When you receive a driver error, you put the installation CD/DVD in and reinstall the driver but what do you do when it is the CD/DVD drive that is giving you the error? It can be a very frustrating experience and many people will be at a loss for what to do since their only line of defense for driver errors is the installation disk. In this article, we will discuss a few simple things you can do right now to get your computer running again.
How to Use the Device Manager to Update Drivers
All Windows-based computers have a device manager. This allows any user with administrator privileges to update drivers with relative ease and safety. In order to use the device manager installed on Windows, you must first log in as the administrator.
- Click Start
- Control Panel
- Hardware and Sound
- Device Manager
Once you are in the device manager, you will see a list of all the devices on your computer. Each one of these devices has their own driver and will need to be updated at some point in the future. At this point, you are looking for your CD/DVD player or any device with a yellow icon to the side. The yellow icon is an indicator the device is not functioning properly and is in need of updating.
- Click the arrow next to the device to expand the selection
- Right click the device
- Click Update Driver Software
- Click Search Automatically for Updated Driver Software
- Follow the onscreen instructions
How to Update the Driver Using the Manufacturer Site
If you know who made your CD/DVD drive, then you can download the updated drivers from the manufacturer’s website. We will use Samsung as an example.
- Go to the Samsung Support Site
- Click on your product type (monitor, laptop, desktop, etc)
- Choose product type
- Choose product subtype
- Choose a model number
- Click Select
- Click Get Downloads
- Click Driver Tab
- Click the Zip file next to the Operating System file of the driver you need
- Agree to the conditions and save the file
Each manufacturer will vary slightly but they all have the same basic format. You will go to the website, find the support page, select your product, and then download the driver.
It is very important that you only download the new driver from the manufacturer’s website though. Typing in a driver name and randomly downloading it from the Internet can be very dangerous and can result in downloading a virus or other malware on your computer.
How to Install CD/DVD Drivers Automatically
To avoid all the hassle of searching for and installing drivers one by one, you can use driver update software. It takes all the guesswork and the time out of driver installation. Once you install the program, you don’t have to give it a second thought.
It scans your computer and the Internet so that you don’t have to update CD/DVD drivers yourself. You do not need to know any technical language. You do not need to know who makes your CD drive or your monitor. All you have to do is click a few buttons and go back to what you think is important.
