external dvd writer not showing in file explorer in windows 11 (1 Viewer)

[smiler44]

I have an LG GSA-2164D usb DVD/CD re-writer but it does not show in the File Explorer list of Windows 11. It does show if I go to Device Manager and then click DVD/CD-Rom Drives.
How do I get it to show in the File Explorer list ? Should it show in the File Explorer list?

Thank you in advance

smiler44

 

[The_Doc_Man]

USB drives don't show in File Explorer unless there is a disk in the drive. Otherwise all you see is a generic USB port. If there is no disk in the drive, there are no files to explore.

 

[Pat Hartman]

I had a similar problem recently. I have an external hard drive and periodically, it would just disappear. Sometimes turning its power off and then on again would wake it up and bring it back to the devices list. Having the drive just go off has been really annoying since it is my data drive and I use it constantly when I'm working.

Turns out that my PC needed a BIOS update to fix the problem.

 

[smiler44]

USB drives don't show in File Explorer unless there is a disk in the drive. Otherwise all you see is a generic USB port. If there is no disk in the drive, there are no files to explore.

Ok, thank you. I would still expect a drive letter to appear which is what a USB stick does.
I have just tried putting a CD in and blow me down, the CD writer now appears in the Explorer window, thank you very much The_Doc_Man.
I will probably be back with many more seemingly daft questions but I do not understand computers and I will genuinely be stuck.

thanks again

Smiler44

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Consider also that you can put a mouse or keyboard on a USB port, which will never show up in File Explorer because the kind of device isn't file oriented. Has to do with the codes that are returned to Windows when a new device is plugged in, supplied by the device controller. I've seen that list a long time ago, but that might be actually a decade since I read about the device-type codes.

 

[Mike Krailo]

Now try to rename a file to the same name but different capitalization and see what happens.