Many Windows 10 users are complaining of their DVD/CD drives not working and the Device status section of the General tab of their DVD/CD-ROM’s properties in Device Manager displaying Error 19. Some users start experiencing this issue completely out of the blue, whereas others experience it following a system upgrade. This problem is either caused by an issue with your DVD/CD drive’s drivers or some kinks in your computer’s registry. The following are the most effective solutions that you can use to try and fix this issue on your own:
Solution 1: Update your DVD/CD drive’s drivers
Press the Windows Logo key + R.
Type hdwwiz.cpl into the Run dialog and press Enter to open the Device Manager. In the Device Manager, expand the DVD/CD-ROM Drives. Double-click on your DVD/CD drive. Navigate to the Driver. Click on Update Driver.
Choose the “Search for update driver automatically“, wait for your computer to check to see if any updates for your CD/DVD drive’s drivers are available. If any updates are available, download and install them.
Solution 2: Uninstall your DVD/CD drive
Press the Windows Logo key + R. Type hdwwiz.cpl into the Run dialog and press Enter to open the Device Manager.In the Device Manager, expand the DVD/CD-ROM Drives. Right-click on your DVD/CD drive and click on Uninstall. If asked to, confirm the action.
Click on Action in the toolbar at the top of the window and click on Scan for hardware changes.
Wait for Windows to detect and reinstall your DVD/CD drive and its drivers. Once the DVD/CD drive and its drivers have been reinstalled, it should reappear in the DVD/CD-ROM Drives section of the Device Manager. At this point, restart your computer and check to see if the issue has been resolved.
Solution 3: Fix this issue by editing the registry
By far, the most popular fix for error 19 on a DVD/CD drive – or any other computer hardware, for that matter – is to delete a specific couple of values from your registry. Press the Windows Logo key + R. Type regedit into the Run dialog and press Enter to open the Registry Editor.
While this is one of the most effective solutions that you can use to try and fix this problem, it should be noted that the registry is one of the most sensitive parts of a computer and deleting the wrong keys or values can is quite likely to cause system failure. Since that is the case, it is recommended that, before you proceed any further, you create a backup of an unaltered version of your registry. To do so, you need to click on File in the top left corner of the Registry Editor window, click on Export, name the backup aptly (RegistryBackup – for example) and save it to your Desktop. If anything goes wrong, you can overwrite the altered version of your registry and restore the unaltered one.
In the left pane of the Registry Editor, navigate to the following directory:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
Click on the {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} key in the left pane to display its contents in the right pane.
In the contents of the {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}, look for values named UpperFilters and LowerFilters.
If one or both of these values exist, delete them. Close the Registry Editor and restart your computer. When your computer boots up, check to see whether or not the issue has been resolved.
