yes it does. and it says it's functioning properly?! when i place a cd in the drive & go to my computer, try to open it, i get a message saying the cd is not recognized by windows blah blah

just a regular cd reader. i'm thinking hte problem might be that it's so old (it is a dell dimension v333c, not exactly new) & win2003 server doesn't support a lot of it. i'm thinking about just putting a cd-rw in there. don't have warranty on the pc anymore either.

i have a similar problem, but with mine Windows 2003 wont login unless theres a CD in my CD-RW drive. It all works fine if i unplug the CD-RW drive. But when its plugged up, after i enter my username and password, for some reason explorer.exe wont load... i have to restart and put a CD in the drive.
 
Try booting the computer with a CD in the drive and see how it goes...
 
And you can also disable Windows built in recording software by typing services.msc in the run dialogue box and then disabling it.

thanks. prolly just buy a cd-rw.
 
on a sidenote, what's the fastest/easiest way to setup a home network or share files between a winxp home pc & win 2003 enterprise edition pc. i have a hub that they connect to which allows them all to connect to the net. i mainly just want to be able to share files between the 2 pc's. don't need active directory ,etc. thanks.

Hey alec,
 
This happens right after Windows install, as in the second windows installs, if there isnt a CD in the drive it wont logon. No matter WHAT profile, Administrator, My profile or my brothers it refuses to logon.
After username and password it hangs there and when i try to logoff via Task manager (which still is accessible) it says "explorer.exe is not responding".
 
Unplugging the CD-RW fixes this or having a CD-R in the drive. An intersting thing is, that when there isnt a CD in the drive and i boot up, the CD-RW drive wont respond to anything when windows boots up, during POST its fine, when windows is on, it wont respond, it wont even open, just sits there. Sometimes after 5 minutes of pressing the eject button it may open.
 
I had an IDE HDH fail on me, but have since re-formated and re-installed.
This problem doesnt happen with XP, ONLY 2003, i have a dual boot setup.
I think its something to do with 2003 not liking my CD-RW in some way.
I do use Virtual drives because im an Alcohol 120% beta tester, but even before i load it on, this anomoly happens.
 
Thnx,
Immortal

Thanks Alec! You rule. i'm gonna try that tonite when i get home
 

you misunderstood, this STILL happens well before Alcohol is even installed, it happens on the first windows bootup after installation....
 
It has been proven to work with 2K3, as other beta testers are using it fine.

It works no problem with my DVD drive, i have concluded that my CD-RW and Windows 2003 just dont get along....
 
Thnx for all your help though,
Immortal