your result's, i will be interested to see if this work's.

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

Alright, so I tried running Auto Fix it but all I received was a window that said, "This Microsoft Fix it does not apply to your operating system or application version."

That sound's about right for MS. Have you tried doing a system restore to before the point where your brother was on the machine ?.

Yes, I've tried numerous restore points but the cd/dvd drive remains missing.

Ok, try this, start, (bottom left corner) in the search bar type msconfig, press enter, go to the startup tab and disable any third party item's, (not microsoft item's), there may be something that your brother d/loaded running that is causing the problem. Post your result's. Good luck.

Have you un-installed iTune's, if not it might be an idea to try that too.

I disabled all third-party programs in the Startup tab and rebooted, but the cd/dvd drive still isn't there. And yes, I uninstalled itunes as soon as I found out it was part of the problem.

when your drive is avaliable what driver is it using and where is it located

First all check you have CD -ROM /DVD section in device manager.
if yes you have to read does any error on DVD drive (for example yellow triangle,or down arrow),right click on DVD Drive>>Main tab i read info about drive

Here you have MS special tool to diagnose trouble with DVD
Your CD or DVD drive cannot read or write media