Shortcut missing for erasing CD-RW disc

[History Fan]

My PC is running XP Home SP2, with a DVD-RW drive.

Today, I have been deleting and adding files to several CD-RW discs.
If I open My Computer, and right-click my DVD-RW drive, there used to be a
shortcut saying..."Erase this CD-RW disc." But now it is gone. There are
other ways to erase the disc, but I miss having that convenient shortcut.
Any quick way to fix this? Thanks.

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Erase this CD-RW

How To Erase Files From a CD-RW Disc in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306641

If XP's recording wizard is disabled it may not be there.

CD Drive enable XP's recording wizard

Open My Computer, right click the CD Drive icon and then click Properties.
Click the Recording tab.
Check: Enable CD recording on this drive
Click: Apply
Click: OK

Enable CD recording on this drive
This setting turns on the built-in CD recording features included with
Windows XP.
Third-party programs sometimes disable this setting.
You can only enable CD recording for one device at a time.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[History Fan]

CD Drive enable XP's recording wizard

Open My Computer, right click the CD Drive icon and then click Properties.
Click the Recording tab.
Check: Enable CD recording on this drive
Click: Apply
Click: OK

Enable CD recording on this drive
This setting turns on the built-in CD recording features included with
Windows XP.
Third-party programs sometimes disable this setting.
You can only enable CD recording for one device at a time.

This is already enabled.

My computer is only 2 months old, so perhaps it never was there in the
first place. Perhaps the Right-Click delete shortcut is not available for
DVD-RW drives. My previous Dell had a CD-RW drive, and it definitely has
the shortcut.

 

[History Fan]

My previous Dell had a CD-RW drive, and it definitely has the shortcut.
My 2nd Dell PC is in the other room, the one with the CD-RW drive. I
just inserted a CD-RW disc with a file saved on it. The right-click erase
option is there.

 

[Wesley Vogel]

You may have had a 3rd party CD recording program on your Dell.

XP's recording wizard does not allow recording to DVDs of any type. You
need a 3rd party DVD recording program in order to burn DVDs.

To erase files from a CD rewritable disc:

1. Double-click the My Computer icon on your desktop.
2. In My Computer, right-click the CD recording drive, and then click Open.
Windows displays a temporary storage area where files are held before they
are copied to the CD. Files or folders that are located in the temporary
storage area are listed in the Files Ready to Be Written to the CD box.
3. In the CD Writing Tasks pane, click Erase this CD-RW. The Welcome to the
CD Writing Wizard dialog box is displayed. After you click Next, the Erasing
the CD dialog box is displayed and the progress bar displays the progress of
the process.
4. When the process is finished, you receive a message in the notification
area and you can use the CD-RW disc.Note: Not all CDs are erasable. If the
CD that you are using is not erasable, for example, then this feature is not
available.
from...
How To Erase Files From a CD-RW Disc in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306641

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[History Fan]

You may have had a 3rd party CD recording program on your Dell.

If I want to make a copy of an entire CD-ROM, I use a program called
RecordNow Copy by Sonic. But when I copy and delete individual files using
a CD-R or CD/RW disc, the Windows CD Writing Wizard takes charge, which is
what I want.

XP's recording wizard does not allow recording to DVDs of any type. You
need a 3rd party DVD recording program in order to burn DVDs.

Right. I already have one. Its called MyDVD LE by Sonic.

To erase files from a CD rewritable disc:

1. Double-click the My Computer icon on your desktop.
2. In My Computer, right-click the CD recording drive, and then click
Open.
3. In the CD Writing Tasks pane, click Erase this CD-RW. The Welcome to
the
CD Writing Wizard dialog box is displayed. After you click Next, the
Erasing
the CD dialog box is displayed and the progress bar displays the progress
of
the process.
4. When the process is finished, you receive a message in the notification
area and you can use the CD-RW disc.Note: Not all CDs are erasable. If the
CD that you are using is not erasable, for example, then this feature is
not
available.

This is what I have been doing, and it works fine. I just wish the
"Erase this CD-RW dics" right-click shortcut was available. Perhaps one of
the 3rd party programs installed on my computer has this disabled. Oh well.
No big deal.

 

[Wesley Vogel]

This is what I have been doing, and it works fine. I just wish the

"Erase this CD-RW dics" right-click shortcut was available.

A Google Advanced Search for Erase this CD-RW disc brings this up...

Your search - "Erase this CD-RW disc" - did not match any documents.

A Google Advanced Groups Search for Erase this CD-RW disc brings up THIS
thread.

http://groups.google.com/group/micr...b97b2?lnk=st&q=&rnum=1&hl=en#fa9bbc78ef4b97b2

So either it does not exist, nobody has ever posted anything about it or you
typed it incorrectly.

You decide what the problem was.

"Erase this CD-RW" exists in the Right click Context menu if the CD is not
full.

<quote>
SYMPTOMS
In Windows XP, if you have a CD-RW disk that is full, the option to erase
the disk may not be displayed.

CAUSE
This problem can occur if you have outdated firmware on your CD-RW device.

RESOLUTION
To resolve this problem, contact your CD-RW drive manufacturer to obtain the
most up-to-date firmware.

STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products
that are listed at the beginning of this article.
<quote>
from...
The Option to Erase the CD-RW May Not Be Displayed In Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/301329

Perhaps one
of the 3rd party programs installed on my computer has this disabled.

If that were the case, Enable CD recording on this drive would be UNCHecked.

BTW, it's Erase this CD-RW NOT Erase this CD-RW disc. ;-)

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[History Fan]

Perhaps one

If that were the case, Enable CD recording on this drive would be
UNCHecked.

That is what happened when I installed the Sonic program. I fixed
this later. However, it's possible Sonic or another program may have made
further changes to my PC and removed the "Erase this CD-RW" right-click
shortcut.

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Yes, almost anything is possible when installing 3rd party programs.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In