TIPS & TRICKS: Optical drives not recognizing in Windows XP

This has been a fix that's been around for some time, but I hadn't documented here until now. The optical drive(s) do not show up in either My Computer or Disk Management. In Device Manager, the drive(s) show up with yellow exclamation points. There is also and error message that says the following: "Windows cannot start this hardware device because its configuration information (in the registry) is incomplete or damaged. (Code 19)"

1. Click Start.
2. Click Run.
3. In the "Open" field type REGEDIT.
4. Click OK.
5. Click "File" in the menu bar.
6. Click "Export" from the drop down menu this will open a new box.
7. Click the down arrow beside "Save In" and select "Local Disk (C".
8. In the File Name field type BACKUP.REG.
9. Verify that under the “Export Range”, that the radio button is beside "All".
10. Click Save.
11. Click the plus sign (+) beside HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
12. Click the plus sign (+) beside System.
13. Click the plus sign (+) beside CurrentControlSet.
14. Click the plus sign (+) beside Control.
15. Click the plus sign (+) beside Class.
16. In the left hand window pane click on {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} to select that key.
17. In the right hand window pane select the UpperFilters registry key and press the delete key on the keyboard.
18. Confirm with an OK.
19. In the right hand window pane select the LowerFilters registry key and press the delete key on the keyboard.
20. Confirm with an OK.
21. Click the "X" in the upper right hand corner of the Registry Editor window to close it.

Restart your Computer in order for the registry - fix to work.