# CD-DVD R/RW Error Message



## Timh1111 (Jan 10, 2015)

I'm using a Dell Inspiron desktop running W-10 Home (has latest updates). I am trying to Copy (not move) sime images from my HDD to a writable, blank CD and keep getting this error message,


"Windows can't read the disc in drive E:\. Make sure that the disc uses a format that Windows recognizes. If the disc is unformatted, you need to format it before using it".


Never had this issue before. Was always able to write direct to the CD media.


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## Corday (Mar 3, 2010)

See if Quick Format works.


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## Timh1111 (Jan 10, 2015)

Corday said:


> See if Quick Format works.



Not sure how to do that. I tried 3 different CD I always use (Verbatim) with no success.


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## Stancestans (Apr 26, 2009)

Timh1111 said:


> Not sure how to do that. I tried 3 different CD I always use (Verbatim) with no success.


Does Windows recognise those CDs as blank?


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## Timh1111 (Jan 10, 2015)

Stancestans said:


> Does Windows recognise those CDs as blank?



In "Properties", it see's it and shows 0 bytes.


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## Stancestans (Apr 26, 2009)

Timh1111 said:


> In "Properties", it see's it and shows 0 bytes.


0 bytes for both used and free?


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## Timh1111 (Jan 10, 2015)

Yep...see attachment.


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## Stancestans (Apr 26, 2009)

Timh1111 said:


> Yep...see attachment.


That's not right. It should show 0 bytes used and ~700MB free, for a writable bank cd.


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## Timh1111 (Jan 10, 2015)

Yeah...your right! Tried a CD & a DVD and the properties for both say 0 Free, 0 Used. What the hell....? :banghead:


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

Two thoughts:

First, are you referring to CD-R or CD-RW media?

Second, have you tested a DVD disc?


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## Timh1111 (Jan 10, 2015)

I tried some of the ideas posted. I uninstalled the drivers, restarted the PC and it reinstalled the drivers on reboot. Still same issue. I put a CD in that had image media on it already. It read the media and showed the files. I put in a blank disc (tried a few) and still shows "0% used, 0% free space available". Guess the only option is a new drive. As posted, relatively cheap, quick priced at $27 - $40 USD.


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

If it can read CD media but not DVD media, then yes, the drive is faulty.


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## Timh1111 (Jan 10, 2015)

JimE said:


> If it can read CD media but not DVD media, then yes, the drive is faulty.





Ok, so I went out and bought an "LG-24x Super Multi DVD Writer" and am STILL getting the same "0% bytes used, 0% Bytes free" message on blank media both DVD & CD. It did run the CD install disc it came with but gives the same message when I try to write to a disc! :banghead::banghead::banghead:


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## Timh1111 (Jan 10, 2015)

OK...here's ANOTHER strange thing! I was able to copy(burn) the images to a CD-R/W using "RealPlayer-PLUS". I made 2 burns using RP+. I went back to trying to "COPY" the files to my burner (opened the folder) and the same error message appeared again. I used the same blank media for burning and testing. So I can burn files to the new CD/DVD writer using RealPlayer-PLUS but not from within windows using the copy command!


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## steve32mids (Jun 27, 2012)

you can't copy move an image file to cd/dvd as they are not readable until they are burnt to disk using an disk burning software.

I use img burn to burn create images to disk.

https://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download

You can use Power iso to mount images files to a virtual cd/dvd drive which you can use to install run from the hard drive no need to burn to disk.


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## Stancestans (Apr 26, 2009)

steve32mids said:


> you can't copy move an image file to cd/dvd as they are not readable until they are burnt to disk using an disk burning software.
> 
> I use img burn to burn create images to disk.
> 
> ...


I believe the images talked about here are pictures, e.g jpeg files, not disc images like iso. Also, Windows 10 has inbuilt support for mounting disc images like iso and img, so no need to install Power iso or similar virtual cd drive software to mount disc images.


@Timh1111, since you could burn using RealPlayer, I strongly suggest you use other cd burning software instead of Windows 10's inbuilt burner. I don't know what has changed that made it stop working the way it previously did. The only thing I can think of is upper and lower filters in the registry, probably installed by third-party burning software. Do you know if there are any other burning software installed on your system, besides RealPlayer? The CD that came with your new LG writer probably came with a promotional copy of a commercial CD burning software. If you ran that setup, then you just installed it. See if it works for your use case. If you must use Windows inbuilt burning capability, then you may have to reinstall Windows. If you're not on Windows 10 version 1909 yet, this is a good time to upgrade. The upgrade process just might fix whatever is broken.

Let's see if there are any filters in the registry for the CDROM class. Open Command Prompt then copy and paste the following code in it and press Enter to execute it.


```
reg query "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e965-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}" >0 & notepad 0
```
A notepad window will open. Select everything in it and copy-paste it into your next reply.

A great (and free) cd burning software is CDBurnerXP. Try it out and see.


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