Can't Boot From CD or DVD

I was having bad BSOD problems yesterday, and tried to boot with an emergency boot disk so I could restore to my last good image copy.  But I couldn't boot from my CD/DVD drive.  Further investigation shows some confusing data that I don't know how to resolve.

When I run the Windows Disk Management utility, it shows a Disk 0 (my C: drive), Disk 1 (an external hard drive assigned to F:), and CD-ROM 0 (my DVD-ROM drive, assigned to D:.

But in Windows File Manager, under This PC, I see my C: drive, followed by CD Drive F:, followed by my External Drive G:. If I put a CD or DVD in the drive, then I see a new entry in File Manager.  It adds the line DVD/RW Drive D:, but it still shows CD Drive F: as the next item.  If I remove the disk then the line DVD/RW Drive D: disappears, but the line CD Drive F: remains. 

With a disk in the DVD drive, if I click on F: in File Manager then it tells me to insert a disk into CD Drive F:  There is no second drive to insert a disk to.  If I click on D: in File Manager I see the contents of the disk.

When I go into the Device Manager, it sees the DVD/CD drive OK, but there is no other installed device that would equate to what I see as F: in File Manager. 

So I think I need to have file manager eliminate the F: drive, and recognize my DVD drive as D: and my External Drive as E:

And I don't know how, or if, I can do that, which is why I'm looking for some help.  Why does File Manager list C:, F:, G: with no disk in the drive, and C:, D:, F:, G: with a disk in the drive, and how do I fix it?  And what happened to E: ??

Thanks a lot.

Regardless of the confusing information in Windows Explorer, that has nothing to do at all with whether or not you can boot from your optical drive.
 
Boot device is controlled by UEFI/BIOS, and comes into play before the operating system (whether Windows or other).  If your machine is new or at least came with Windows 8 or later you've got UEFI, which in turn has the old BIOS functions within it.  If you upgraded from Windows 7 or earlier you still have straight BIOS.
 
Take a look at the thread I posted entitled, UEFI Boot Example from HP 15 Series Laptop, to see how you get to the BIOS-like part of the setup to change your boot device order.

  What you're seeing with the CD/DVD drive on D: is the normal way Windows 10 works.  You haven't given enough info though to help address not being able to boot from the DVD.  When you first power on, you can normally hit a key (F12 in most cases) and get a menu of which drives to boot from.  If your CD/DVD drive isn't listed there, it could be because you have the new UEFI replacement for the legacy BIOS.  In this case you need to either boot from a USB flash drive or modify your UEFI settings to allow you to boot from a CD/DVD drive.

 You didn't say what make & model computer you have so I'll just give you the link to what Dell says about how to do that: http://www.dell.com/support/Article/us/en/04/603195/en .  The article says it's for Windows 8, but it's equally relevant for 10 - it worked with my Windows 10 Dell laptop.

 Good luck.

I understand what you're saying, but there is still some kind of problem.  The PC is an older (~8 years) Dell Inspiron.  In the BIOS the boot order is 1-CDROM, 2-Removable 3-Hard Disk,  It does not have UEFI in the BIOS options.  When I try to reboot with either a CD or DVD emergency boot disk in the drive, here is the message I get

FD 1.44MB System Type-(00)

Non-system disk or disk error

Replace and press any key when ready.

I've tried with 3 different disks, all of which worked on Windows 7.  So I know the disk is good and I know the drive is good.  So why can't I boot from it?

Thanks

 If I'm reading this right, it looks like your software thinks the D: drive is a floppy drive.  Does this 9 year old PC have a floppy drive?

No, there is no floppy drive in the PC, and I verified that the entry for a floppy drive in the BIOS is disabled

Older PC's (including Dell's) had the floppy drive enabled on occasion even if it wasn't so equipped.

As I recall, there's 2 or 3 options in the BIOS that have to be disabled in order to disable the floppy.

Beyond that, if you're selecting the floppy, then the you there may be another option to select for the CD/DVD drive

Also, there can be problems with how the disk is formatted.

Can you boot with it on another computer? (Don't run it, just see if the system will boot to the disk).

I checked the boot disks I have in another computer.  They all work fine.  That computer is an HP Pavilion laptop running Windows 10, and the BIOS does have UEFI boot capability

The BIOS on the Dell computer is Phoenix Award BIOS, Revision 1.0,9

Under the BOOT tab, the following is seen:

  Boot Drive Priority

    First Boot Device       CDROM

    Second Boot Device  REMOVABLE

    Third Boot Device      HARD DISK

    Fourth Boot Device    DISABLED

  HDD Group Boot Priority

    1  3rd Master            Samsung HD321KJ

  CD-ROM Group Boot Priority

    1  4th Master            PBDS DVD +/-RW DH-16W1S

  Boot Settings Configuration

    Fast Boot              ON

    Numlock Key         ON

    Halt On                  All Errors

  Security                   Clear

On the MAIN Tab I see:

  Floppy A       DISABLED

  Sata 0           Samsung HD321KJ

  Sata 1           PBDS DVD +/-RW DH-16W1S

  Sata 2           None

  Sata 3           None

  HDD Smart    Disabled

Those are the only BIOS Options that reference anything to do with boot devices and order.  But when I try to boot with one of my CDs, I keep getting the same message as reported earlier:

FD 1.44MB System Type-(00)

Non-system disk or disk error

Replace and press any key when ready.

Any ideas on how to proceed from here?

I'd suggest checking the support site for the place that you downloaded the disk from.

From what I can see, everything is as it should be and the system should boot from the disk.
Good luck!

I created the boot/repair disk from within Windows 10.  I didn't download it from anywhere.

 One thing is for sure. You're not going to be able to boot a CD or DVD in a drive Windows thinks is a floppy, so if Windows thinks that D: drive is a floppy, I can assure that's not going to work.  I think you either figure out and fix that D: drive or take MadmanRP's suggestion and make yourself a bootable flash drive.  Another alternative would be to invest $20 or so in an external CD/DVD drive, and try booting that CD from it.

`

 Good luck.

Thanks for all the suggestions.  The problem seems to have "fixed" itself.  I have no idea how.  I didn't make any changes.  Just tried to re-boot with a CD again and this time it worked.  Tried it with each of the bootable CDs I have, and they all work again.  I'm glad it works again, but it sure would be nice to know what the heck was going on

Most Dells come with an F12 boot option. This allows you to select the boot device and also run diagnostics. I would suggest running this as one possibility is a CD drive with an intermittent fault (or dirty lens)

I should have put in my original post that I already went through the Dell diagnostics   All diagnostics on the CD/DVD drive passed.  But thanks anyway.