Vista - Missing DVD drive.

Hello all,

I recently purchased a sanyo vaio laptop (model number NW 11SS) for myself and two e-machine latops (one for my husband and one for my parents)

All was going well, all software was installed, Norton 360 installed was installed on all three laptops with no problems.

However, a few weeks later I tried to install the Office student and home edition on all three laptops and found out that the dvd drive icon in the my computer window on all three laptops has been deleted and the discs wont be recognised.

I searched on google for 'missing d drive' and found that it was a very common problem and one that microsoft are wel laware of.

I found the microsoft repair which I followed to the letter on one laptop but it doesnt work! (Your CD drive or DVD drive is missing or is not recognized by Windows or other programs)

I've read that this error is caused by conflicting updates, but are they Norton updates or windows vista updates causing the problems?

Should turn off updates completely, but if I do this, I will miss out on the updates that I need?

I have now had to book for an IT engineer to come and try and sort out the problem at my own expense (£35 per hour with 3 laptops to sort out = a lot of money!) when this should be something that microsoft should be doing...isnt it?

Please be gentle with me with your reply, I'm feeling highly stressed out and am not computer 'innerds' literate.

Many thanks in advance for any help that you may be able to provide me with.

Regards Jennifer

Hi pookspoons

Try the links below:

Troubleshooting CD/DVD problems


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

Hello theog,

Thank you so much for the links you have provided me.
I have already tried and failed with the link on the microsoft support website so will give the symantec trouble shooter a go.

For now though, I have a headache!!

What a blooming nightmare all these computers are! Tempted to revert to pen and paper!! Ha Ha!

Many, thanks. I'll let you know how I get on.

Regards Jennifer

Try the following: Type DEVICE into the Start/Search field. Then click on Device Manager. There you double click on DVD/CD ROM drives. Then double click on what shows up under there. Click the Driver tab and then click uninstall. After that, reboot your system.

we come across this problem time and time again , usually the reg edit solves the issue but when it doesnt theres normally a common bug in everyones system.............. Norton

Just as a test would you be able to uninstall Norton from the offending machine then download and run the Norton removal tool..................

Download and run the Norton Removal Tool

then reboot run the reg edit as before and see what happens (you can always reinstall Norton but it will eliminate it from the cause , (this could also be an huge waste of time but its free )