Windows 7 won't let me burn DVDs any more

[kmars]

Hello,
I'm trying to backup some files to a DVD so I can free up space on my hard drive and I'm having a problem. I've done this many times in the past without problems but suddenly for some reason I just can't get it to work.

If I insert a blank DVD in the drive (actually either drive, I have 2 installed) it asks the usual "Blank DVD options" and I select "Burn files to disc" like I've always done. The "How do you want to use this disc?" and I select With a CD/DVD Player.

At this point it opens up an explorer window displaying the "contents" of the drive where I can normally drag and drop files into it to select what I wish to burn but this is where the problem comes up. First of I noticed that it shows "Move" below the icon that I'm trying to drop even if I hold down the Control button to select copy and then it does absolutely nothing if I drop the icon on it and nothing ever shows up in that folder.

I even tried selecting Copy from the menu and then trying to "Paste" a file into it and I get a beep but nothing else.

I've tried a completely different brand of disc and both types have worked fine in the past so I'm at a total loss.

If I just look at the disc in Explorer it shows 4.37GB free of 4.37GB and if I put a previously burnded disc in I can read it just fine.

I'm running Windows 7 x64 if it makes a difference and the only change I've made to the system lately is to upgrade the RAM from 4GB to 12GB.

Is there possibly a recent Windows update that could be causing problems? If I Google it I don't find anyone else having this problem but I may be asking the wrong question...

Help??

 

[kmars]

I seem to have solved it but I don't know what was causing it. I had a couple of other strange things happen so I finally resorted to a system restore and that fixed the DVD burner problem but I'd REALLY like to know what was causing it. :-(

 

[Tasha Erickson]

I am suddenly having this exact same problem. I am trying to burn files to a DVD but I can't copy anything over by drag and drop or copy/paste shortcuts or right click copy/paste. All I get is a beep after trying to paste. Everything you described above is happening to me, for seemingly no reason. I have burned DVDs successfully many times! Don't know what's wrong, or how to fix! System reboot is scary because I don't want to lose any files. Can anyone help???

 

[kmars]

Unfortunately the problem came back for me and since I had never received a reply I didn't come back to post about it. I never did find the solution but I did find a workaround. I downloaded a free program called ImgBurn and it works great so it's obviously not a hardware problem. Here's a link if you want to give it a try:

http://www.imgburn.com/

I am suddenly having this exact same problem. I am trying to burn files to a DVD but I can't copy anything over by drag and drop or copy/paste shortcuts or right click copy/paste. All I get is a beep after trying to paste. Everything you described above is happening to me, for seemingly no reason. I have burned DVDs successfully many times! Don't know what's wrong, or how to fix! System reboot is scary because I don't want to lose any files. Can anyone help???

 

[mar92587]

I am now having the same issue. if I figure it out, i'll let you know. for now, imgburn should work. thanks for the workaround.

 

[rcloud7]

This can be caused by unplugging a USB flash drive without safely "ejecting" it first. Apparently if you don't follow proper procedures before removing a USB flash drive it can cause conflicts with DVD burner functionality. Try inserting a flash drive and then "eject" it when it says it is safe to do so and the issue may correct itself. Hope this helps.