Rogue Realtek CD Drive after driver updates

After updating several drivers recently, including a Realtek audio driver, I found a new Drive showing up in Explorer named "CD Drive RTL_UL" with a rather worrying icon that looks like a 'bug'. However I did a scan of the hard drive using Malwarebytes that gave it a clean bill of health. The Drive's Properties show it as a "Realtek USB CD-ROM USB Device" using 432 KB.
As there is neither a built-in or external CD device, I should like to remove this annoying rogue 'Drive'.
I can <Uninstall device> in <Device Manager> which removes it from Explorer, but whenever I need to reboot, it re-installs.
As the 'Drive' also loads in safe-mode, I logged the Boot sequence and inspected the ntbtlog.txt file, but found nothing that is identifyable as being the culprit. There are only 2 entries that contain the word 'realtek', and neither are shown as being activated in Safe-mode
Any suggestions?

Is it a virtual drive that has been mounted? In which case you should be able to right-click the entry in Explorer and select eject.

Also Google "CD Drive RTL_UL" as others have reported it.

Additional Information:
The only things plugged into my laptop when I was updating drivers, apart from the mains adapter, was a WD Passport 2GB external Drive used for backup copies, and a mouse wireless adapter. The WD external Drive shows in Explorer exactly the same as it did prior to the driver updates.

RFS said:

Is it a virtual drive that has been mounted? In which case you should be able to right-click the entry in Explorer and select eject.

Also Google "CD Drive RTL_UL" as others have reported it.

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<Eject> in Explorer does nothing. I have Googled the problem but the only answers I have found so far resulted from attaching/installing LAN adapters and I don't have one and have never attempted to attach/instal one.

fotofundi said:

with a rather worrying icon that looks like a 'bug'

Click to expand...

That's actually the Realtek logo

There exists a built-in driver in Windows that is initialized automatically by Windows the first time when you plug in the Realtek USB device, i.e. when Windows detects and recognizes the device. If this built-in driver receives no callback from the proper Realtek driver, it switches to CD-ROM mode thereby causing Windows to enumerate it as such. The purpose of this virtual CD-ROM is to let you install the Realtek driver that it contains, but this driver will most likely be an outdated one so, you want to download the latest version of this same driver from Realtek official website. The installer of the latest one will let you choose to update the outdated one, by choosing the repair option. The only real reason why you might want to install the outdated one first is just so you will be able to see what it is, like, when you aren't sure what exactly it is that you should be looking for on Realtek official website. So, if you already know what it is and you already know where to find the latest one, then you can just forget about the outdated one and simply choose to install the latest one instead, like, right off the bat.

hdmi said:

There exists a built-in driver in Windows that is initialized automatically by Windows the first time when you plug in the Realtek USB device, i.e. when Windows detects and recognizes the device..................................... So, if you already know what it is and you already know where to find the latest one, then you can just forget about the outdated one and simply choose to install the latest one instead, like, right off the bat.

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I have never plugged in any Realtek USB Device. The WD Passport external drive has been plugged in for weeks/months before this problem occured and ditto for the wireless mouse (Logitech)...........................I'm not sure what you mean the 'known' item. Is it the "Realtek USB CD-ROM USB Device"? A search on the Realtek website for Realtek USB CD-ROM USB Device produced nothing and I could not find any section in their website that might have lead to an answer, so have written to the Sales department and asked them to direct my enquiry to whichever part of their organisation may be able to assist (it is obviously a very big outfit), and now hopefully await their reply, but in the meantime if anyone on this forum has the knowledge that could lead me to the file that re-installs this 'device' every time the laptop is rebooted, I would be most grateful.

Scott said:

That's actually the Realtek logo

View attachment 114785

Click to expand...

Yea - still looks like a 'bug' to me!!!

fotofundi said:

Yea - still looks like a 'bug' to me!!!

Click to expand...

It's actually an e-crab of sorts.

fotofundi said:

I have never plugged in any Realtek USB Device. The WD Passport external drive has been plugged in for weeks/months before this problem occured and ditto for the wireless mouse (Logitech)...........................I'm not sure what you mean the 'known' item. Is it the "Realtek USB CD-ROM USB Device"? A search on the Realtek website for Realtek USB CD-ROM USB Device produced nothing and I could not find any section in their website that might have lead to an answer, so have written to the Sales department and asked them to direct my enquiry to whichever part of their organisation may be able to assist (it is obviously a very big outfit), and now hopefully await their reply, but in the meantime if anyone on this forum has the knowledge that could lead me to the file that re-installs this 'device' every time the laptop is rebooted, I would be most grateful.

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I could be wrong, but.. looks to me like someone must've plugged in a USB-to-Ethernet adapter that uses a Realtek chip. I own one myself, it too adds the Realtek USB CD-ROM device that you are seeing. As for "if anyone on this forum has the knowledge that could lead me to the file that re-installs this 'device' every time the laptop is rebooted". I have the knowledge, and, as a matter of fact, I already used that knowledge to answer your question.

