Hi, one of my friends is having problems with the VMware Workstation program (using version 5.5). After installing it he couldn't burn any CDs from Windows (outside VMware) anymore. I checked all the settings and it looks ok. Don't have any burning software installed in that computer except the default burning feature in Windows XP Home.

What is disabling him from burning CDs? This is what I did. I selected a file to burn. Then clicked on write these files to CD. Clicked Next. Then it says "Insert a writable disc to continue". This is a good CDRW that I just erased (shocked that part worked). Tried searching online and guess this is not a common issue.

Anyone has more experience using VMware that knows of a possible solution?

Thanks.

I don't have a lot of experience, but I think it's an independant problem. I have vmware 5.5 installed, and I never had problems. The only special thing I did was the following : I refused the "disable autorun" proposed at vmware installation.
Maybe you accepted the "disable autorun" feature. Then, probably, enabling the autorun feature again will let the standard Win-XP cd-writer feature work again ?

First try what yordan says.

If that doesn't work, go to the VM and select the option for the CD-ROM. Untick the option "connect exlusivly to this VM" and "Legacy Emulation".

The first option prevents windows from accessing the CD-rom. Usualy you can't read any cd either. The second is not needed, leave it disabled, it might only cause problems.

If that doesn't work, go to the services (right click on 'my computer' > manage | services). There are some services that start with 'VMWARE ...' . Try stopping each service and test if it works.

Yeah, I actually changed every setting I can in VMware to see if it had anything to do with it. I installed it on my own machine and the same thing occurred After more digging online, I finally found the solution to it. It's was something simple. The burner's speed had to be set to a lower one according to the VMware site. So I just went into the CD burner properties->Recording tab. It was on Fastest...which I think is the default. I just set it to the max my burner can handle (8x)...no problem burning CDs now

Thank you so much!
Cd Burner Can\'t Burn Anymore After Installing Vmware

Replying to WeaponX

Thank you for your resolution, my CD burner wasn't working anymore, and only started working again when I reduced the Recording speed, as suggested in your answer. THANK YOU, THANK YOU! I've spent two days searching for anwswers.

-reply by OnlyMe