One of the common issues many Windows 8 CP users are experiencing is missing optical drive icon. According to users, after installing the operating system or upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 8, Windows 8 doesn’t recognize the DVD drive. Because of this the DVD drive is not appearing neither in Windows Explorer or nor in Device Manager.

Even though we are not sure about the root cause of the issue, you can try out of the the possible fixes given to restore the missing DVD drive in Explorer.

NOTE: If you have installed Windows 8 on a newly assembled computer and experiencing the problem, we suggest you check optical drive cables for loose connections before following any of the given methods.

Method 1:

Step 1: Launch Command Prompt with administrator rights. To do this, switch to Start screen, type CMD and then simultaneously press Ctrl + Shift + Enter keys to launch elevated prompt. Click Yes for User Account Control prompt. You can also try other methods mentioned in our how to launch a program with admin privileges in Windows 8 guide.

Step 2: In the elevated prompt, paste or type the following command and press enter key:

reg.exe add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi\Controller0" /f /v EnumDevice1 /t REG_DWORD /d 0×00000001

Step 3: Exit the Command Prompt, reboot your PC. You should now see the DVD drive in Windows Explorer as well as Device Manager.

Method 2:

For some users the above mentioned procedure may not work. If the above mentioned procedure isn’t working for you or if you are too lazy to open Command Prompt and execute the command, download and run the free utility named CD-DVD Icon Repair (click here to download).

CD-DVD Icon Repair is a portable tool that helps you when Windows doesn’t recognize the CD/DVD drive. Even though the program was designed for Windows 7, it works perfectly fine in Windows 8 as well. Launch the tool, click Repair CD-DVD Icon button and then restart your PC.