Can’t copy files to CD (Pro SP2)

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I can’t drag and drop files onto a CD any more. Any ideas what may have broken, and how to fix it?

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Do you have problem with this specific file or you could not copy any files to CD?

Do you have problem with a particular CD-R (CD-RW) or you could not burn files to any CD-RW or blank CD-R?

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I cannot copy any files to any CD or DVD, +R or +RW.

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Check your Registry settings.

WARNING: if you are unfamiliar with Registry editing, proceed very carefully! Create Restore Point (Start | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | System Restore) before making any changes!

Open Registry Editor (Start | Run, type REGEDIT and hit Enter), navigate to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionWinlogon

and make sure that a string value named “allocatedasd” exist and the setting permits your account to format and eject CDs (Value 0 means only administrators of the computer; value 1 means only administrators and power users; value 2 means only administrators and the local current user). If necessary, highlight (click on) “allocatedasd” and from Edit menu choose Modify.

Then navigate to

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesExplorer

and make sure that if DWORD value “NoCDBurning” exist, it set to 0 (0 = Allow CDR, 1 = Disable CDR).

I hope it will solve your problem.

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Neither of those registry settings exists and I am an administrator, so the default value ‘0’ applies in each case. I still cannot drag and drop on to a CD or DVD. I can burn both using other applications, such as Roxio Easy Media Creator; it’s just copying files with Windows Explorer that gives me the error.

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If you right click on the drive in question, open it’s properties box and check the Recording Tab, is “Enable CD recording on this drive” checked?

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Yes, it is. As I said before, I can write to it with other apps, such as Roxio Easy Media Creator. I cannot drag and drop files onto it using Windows Explorer. I get the error message I showed in my first message in this thread.

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The only other idea I had – do you have enough disk space on your HD to store the temp files that are created during the CD writing process? For a standard CD, Windows reserves up to 700 MB but for a high capacity CD it will reserve up to 1 GB of the available free space.

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Yes. 43 GB free.

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Edited by StuartR to crop white space from very large picture

Have you checked the CD properties to make sure that the DND is enabled?

Joe

--Joe

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What are the “other” applications ??? I’ve found that on new Dell Systems with Sonic installed the Drag & Drop Recording feature of Windows XP is overridden or disabled and can’t be used until Sonic is removed (don’t like the program anyway). Try checking the setting on Roxio’s software to be certain it’s not set as the default CD writting software.

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I found the problem! Somehow the Removable Storage Service was set to manual start and was stopped. I restarted it and changed the setting to automatic, and now I can drag and drop files onto CDs and DVDs again.

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Manual is the default setting for that service, however……

“Some users have reported disabling has had a negative effect on their CD ROM, but these reports have been few and far between.”

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I know. I checked the MS Knowledge Base and that had lots of stuff about it. The service is basically for managing backup media. I stopped the service and I can still drag and drop to CDs! I don’t know what’s going on. I haven’t rebooted yet. I’ll watch and see what happens after the next boot.

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