Installing Windows 7: Unsigned DVD Driver

When my wife, Alicia, recently tried to do a clean install of her laptop to Windows 7, she booted from the DVD, started the install, selected the options for a clean install, watched the installer copy files to the local hard driver from the DVD, and then watched as her laptop restarted so that it could start the Windows Installer. The next thing she says it did the installer was saying it could not find her DVD device and wanted to load a driver. The Windows 7 Upgrade Adviser which she ran before deciding install Windows 7, did not mention the DVD/CD device as an issue.

The system: HP Pavilion DV8000 Notebook PC

The DVD/Drive: HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-4084N ATA DEVICE

After checking the HP website for DVD Driver, I did a quick public search on my suspicions and found and several blogs, technical help threads, and the like where people expressed problems with Windows 7 install and DVD drives. I even found this article, http://capitalhead.com/articles/windows-7-dvd-drive-not-working-problem-missing-disappeared-error-gone-not-found-not-recognized-in-x64-and-x86.aspx. An article that says it is good for “If you’ve recently installed Windows 7 or Windows 7 RC x64 and x86”. Well, we had not recently installed it: were were trying to install it. However, there was no reason we should not give it a try: Since the Windows 7 installer removes itself if you exit it, we simply had to hard power off the laptop (instead of exiting the install), power it back on and let it boot from the hard disk, turned it back on, and then follow Solution 1 from the above link: Boot, F8 to Advanced Boot Options, choose Disable Driver Signature Enforcement, and voilà! The installer continued into the install and had no more problems with the DVD drive.

Since we ran the Windows Update and installed all necessary updates and all the optional ones except the language packs she’ll never need – and since I don’t have time to do the research today to find out – my suspicion is that installing driver updates may solve the problem. However, if Alicia’s laptop DVD problems resume while running under Windows 7, I will have to check out the rest of the article linked above as well as dig deeper into the issue using all the resources I have had on hand.

David Taylor

Former Premier Field Engineer @ Microsoft

I provided this post as is and may or may not reflect the opinions of anyone else including my previous employer, Microsoft Corporation. Use at your own risk.

Bio
Latest Posts

David Taylor

Having earned more than 25 IT certifications in his career, including the well-recognized Certified Information Systems Security Professional, he has more than 25 years of technical troubleshooting experience. He is an expert with Active Directory and the underlying services that support it. In addition to leveraging his deep understanding of many Microsoft technologies, David enjoys applying systems theory to networks, applications, and other operating systems, including Linux. David has had the pleasure of providing information technology expertise to many of the Fortune 500. He has worked as a Microsoft Premier Field Engineer, as an escalation engineer for Dell, as an Active Directory Subject Matter Expert for UnitedHealth Group / Optum, and in Oracle’s Global Business Unit Cloud Services. To learn more about David's professional skill set, you can view his industry certifications and other curriculum vitae on linkedin.com. Honorably Discharged, David is a Gulf War veteran who served in the U.S. Army Reserves and the active-duty U.S. Navy. He earned the Southwest Asia Service Medal for operations in the Persian Gulf and Bahrain. He is world-traveled, well-read, articulate, and approachable. He has a unique ability to communicate to the most technical of developers, engineers, and administrators, yet equally well to the non-technical business process owners, and laymen, that rely on IT services. When not busy with work, David can be found in the company of his Sweet-Love, Alicia. Together, they enjoy playing video games, tinkering with the latest technology, or having friends over for a night of non-traditional/tabletop games. They hope to encourage people and inspire within them a passion for integrity, imagination, and technology. This blog is provided by David for you to use at your own risk and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of his employer(s).