All CD Devices Appear in Device Manager with Yellow Exclamation Marks

You may find that none of your compact disc (CD) devices work, including CD-Recordable (CD-R) discs, CDs, and digital video discs (DVDs), and that all the devices are marked with yellow exclamation points in Device Manager.

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: To resolve this behavior, follow these steps:

1. Remove or rename the following files in the C:\Winnt\System32\Drivers folder:
   Cdralw2k.sys
   Cdr4_2k.sys
2. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
3. Locate and then remove the following registry key:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdralw2k
4. Locate and then remove the following registry key:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdr4_2k
5. Locate and then remove the following registry value:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\LowerFilter
6. Locate and then remove the following registry value:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\UpperFilter
7. Quit Registry Editor.
8. In the folder where you saved the registry fix file, right-click the file, and then click Merge.
9. Restart your computer, and then verify that you have access to your CD drives by using a standard audio or data CD.

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