No DVD Drive In Windows 10

Windows 10 has a bad habit of not showing your DVD drive in Device Manager.
It may be installed but "hidden" . . . Do this.

There may be other reasons and my guess, I will have ample opportunity to discover fixes.

Yes, I know, DVDs are a mostly obsolete. I keep a portable USB DVD in the closet just in case. But if your machine has an internal DVD it should be accessible (for crying out loud).

Disappearing DVD Drive in Windows 7

After a fresh install of Windows 7 Ultimate on my Gateway P-7811FX notebook, my DVD-RW drive was recognizable in Windows until after a long sleep session. Upon awakening the notebook, the drive was gone. A quick sleep/wake cycle did not have this problem but overnight would knock out the drive until reboot. Microsoft's registry fix or deleting a lower filter entry did not apply to this situation. There was no lower filter entry. I reinstalled several chip set drivers and nothing helped.

Then I installed the Intel Matrix Storage Manager. Happily I have now made it through one overnight sleep cycle and my DVD drive is visible. I thought Matrix was only for RAID and don't remember it being installed on the factory setup.

Bottom line is Intel Matrix Storage Manager is one possible solution for disappearing dvd cd drives in Windows 7.

Fix Your DVD Drive - Lens Cleaning

If your DVD-CD drive is not reading disks maybe cleaning the lens will help. Open the tray and you will see the lens. Dampen a Q-tip with ethanol (squeeze out all excess) and wipe the lens.

Here is a WikiHow on the subject.