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mwiggs 0 Newbie Poster

XP doesn't see cdrom drives after system restore. BIOS sees them fine, device manager has yellow flags on both drives, says drivers are missing or corrupt. Installed older cdrom drive, saya the same thing.

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This is a classic XP issue after System Restore: filter drivers left behind by disc-burning software can break the CD/DVD class. Device Manager will often show Code 19 or Code 39. The drives are fine (BIOS sees them), but Windows will not load the class driver until the bad filters are removed.

First, back up the registry (File > Export in regedit). Then remove the class filters. In Regedit, go to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
On the right, delete the values named UpperFilters and LowerFilters (do not delete the whole key). Reboot. If you prefer command line (Run > cmd), you can do the same with:

reg query "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}" /v UpperFilters
reg delete "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}" /v UpperFilters /f
reg query "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}" /v LowerFilters
reg delete "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}" /v LowerFilters /f

If the drives still have yellow flags after reboot:

  • In Device Manager, uninstall the CD/DVD drives and the IDE/ATA channels under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers, then Action > Scan for hardware changes or just reboot.
  • Ensure the IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service is not disabled (Run > services.msc).
  • Run System File Checker to restore core drivers like cdrom.sys: open an elevated cmd and run sfc /scannow (have your XP media handy if prompted).

These steps restore the generic XP driver stack. If the issue returns, remove or update any disc-writing software (Roxio, Nero, iTunes/GEAR, etc.) that may be reapplying faulty filters.

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