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Frequently I have a DVD-disk left in the DVD-ROM drive, which I am kind of reluctant to take out. I have Windows-7 OS which freezes constanly checking on that disk. I do not need that constant checking, because I know what disk I have in the drive.

Is there a way to turn off the DVD-drive when I do not need to use it?

Thank you.

Canadian Luke
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GreenBear
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4 Answers4

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Yes there is, you can disable DVD-drive. Go to Control Panel -> Administrative tools -> Computer management -> click on Device manager, select DVD/CD-ROM drives, right click on your drive and click "Disable". Enable it again when you want to use it :)

Davidenko
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    Hi, Davidenko! Thanks for the help! This works, but what I would like more is a sort of shortcut on the desktop to save the time. So the best would be a programm, a bat file or a script, and would be great if it could also report a status. Any more ideas? Can this be done, say in a script? – GreenBear Mar 05 '13 at 13:24
  • I can help you when I get home, I'm currently at work, on XP :) – Davidenko Mar 05 '13 at 13:26
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    I just remembered, try http://freshtutorial.com/disable-autoplay-windows-7/ if it's constantly checking on that disk – Davidenko Mar 05 '13 at 13:50
  • Thanks for the hint. Sadly, "The Local Group Policy Editor feature is not included in the Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic, and Home Premium editions." I am a happy owner of the Home Basic :( – GreenBear Mar 05 '13 at 14:18
  • @GreenBear: "I am a happy owner of the Home Basic" - What Group Policy Editor does can also be directly done via registry edits if the appropriate keys/values are known. Uwe Sieber's [AutoRun Settings](http://www.uwe-sieber.de/drivetools_e.html) might also be of use to you, in addition to my answer above. – Karan Mar 06 '13 at 04:39
  • Thanks a LOT, Karan, for such a valuable link. In the past I had a lot of troubles with autorun on my old XP laptop, and since they do not make TweakUI for Win7, I was wondering if I had autorun "on" on my new laptop. It is good to know that now it is "off" for good. One thing still bothers me: the "HonorAutorunSetting" was off and was greyed (disabled). Do you know if I need to create such key manually, or if it matters at all? – GreenBear Mar 08 '13 at 03:09
  • @GreenBear: You can check if the value's missing in the registry and if so, create it. See [this page](http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967715 "How to disable the Autorun functionality in Windows") for instructions and better still, FixIt tools you can use to do the work automatically. – Karan Mar 08 '13 at 03:15
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  1. See my answer here for a link to DevCon for Win7.

  2. Use devcon find *CDROM* or devcon listclass CDROM at an elevated command prompt to see a list of installed physical and virtual optical drives, for example:

    IDE\CDROMSAMSUNG_DVD-ROM_SD-608__________________2.2_____\4&13B4AFD&0&0.0.0: SAMSUNG DVD-ROM SD-608
SCSI\CDROM&VEN_CONTOSO&PROD_VIRTUAL_DVD-ROM&REV_1.0A\1&2AFD7D61&0&0000: Contoso Virtual DVD-ROM0000
2 matching device(s) found.

  3. Use the complete device ID string returned or figure out which portion(s) of the string returns only the drive you want to enable/disable. For example, a sub-string such as *CDROMSAMSUNG* or *CDROM*608* is sufficient to uniquely identify the physical drive, such that
    devcon find *CDROMSAMSUNG* returns:

    IDE\CDROMSAMSUNG_DVD-ROM_SD-608__________________2.2_____\4&13B4AFD&0&0.0.0: SAMSUNG DVD-ROM SD-608
1 matching device(s) found.

  4. The rest is easy! Just use devcon disable *CDROMSAMSUNG* and
    devcon enable *CDROMSAMSUNG* to do what you want.

    Additionally, devcon status *CDROMSAMSUNG* will tell you whether "Driver is running" or "Device is disabled".

Edit: You can create ToggleCD.bat as follows:

devcon status *CDROMSAMSUNG* | find "Driver is running" && devcon disable *CDROMSAMSUNG* && goto :EOF
devcon status *CDROMSAMSUNG* | find "Device is disabled" && devcon enable *CDROMSAMSUNG* && goto :EOF

Ensure devcon.exe is in a directory that's in your PATH (for example, copy it to your Windows directory), and obviously replace *CDROMSAMSUNG* with the actual string that you identified using the instructions above.

To keep UAC on and yet bypass the prompt for the shortcut to the batch file, read the Create Administrator Mode Shortcuts Without UAC Prompts in Windows 7 or Vista article.

Community
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Karan
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  • Hi, Karan! Thank you for your answer. I did not have a chance to check it today, though I have downloaded devcon already through the link that you provided. I will test it tomorrow, hopefully. – GreenBear Mar 07 '13 at 01:36
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    @GreenBear: It should work just fine, I made sure to test it on my system before posting. Let me know how it goes. – Karan Mar 07 '13 at 01:37
  • Hi, Karan! Devcon is working! But I have a few more questions. I am thinking of making a "bat" file "Toggle Drive Status" - user clicks a shortcut on a desktop an the drive is either disabled or enabled. First question: is it possible to read output from the "devcon status" command and depending on that output run either "devcon disable" or "devcon enable"? My "DOS language" is very very rusty. Second: is it possible to turn off UAC notifications for the "bat" file and for the devcon.exe? I do not want to turn UAC completely off for all other stuff. – GreenBear Mar 08 '13 at 02:28
  • Third question: is it possible to set so, that when a user clicks the shortcut, the "bat" file and devcon are run "as administrator"? I created the shortcut, but for some reason the "run as administrator" checkbox is greyed (disabled). Thank you again. I would not bother you, but since you are an expert, maybe these are easy for you, or if you can just provide me a link, that will do as well. – GreenBear Mar 08 '13 at 02:28
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    @GreenBear: Check the edit above. – Karan Mar 08 '13 at 03:12
  • Karan, as soon as the snow melts I will build a monument in your honor :-). Thank you for the help. I will test it tomorrow, I am sure it will work. – GreenBear Mar 08 '13 at 03:31
  • "as soon as the snow melts" - Why wait? I've always had a hankering to be immortalised [thus](http://i.stack.imgur.com/ytMiv.jpg). :D – Karan Mar 08 '13 at 03:40
  • That way I would have to keep it in the freezer, and I dread to think what could happen should the power go down :-) You rock, man! It all works. – GreenBear Mar 09 '13 at 02:44
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I had a problem like this a long time ago. The cure was to load a program that recorded any mouse movement and any mouse clicking. It could record the actions for instance of selecting Device Manager, selecting DVD/CD ROM DRIVES, and then choosing "Disable device".

This was then accessible via a desktop shortcut. The process of "Enable device" was also recorded and was also accessible via a desktop shortcut.

Sean
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Click Start and type (without quotes) "diskmgmt.msc". Right click the result and select Run as Administrater. Follow the UAC prompt and Disk Manager will open. Find your SATA CD/DVD Drive and right click it. There should be an option to disable it.

user281513
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