NO, NO, NO! As stated previously, no USB-to-Ethernet device has been anywhere near my machine. Also this problem happened after several (actually just 2) drivers were updated about 2 weeks ago, one of them being a Realtek Audio driver, the other being an Intel Bluetooth driver.
Since then I have updated a USB Mass Storage device driver BUT this happened AFTER experiencing the problem. However, I had recently disconnected and deleted a tempoary wireless LAN that had been used to share and copy over files between my desktop PC and the laptop that now has this phantom 'Drive'. So I'm wondering if some residual file from the LAN connection might be the culprit - the question now being - how do I track it down, or is this likely to be a 'red herring'?

fotofundi said:

NO, NO, NO! As stated previously, no USB-to-Ethernet device has been anywhere near my machine. Also this problem happened after several (actually just 2) drivers were updated about 2 weeks ago, one of them being a Realtek Audio driver, the other being an Intel Bluetooth driver.
Since then I have updated a USB Mass Storage device driver BUT this happened AFTER experiencing the problem. However, I had recently disconnected and deleted a tempoary wireless LAN that had been used to share and copy over files between my desktop PC and the laptop that now has this phantom 'Drive'. So I'm wondering if some residual file from the LAN connection might be the culprit - the question now being - how do I track it down, or is this likely to be a 'red herring'?

Click to expand...

USB LAN or USB wireless LAN, doesn't make a difference. The same principle applies to those specific USB devices from Realtek that switch to CD-ROM mode when the built-in driver of Windows receives no callback from the proper Realtek driver. Like I said, you need to identify the exact model of Realtek chip used in the device. Then download and install the correct wireless LAN driver from Realtek, here.

In the InstallShield Wizard that opens after you run the installer, choose the option to install (or repair, if the option to install is disabled). After it finishes the install/repair, to properly remove the driver, run the installer again, then choose the option to remove.

Thanks for the link and instructions. The Properties of the "Realtek USB CD-ROM USB Device"entry in Explorer lists the driver as Microsoft 10.0.22621.1 (WinBuild 160101.0800) dated 21/06/2006, that resides in C:\Windows\system 32\DRIVERS\cdrom.sys, so I'm currently at a loss as to where a Realtek driver might be, and how to identify it.

fotofundi said:

, so I'm currently at a loss as to where a Realtek driver might be, and how to identify it.

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Unless you already know what model of Realtek chip the USB wireless network adapter uses, by far the easiest way to find out is by installing the driver that can be found on the virtual CD-ROM. Doing this should prevent it from switching to CD-ROM mode. So, next, you should be able to see the true identity of the USB wireless network adapter in Device Manager. To be able to install it, you'll probably need to plug it into the USB port, though. Finally, you should be able to uninstall it (i.e. by running the installer again, then waiting for the InstallShield Wizard appear again, and, in it, choosing the option to remove and clicking on Next to continue).

Hi
I think we may be at cross purposes here. The problem is on my laptop (Lenovoa X1 Yoga) and nothing external has ever been plugged in apart from the power supply, the WD Passport HDD, the MS wireless mouse and an occassional USB thumb drive for data transfer - and all of these were active long before this phantom Realtek drive appeared. The chipset appears to be Intel and the only mention of a Realtek product that I have been able to find mentioned anywhere is for the audio.

Audio Chip
High Definition (HD) Audio, Realtek® ALC3286 codec
Chipset
Intel SoC (System on Chip) platform
Onboard Ethernet
Gigabit Ethernet, Intel Ethernet Connection I219-V (non-vPro models), RJ45 via optional ThinkPad Ethernet Extension
Adapter Gen 2
•
Gigabit Ethernet, Intel Ethernet Connection I219-LM (vPro models), RJ45 via optional ThinkPad Ethernet Extension
Adapter Gen 2
•
WLAN + Bluetooth™[1]
Intel Wireless-AC 9560, 802.11ac Dual Band 2x2 Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 5.1
WWAN[2]
Integrated Mobile Broadband 4G LTE-A, Fibocom L850-GL, M.2 card•
Integrated Mobile Broadband 4G LTE-A, Fibocom L860-GL, MIMO 2x2, M.2 card

Hope I have not been wasting your time following a 'red herring' as it appears that the'drive' contains a .sfx file (RTK_NEC_DRIVER_INSTALLER.sfx.exe). I am not farmiliar with .sfx files, but attempts to delete it or format the drive in Explorer, Computer Management and Admin Command Line have all proved fruitless. I can Disable or Uninstall the entry in Device Manager, and it dissapears from Explorer, but reappears whenever I re-boot.

fotofundi said:

it appears that the'drive' contains a .sfx file (RTK_NEC_DRIVER_INSTALLER.sfx.exe). I am not farmiliar with .sfx files, but

Click to expand...

First off, it's not an .sfx file. The file extension is .exe, which means that it is an executable file. The ".sfx" in the name suggest that it is a self extracting archive, which it is. It extracts itself when you run it so, next, it runs the installer (InstallShield Wizard). Secondly, it's probaly called RTK_NIC_DRIVER_INSTALLER.sfx.exe, not RTK_NEC_DRIVER_INSTALLER.sfx.exe. NIC stands for Network Interface Card whereas NEC (NEC Corporation) is this. I already told you how you can ged rid of the virtual CD-ROM thingy. Grab the Win11 Auto Installation Program (NetAdapterCx) from this page. Install it. Then report back here.

I'm going to have to put this on hold for a few days as I have a pile of work that has built up, and car problems that take priority, but will get back to you as soon as I have free moment. Thanks for your help.

OK, caught up, file downloaded and installed.

Sorry for delay. Car still giving problems, but nothing more I can do at present.