Getting DVD Discs to run.

I have a pc with win10 and one with win11. Trying to rip cd's to pc but neither one will run an internal disc. player or an external disc. player. Tried to uninstall both in device manager, checked for driver updates, rebooted both. The disc shows up but will not run. I hope I made this understandable. The external player runs on laptop with win7.

If you see the device but cannot open the disc, try a USB 2.0 port (black plastic inside), avoid USB 3.0 (blue plastic inside) or faster ports (red, teal plastic inside) as many USB 2.0 devices don't work properly on fast ports. If you can see the video files (VOB files inside VIDEO_TS folder), use VLC or MPC-HC to open the VIDEO_TS.IFO file. This should play the menu or the main movie, whatever is configured to do by the disc Authoring application. Exactly like inserting the disc in a standalone DVD player. Assuming the disc is unprotected you don't need any special tools to copy the files in your hard disk. Just copy-paste the VIDEO_TS folder. If you prefer a single MP4 file instead, download Avidemux and open the first VOB file of the movie (usually VTS_01_1.VOB). Avidemux will detect the rest files and offer to append them, reply yes and proceed. You can either copy both video and audio at the original quality without re-encoding, or you can convert to AVC or HEVC. Use hardware acceleration, such as nVidia AVC for much faster compression.

Millturn said:

I have a pc with win10 and one with win11. Trying to rip cd's to pc but neither one will run an internal disc. player or an external disc. player. Tried to uninstall both in device manager, checked for driver updates, rebooted both. The disc shows up but will not run. I hope I made this understandable. The external player runs on laptop with win7.

Click to expand...

You could be clearer.

Are you trying to rip audio CDs or DVDs?

To rip audio CDs you can use Windows Media Player or Winamp. The default is to save the tracks as WMA but you can change it to MP3. To be compatible with older players, avoid variable bitrate (VBR), use constant bitrate (CBR) and up to 192Kbps. The 128Kbps CBR is considered equivalent to uncompressed PCM CD quality.

PS: If the drive can read DVD discs but not CD discs, probably the CD laser is damaged or cannot focus. Try cleaning the lens first with a CD cleaner disc.

External DVD 's -- problem might be that there's not enough power through the PC's USB connection. If that's the case try either external higher power mains to PC USB adapter or sometimes the external DVD's have 2 USB leads so connect both to a PC.

For Internal DVD's -- ??? as I haven't had any machine with one of those for donkeys years.

I use for DVD's one of those small multi-port adapters such as ZMUIPNG which are really useful for connecting peripherals to small laptops !!

For ripping CD 's - best software I've found - OK paid software but it works - is DbPoweramp - free software exists too - I used to use WINAMP years ago -- whether that's still around now ????.


Cheers
jimbo

I also used Easy CD-DA Extractor in the past, I haven't ripped any CD for ages. Most songs can be found at YouTube, all you need is a utility to download the audio part in MP3, such as FreeYoutubetoMP3 or an online service, see second link:

The problem also could be that with all these extra bonkers security measures built in to latest build of W11 e.g Bit locker, secure boot, device encryption, signed drivers only etc etc -- probably good for businesses / work computers but IMHO way over the top for HOME computers - the device is recognized but no software can use it. !!! That's why W7 will work and W11 won't in some cases.

Security is fine - but it can get way over the top for many ordinary people - where the big problem is scamming.

I've disabled all that junk and W11 just runs fine for me (with external DVD's etc)..

A get around might be to run W7 as a VM and attach the DVD drive to the W7 Virtual machine. On decent hardware a W7 VM won't use a load of resources even under Oracle's virtual box or VmWare's offerings.

Cheers
jimbo

What sort of Disc is it ? CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW ? CD-ROM being an original manufactured disc.
What format ? Audio CD, Data disc with Audio files(MP3).

Is it just one disc or several ?
What about a Data disc ?

"The external player runs on laptop with win7."

What does that mean exactly ? Does the disc play ?

jimbo45 said:

The problem also could be that with all these extra bonkers security measures built in to latest build of W11 e.g Bit locker, secure boot, device encryption, signed drivers only etc etc -- probably good for businesses / work computers but IMHO way over the top for HOME computers - the device is recognized but no software can use it. !!! That's why W7 will work and W11 won't in some cases.

Security is fine - but it can get way over the top for many ordinary people - where the big problem is scamming.

I've disabled all that junk and W11 just runs fine for me (with external DVD's etc)..

A get around might be to run W7 as a VM and attach the DVD drive to the W7 Virtual machine. On decent hardware a W7 VM won't use a load of resources even under Oracle's virtual box or VmWare's offerings.

Cheers
jimbo

Click to expand...

Not sure about modern junk affecting DVDs, but these symptom suggest that either the external DVD drive doesn't work properly because is connected to a USB 3.0 or faster port, or that the infrared laser (responsible for reading CD discs) cannot focus properly on the disc surface. In the first case, use a USB 2.0 port (black plastic inside), avoid any other ports, or use a USB 2.0 HUB to adjust speed and current automatically. In the second case try cleaning the lens with a CD cleaning disc first, if it doesn't work the drive is probably faulty, no worth repairing, just buy another. As a last resort I would remove the cover and try to clean the lens with a dry cotton cloth (I have done it before). Also check if any DVD or CD or ISO application has installed any internal/external filters that affect how Windows access the disc. Once Nero had installed some filters in my system and had the same symptoms you describe. When I deleted them from Registry all my drives worked fine again.

Rip ... with what software??

What player software?

In your explanations, you need to clarify/differentiate what's working and what's not, between the hardware player and the software (player)?

To just play an audio CD directly from the drive you can use Windows Media Player Legacy or VLC (open disc) or MPC-HC (open disc) or Winamp.

To rip it (copy tracks to computer) use Windows Media Player Legacy or Winamp or Easy CD-DA Extractor. Make sure you configure them to save as MP3 128Kbps or 160Kbps or 192Kbps. No go any higher or you lose compatibility with old MP3 players. Besides 128Kbps is considered "CD quality" anything higher will not make any audible difference.


First make sure there are no any external filters affecting how Windows access your discs:
How to remove external DVD filters Windows 11
Then make sure your external DVD drive works properly (see my previous post)

Millturn said:

The disc shows up but will not run.

Click to expand...

Probably the software you're using, or the lack thereof.
Play or Rip CD's: foobar2000
Play DVD's: MPC-BE
Rip DVD's: MakeMKV

Millturn said:

I have a pc with win10 and one with win11. Trying to rip cd's to pc but neither one will run an internal disc. player or an external disc. player. Tried to uninstall both in device manager, checked for driver updates, rebooted both. The disc shows up but will not run. I hope I made this understandable. The external player runs on laptop with win7.

Click to expand...

Just a thought. If you open an audio CD in File Explorer you see the tracks like Track01.cda, Track02.cda etc. Double-clicking on a track IS NOT going to play it. You must open the disc from a suitable application that can read and play audio CDs. Needless to say that you cannot just copy-paste the tracks in your computer, you must use a suitable application that reads the audio data and copies them to an uncompressed WAV file or converts them to MP3 in real time. Read our previous posts. There are many applications to do it properly. I even have links for them in my previous post. Audio CDs don't work directly from File Explorer.

PS: If you associate the CDA extension with Winamp, you might be able to play the tracks by double-clicking from File Explorer, but it is much easier to just open the whole disc in Winamp and choose which track to play. Winamp even supports CD-Text which can have song titles and other details. It also supports CD+G and karaoke and displays the lyrics, if embedded, with the appropriate plugins.