How to tell if I have a CDRW

[Daff_Duck]

Ok simples question and I hope not too easy peasy and stupid, but is there an easy way to tell if I there is a CDRW installed on a machine other than trying to write data to a disc?

I know you can go into the properties of the device and look under the hardware and with a bit of luck it will tell you if its CDRW or capable but this inst always the case

I have been asked to look at 30 PCs and identify if they have the above mentioned hardware and was hoping there would be a quick solution rather than having to actually write data.

One last thing there is no identifiable markings on any of the drive trays to indicate the above at a glance

 

[FoxEye]

Not 100% certain, because I haven't had a CD drive for so long P) but if you install something like ImgBurn it might well tell you.

If you can't find out from Device Manager, that is.

Also in Windows have you tried copy/pasting files to the CD/DVD drive? If it's capable of burning it should allow this, and you'll end up with files and on the left it will say "Files ready to be burned" or similar.

 

[lucifer-mnm]

Are all the 30 pc's the same make/model? If so could you not just pop the case open on one and look up the details from the label on the optical drive.

Every optical drive I recall seeing states on the label if it is a cd/dvd/blu ray drive even if the front panel has no markings.

If the above isn't possible then go into My Computer, right click the optical drive's drive letter and select properties. If the drive is capable of writing to blank media there should be (at least there is on my PC's here with writers) a tab labelled "Recording" where you can enable/disable recording on that drive.

Also - I think if the drive can write to CD then at least part of the label for the drive in My Computer will have "CDRW" mentioned and "DVDRW" if capable of writing to DVD media.

 

[Nanobot]

If all the users / computers use login script, you could use WMIC command in login script and redirect the output to a share somewhere on the network... If not in a network, just run the command on each PC:

wmic cdrom where mediatype!='unknown' get name,mediatype