Error with CDrom in xp (Code 32) finally fixed

As an action oriented man it is a little bit embarrassing to admit that I have had problems using my hp laptop cdrom drive for several years now. I have not done anything about it since I thought it was a hardware problem and data can nowadays allways be transferred in other ways (usb, wifi).

Yesterday I got surprised when I saw that I was able to boot from an ubuntu linux cd without problems. When I on top of that saw that no virtual cdrom drives (virtual clonedrive, magicdisc) were working either I was determined to fix what now was a windows problem.

I saw that all cdrom drives were registered as active in windows device manager, but all had an exclamation sign suggesting something was wrong. When looking in properties I got the following error:

(Norwegian)

En driver(tjeneste) for denne enheten er deaktivert. En alternativ driver kan gi samme funksjonalitet. (Kode 32)

(English)

A driver for this device was not required, and has been disabled (Code 32)The first suggestion was that I should include CTFMON.exe in the startup, but this did not change anything.

I finally found Microsoft's Q314060 showing me how to fix the problem:

Step 1: Start Registry Editor

Start Registry Editor.

Step 2: Delete the UpperFilters registry entry

1. In Registry Editor, expand My Computer, and then expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
2. Expand SYSTEM, and then expand CurrentControlSet.
3. Expand Control, and then expand Class.
4. Under Class, click {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}.
5. In the details pane of Registry Editor, on the right side, click UpperFilters.
   
   Note You may also see an UpperFilters.bak registry entry. You do not have to remove that entry. Click UpperFilters only.
   • If you see the UpperFilters registry entry in the details pane of Registry Editor, go to step 6.
   • If you do not see the UpperFilters registry entry, you still might have to remove the LowerFilters registry entry. To do this, go to "Step 3: Delete the LowerFilters registry entry."
6. On the Edit menu, click Delete.
7. Click Yes when you receive the following message:
   Are you sure you want to delete this value?

The UpperFilters registry entry is removed.

Step 3: Delete the LowerFilters registry entry

1. In the details pane of Registry Editor, on the right side, click LowerFilters.
   
   Note You might see a LowerFilters.bak registry entry. You do not have to remove that entry. Click LowerFilters only.
   
   If you do not see the LowerFilters registry entry, unfortunately this content is unable to help you any more. Go to the "Next Steps" section for information about how you can find more solutions or more help on the Microsoft Web site.
2. On the Edit menu, click Delete.
3. Click Yes when you receive the following message:
   Are you sure you want to delete this value?
   The LowerFilters registry entry is removed.
4. Exit Registry Editor.

Step 4: Restart your computer