Yellow exclamation mark in DVD/CD-ROM drives in Device Manager

Last week, I was troubleshooting a PC. The DVD/CD-ROM drive is not able to be seen in windows explorer. In the device manager, the DVD/CD-ROM drives appear with exclamation mark. The user mentioned he has installed the drivers CD from the manufacturer.

  1. On the Windows Start menu, click Run.
  2. In the Open box, type Regedit and click OK.
  3. Select the following key in the Windows registry:
  4. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\
    {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
  5. On the Edit menu, click Delete:
    Value Name: LowerFilters
    Value Name: UpperFilters
  6. On the Registry menu, click Exit.
  7. Reboot your computer.

Sometimes, you may find only one of the Value Name. You can continue to delete it and restart your computer.

New:  20/03/2009 or I’m slow.  Microsoft posted a new article to fix for Windows Vista.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/314060

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48 Responses to Yellow exclamation mark in DVD/CD-ROM drives in Device Manager

  1. Margaret J says:

    Thank You so much for posting this. I have been looking for a solution all day. You have really helped me alot.

  2. Phil Parkin says:

    You are a genius ! Many thanks – a great help !!

    Phil

  3. sundu says:

    Thank You very much for posting this. I have been trying everything possible eg changing the drive, cable,ide channel etc with no success. Your method worked beautifully. Thanks again

  4. Linda Hansen says:

    09/08
    Yay! It worked!
    THANK YOU!

  5. Justin says:

    Wow ! it really work !! Thanks a lot…

  6. Tammy says:

    Thank you so much helped alot,

  7. Paul Weakley says:

    Thanks, but it does work for me, may be its because I am running vista

  8. Paul Weakley says:

    Sorry ment to say “does NOT work for me”

  9. Jonth says:

    What do you mean with “Value Name: LowerFilters
    Value Name: UpperFilters”

  10. Cameron says:

    thank you this has helped alot

  11. shahid says:

    it is very usefull thanx for help

  12. charles says:

    Thanks so much for posting. It worked.

  13. Lorna says:

    We had no success after talking to a Dell tech, who thought it was the motherboard. THIS WORKED LIKE A CHARM! Thank you for positing this valuable information!!

  14. Mark Brodsky says:

    GREAT TIP! How did you find this? Wow! Thanks for your help!

  15. Julianne says:

    Wow, I was at my wits’ end when I came across this post because I’d tried everything I could think of, even a full partition restore but nothing worked. This did! Phew! I’m so grateful, thanks so much for the info.

  16. Paul Duke says:

    Thanks! banged my head against a wall for a day…knew it had something to do with the registry, basically because everything else didn’t work! Was about to Ghost this mother…thanks for the 2 minutes solution as opposed to the 4 hr ghost and copy solution :)

  17. LeAnn says:

    WOW!!!!! This really helped so much. I was so afraid to mess with the registry. I was always told getting in the registry is BAD, BAD, BAD! I was at my wits end and found that Windows support also recommends this (after reading this and searching another couple of days). So, I gave it a shot. I am back and running!! Thanks. — By the way, your directions where so much easier and simple to follow. I just wanted to make sure that I knew deleting these files would be okay.

  18. ashfaq says:

    thanx lot.it works

  19. sam says:

    im just encouraging u guys who post these solutions that u continue,your work is appreciated,samgie

  20. sam says:

    hi u guys rock d world,samgie

  21. jim says:

    it looks like this solution is only for windws XP not for windows vista..there is no Class option in windows vista

  22. Barb says:

    Worked great – thanks!

  23. gourav says:

    is this solution for windows 2003 server also.

  24. jlz says:

    Worked for me also, Thanks

  25. dm says:

    worked thanks

  26. vik says:

    Thank u so much…………………….

  27. neo says:

    thanks dudddddddddeeeeeeeeee

  28. -rio- says:

    Worked a treat for all drives. Thank you.

  29. Yudhvir Singh says:

    For the first time I got a straight solution to my problem.
    It’s worked greatly.
    Thank you very much.

  30. Tim Pham says:

    Thanks, This saves me alot of times. It worked.

  31. frankenstearns says:

    Thanks a million, it worked great.

  32. CharlieRay says:

    Did the trick. Thank you for the fix.

  33. Alonso says:

    Wow, you are the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    You really know your stuff!!!!!

    Thanks a million!!!!

    I has this problem with a HL-DT-ST DVD RW GCC-H23N

    You fixed it!!!!

  34. DarkBebi says:

    it is March 5th 2010 and it still works!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  35. Manish R. Shah says:

    Thankyou very much for the solution. Saved my day.

  36. anna says:

    hi…its seems so easy to follow but upon checking in the registry editor i am just seeing under name tab its an icon ab(default) on the tab of type is reg_sz and under data (value not set). i am afraid clicking the delete button yet…since i’m not to familiar with the registry…thanks…

  37. anna says:

    wow I gave it a try…with my fingers crossing….IT DID WORK…THANKS for the post…God Bless

  38. Biscuit says:

    Thanks. Works!

  39. coreguy says:

    thanks…..sssooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much

  40. Doug Smith says:

    Only had upper filter but it removed both yellow marks
    Thank you

  41. Girish says:

    Thanks A lot Dude

  42. Domer says:

    You R A GENIUS!!!! Thank you

  43. Charles says:

    Would of a registry cleaner done the same for me? If not I thank you so much.My E-mail is belanger.charles@yahoo.com. For those who didn’t get it:Delete the two files only “lower filters” and “upper filters” to the right uf you final selection, under “name”. Be sure to exit under “file” and reboot.

  44. abba says:

    god will give you hundred children my son .

    keep it up !

  45. Jyotsna says:

    Thaaaaank you, you are my hero!

  46. James says:

    THAAAAAAAAAANK YOOOOOOOOOU!!!

  47. Karen says:

    Didnt work, said it cannot be deleted.

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