Windows 10: Drive disappears. File Explorer closes while using file

Win v.1903. I have 2 3tb external drives and 1 1tb internal drive and the main drive is a 500gb ssd. My internal drive normally won't show up in file explorer. Not sure why. Recently it started showing up but when I try to play a video file on it using VLC(same issue with different video players), the file plays for a bit then closes. File explorer closes also and when I reopen it, the internal drive is gone. If I reboot the pc, the drive shows up again. I thought maybe the pc couldn't handle all the drives but I disconnected one of the external drives, rebooted and tried again. The same thing happened. Any ideas? Let me know if more information is needed.

:)

 

Optical Drive Disappears from File Explorer


After much procrastination on upgrading a perfectly good Windows 7 operating system, I took the leap and successfully upgrading to Windows 10 over Two months ago. After completing the upgrade, I though wow what a great product. All of the installed drives, devices etc. were listed and worked just as before. About 2 weeks ago, I noticed that my Blu-ray drive was no longer listed in File Explorer. I checked Device Manager and it was listed and showed to be working properly. I found similar but not identical issues several forms related to a device disappearing so I tried some of the suggestions all of which did not cause the optical drive to appear as before. Since the drive is less than 3 months old, I contacted manufacturer support and was told that this is a know problem when upgrading to Windows 10 vs. a new install and was advised to contact Microsoft support. The manufacture technician provided some suggestions and was advised that I should not attempt on my own and let Microsoft Support make the suggested changes.

OK, time to weed through the Microsoft maze to find a method to report what I consider a bug, considering that I did not have any issue with Windows 7. First chat session, a Microsoft support person connected to my computer remotely and performed the same procedures that I had already done so I put up with 1-1/2 of them digging though my computer in the hopes that issue could be identified. The command reg.exe add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi\Controller0" /f /v EnumDevice1 /t REG_DWORD /d 0x0000001 was executed as recommended by drive manufacturer and rebooted. The drive showed up in File Explorer and assumed this was the fix. This lasted approximately one week and then the optical drive again disappeared from File Explorer but shows in Device Manager and working properly.

Contacted Microsoft support chat again, when though the complete story and after 2 hours of remote connection to my computer the following Registry entries were added (as recommended by Drive Manufacturer) followed by a re-start:
reg.exe add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi\Controller0" /f /v EnumDevice1 /t REG_DWORD /d 0x00000001
reg.exe add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi\Controller0" /f /v EnumDevice2 /t REG_DWORD /d 0x00000001
reg.exe add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi\Controller0" /f /v EnumDevice3 /t REG_DWORD /d 0x00000001
reg.exe add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi\Controller0" /f /v EnumDevice4 /t REG_DWORD /d 0x00000001

End result, no change, the optical drive was not listed in File Explorer. The last comment from technical support before re-st was if this does not work the optical drive is not compatible with Windows 10*Eek Interesting how a device works properly for 6 weeks and now is not compatible with Windows 10.

I performed some not technical troubleshooting like manually ejecting the drive tray and inserting a disk. After the disk read completes, now the drive is listed under File Explorer and played without any problem. After ejecting the disk, the drive disappears again from File Explorer.

In summary, my opinion is that Microsoft released Windows 10 before thoroughly testing the operating system and relies on customer complaints to fix what should have been identified during the Beta testing. This evident by the "complimentary" support as it termed in the message sent at the end of the chat session. Perhaps someone from Microsoft with more than basic troubleshooting knowledge will read this post and consider addressing this problem.

 

File Explorer- no drive letters are listed.

The File Explorer in Windows 10, shows the Frequent folders list and Recent files list by default. You can view the drives by clicking on This PC tab on the left site of the File Explorer. But if you wish the File Explorer
to open This PC showing drives list by default, then follow these steps:

1. In Windows 10, open a new File Explorer window and click the View tab from the ribbon toolbar.

2. In the View tab, find and click on Options, listed by default on the far right side of the ribbon.

3. In the Folder Options window, make sure you’re on the General tab and then find the drop-down box labeled Open File Explorer To. Click the drop-down menu and select This PC. Click OK to
save your changes and close the window. Now your File Explorer opens to Drives list by default.

Hope this helps!

 

CD drive missing from File Explorer


I'm trying to burn an audio CD yet the application doesn't recognise any CD drive. Checking further, the CD drive is not listed in File Explorer until a CD media is inserted that holds valid data. The drive disappears when the media is ejected.
Under view options, the box is unticked for "hide empty drives".
Under device manager the drive shows as present and working normally.
I have tried switching autoplay on and off with no effect (suggested as a fix elsewhere).
Any ideas?