Solved Removable storage devices

snarfman · Aug 25, 2012

In Vista, in My Computer under "devices with removable storage" for some reason there are some drives listed that were not there before:

DVD RW Drive (D

this is always showing now but only used to when I actually had a disc inserted if I remember correctly

BD-ROM Drive (F

BD-ROM Drive (G

these 2 were never there before and don't know why they are there now. Nothing happens when I hit eject on these 2 and when I dbl click it just asks me to insert a disc. How do I make these disappear and why are they there?

thetroubleshoot · Aug 25, 2012

Do you have SD slots on the front of your computer? (For cameras)

wither 3 · Aug 25, 2012

Where is My Computer in Vista?

What drives does Windows Explorer show?

richc46 · Aug 25, 2012

It on the desktop or you can type computer in the search and then click when it pops up.

snarfman · Aug 26, 2012

There are no SD slots. These extra drives appeared when I had to do a regedit hack to get my cd drive recognized again. It worked but these 2 extra br-rom drives appeared and I'd like to remove them

wither 3 · Aug 26, 2012

You didn't say what shows in Windows Explorer.

snarfman · Aug 27, 2012

windows explorer shows the same as what i had mentioned

Cytherian · Aug 28, 2012

A regedit hack doesn't sound very good. Something must have gone wrong with what you changed. Do you have a restore point before that edit you can roll back to?

snarfman · Aug 29, 2012

Nothing seems to be wrong with my computer. I would just like to know how to remove the optical drives so they don't show up. Seems they are just listed there but can't do anything with them

wither 3 · Aug 29, 2012

Go to Control Panel, Administrator Tools, Computer Management, Storage, Disk Management. Are the drives shown there?

snarfman · Aug 30, 2012

I can't seem to find "administrator tools" in the control panel. Is there somewhere else I should be looking? I am using Vista.

richc46 · Aug 30, 2012

Go to the computer icon on your desktop.
If not there type computer in search by the start button
left click on it. YOu will see the drives

snarfman · Aug 30, 2012

I found administrator tools in the control panel but when I click on it, the folder is empty.

snarfman · Aug 30, 2012

I deleted the upper & lower filters in regedit. This is when they appeared. I deleted the drives in device manager and they went away but then reappeared when i rebooted

wither 3 · Aug 30, 2012

I'm wondering what's going on when you say that Administrative Tools is empty. When you launch Control Panel, selective Classic View. Is the Administrative Tools still empty?

Are you logged in on a user account or as the Administrator?

snarfman · Aug 30, 2012

I am the only user on the computer and also the administrator. In classic view the folder is still empty. I disabled the 2 drives in device manager and now they don't show up anymore. But now you got me creeped out there is something else wrong if I have empty folders that aren't supposed to be.

Cytherian · Aug 30, 2012

Very strange. The reason why I suggested rolling back to an earlier restore point is that without having a saved backup of the regedit key branch you edited, it's difficult to know what to correct in it. In any case, if manually disabling the drives in the device manager works, then that's good.

However, the Administrative Tools link should provide around nine program links. Having it empty is certainly not a good thing. Have you tried adding any shortcuts to it? Try creating a new shortcut and see if it stays there.

Here's what you should normally see

Computer Management: %SystemRoot%\system32\compmgmt.msc /s
Data Sources (ODBC): %SystemRoot%\system32\odbcad32.exe
Event Viewer: %SystemRoot%\system32\eventvwr.msc /s
Memory Diagnostics: %SystemRoot%\system32\MdSched.exe
Performance Monitor: %SystemRoot%\system32\perfmon.msc /s
Services: %SystemRoot%\system32\services.msc
System Configuration: %SystemRoot%\system32\msconfig.exe
Task Scheduler: %SystemRoot%\system32\taskschd.msc /s
Windows Firewall: %SystemRoot%\system32\WF.msc

wither 3 · Aug 30, 2012

Go to Administrative Tools. In View, select Choose Details. Can you select something like Name and get it to show?

Cytherian · Aug 30, 2012

^ Actually name is mandatory and thus locked in checked mode. The Administrator Tools is just a program folder/group so any shortcuts can be placed there (except that you'll get a UAC prompt). It appears that somehow the shortcuts here were lost.

wither 3 · Aug 30, 2012

I understand what you're saying but I'm trying to figure out why he can't see the same thing we are. It may be that he has to go to the hidden administrator. I can never remember how to invoke it.