Program can't find any usable optical drives after installing new drive

[longplay]

I've been using MakeMKV for a while, largely without issue (none that an update didn't fix) but have recently run into the dredded "The program can't find any usable optical drives" error.

It was working perfectly, but my Blu-ray drive was failing so I swapped it out. Since then, MakeMKV has been showing the issue, yet other apps such as AnyDVD and DVDShrink find it fine.

The previous drive was a Samsung SH-B083L, and the new drive is a Pioneer BDR-209EBK.

MakeMKV works fine from ISO.

So far I have tried:

1. Updating to the latest version (1.12.3)

2. Running as Administrator

3. Reinstalling into Program Files (x64 system) and running as Administrator

4. Using an older version (1.8.11)

5. System recover and reinstall

6. Running MakeMKV directly after install makes no difference

I'm running Windows 10 Pro 64-bit. User is a full admin on the machine.

Ransomware protection is disabled (always has been), so the reports of Windows Defender being the issue don't seem to apply.

Reconnecting the old drive, MakeMKV finds it fine. So the only difference is the physical drive unit itself.

Here's the log generated when I enable debug:

Debug log started at Tue Sep 04 15:44:48 2018 , written by MakeMKV v1.12.3 win(x64-release)
Using 524544KB for read cache.
001005:0000 MakeMKV v1.12.3 win(x64-release) started
001004:0000 Debug logging enabled, log will be saved as C:\Users\xxx/MakeMKV_log.txt
001003:0020 DEBUG: Code 3221225861 at <=RqJ-5Nv{Fvzs:121263475
001003:0020 DEBUG: Code 3221225861 at <=RqJ-5Nv{Fvzs:121263475
001003:0020 DEBUG: Code 3221225861 at =4zbW"fS5%Mt|jza:213131594
001003:0020 DEBUG: Code 0 at =4zbW"fS5%Mt|jza:29394988
001003:0020 DEBUG: Code 0 at dUYyDG"F<U?D=_4hg,zRWOuxG:121261681
005042:0000 The program can't find any usable optical drives.
Application exited at Tue Sep 04 15:45:31 2018

[Woodstock]

Does Win10 consider the drive to be an optical disk? Sometimes it won't - and sometimes it will lock things down for security policy reasons.

And if it's restricting it for security policy, people stuck on Home can't fix it. But since you're on Pro, the security policy is settable.

[longplay]

Everything I can see confirms it's being identified as a CD ROM drive, from the Disk Utility to fsutil

Other software, which is only looking for optical drives, correctly identifies it.

Would be interesting to understand what MakeMKV uses to determine available optical drives.

[Woodstock]

Mike has posted a general description of what happens, but it boils down to asking the operating system, "What optical drives are available?", and reacting to what the operating system returns.

I'm trying to remember if there is a magic incantation to get Windows to re-scan the hardware. When you removed the original drive and replaced it, the address it occupied was assumed by the new drive. But the hardware signature changed, so Windows probably recorded that the old hardware was "bad", and removed it from the list, but failed to detect/store the new hardware signature.

I would try two things.

First, unplug the new drive, and reboot windows. After it settles down and notices there is nothing at the old port address, shut it down again, and plug the new drive in. This should force Windows to notice the two changes.

If this does not work, the second option would be to plug it into a different SATA port, if you have a spare.

[longplay]

The machine had been booted and rebooted numerous times, with and without the drive, and the device manager showed it no problem. Not to mention I also did a complete OS refresh at one point (so one short of a complete reinstall).

My mobo only has two SATA ports, so I use an expansion card to give me four more (this being my media centre). Specially, I use a Syba SI-PEX40064.

I think I tried different ports on that (will go back and test again).

Switching to one of the onboard ports made it appear for MakeMKV though.

Could be that a change of port forced a refresh of the hardware profile, or that MakeMKV's lookup method doesn't handle external cards (my theory).

[homerjatmoes]

I know this is an old post but I had this problem as well and was able to find a fix. The SATA expansion card worked and the drive was available for all other applications (VLC, Handbrake, Explorer) and I was able to do a manual access of the drive in MakeMKV.

The issue was the driver. The Windows 10 default driver will allow the card to work but I needed to install the Marvell 92xx drivers in order for MakeMKV to recognize the drive.

The card I am using is an I/O Crest SI-PEX40064 with a Marvell 9215 chipset, the drive is a Pioneer BDR-209M.