pacman10

The external DVD drive, which has its own mains power supply, won't write DVDs either. So I conclude that the problem is not related to the laptop DVD drive and/or its power supply.

Thanks for this but as I pointed out above, I've tried two DVD drives, one the internal one and the other an external one. The cabling systems are totally independent. Both fail to write data to DVDs.

You are right, of course. Because of the security implications of rolling back, and because the successive re-installation of the updates and subsequent testing after each one could take some time I will have to plan this carefully and schedule it for a free period when the computer won't be used for anything else. In the meantime I'm burning my data DVDs with one of my Linux machines. Will report back.

Windows 7 DVD burning problem after Windows 7 updates Thanks for your input. I tried Ashampoo - still won't burn data files to DVD. Nor does InfraRecorder. So it looks as if the error is on a common pathway to the DVD recorder. I noticed that both Ashampoo and InfraRecorder wouldn't allow me to choose the burn rate; both forced "Maximum speed". The W7 burner shows the same behaviour (previously with the W7 burner I was always able to choose the burn rate). Re. contacting MS, I've tried jumping through those hoops and just given up (see, for example, http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/error-try-another-disc-delete-temporary-files-when/1bddc68f-2399-49fc-9379-82c860644b07?page=1&msgId=e3adca93-dab3-480c-bb62-ad68f8583147&tm=1316495994902 ). On the assumption that the problem results from the W7 update(s), and in the hope that other people having this problem will flag it on the WWW (one other has already done so), I'm now just hoping that MS will issue a revised version of the update to patch the problem.

Thanks for this. The email notifications of replies are arriving but with a considerable delay. Hence my asynchronous replies. I tried the update-the-drivers solution but MS says I have the latest drivers installed. I do realise that I can roll back the Windows 7 updates and re-install them one by one. However, since I don't know what each update does, if I discover that one of them was responsible for zapping my DVD drives and then leave it out I'm still left wondering whether I've been left with a security loophole. If possible I'd much prefer to find out what precisely has de-activated my DVD drives and correct that specific problem. If it's not possible to locate the specific cause the only other alternatives I can see are (a) wait until MS notices the problem and corrects it in a subsequent update or (b) try with different burning software in case the problem is specifically related to the Windows 7 DVD burning function.

Windows 7 DVD burning problem after Windows 7 updates Sorry, I missed the fact that you had split off this thread and replied to the other one, thinking that my posting had gone astray. I did consider rolling back the system to its state before the Windows 7 updates but that would leave me with a system with the defects that the updates were supposed to correct, including possibly security vulnerabilities.

I'm having the same problem. My Windows 7 Ultimate laptop system will suddenly no longer burn files to a DVD using the Windows 7 burning facility. It shows the progress bar for a while and then throws up a screen saying it could not burn the files and offering me options ("Try with another disk ? Delete the temporary files ? etc."). Trying with another disk (several times) does not solve the problem. Attaching an external DVD drive does not solve the problem (so it's not a hardware problem with the internal laptop drive). I tried with different sets of files but the problem persists. Also, after each burning failure the system did not automatically delete the temporary burning files. I had to go through some hoops to find them and delete them manually. Two days ago the laptop was burning DVDs without any problems. In the meantime there has been an automatic Windows 7 update (7 updates as far as I remember). So I strongly suspect that this problem has to do with the Windows 7 updates which occurred a few days ago.