A Windows 7 error code 39 is another one of those annoying errors that seem hard to fix, but generally isn’t all that difficult once you know what you are looking for. If your CD-ROM is not visible in My Computer, you might see that error code displayed in the Device Manager.

To check, open the Device Manager by right clicking on the “My Computer” icon on the desktop. Then on the Hardware tab, select the Device Manager button. In the Device Manger window, look at the CD or DVD drive with a yellow exclamation mark. Right-click on it and select update driver. Follow the instructions and reboot the computer.

If that doesn’t do the trick, you will need to correcting the problem via the registry error. You can manually go into the registry and attempt to fix the problem. An error code 39 in Windows 7 doesn’t include many keys fortunately.

On Start > Run type Regedit and press the Enter key.

Next, navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Current\ControlSet\ ControlClass {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

Delete any of the following registry entries if they exist under this key:

Once you have removed those files, restart your computer and check to see if the CD-ROM is visible. Also, go back into the device manager and confirm that the error code is indeed gone. You will need to reinstall any applications that use the DVD or CD-ROM drive. For example Nero or other burning applications use these registry keys, so reinstalling the applications will re-add those keys and they should then be the correct versions of them.

Going into the registry is something that you should be comfortable with and be careful with however. Only edit keys you specifically know what they are. Incorrectly editing keys can lead to worse issues than the original problem. An easier potential solution is to download and use a registry cleaner program. These applications search for invalid or inaccurate registry keys and correct or remove them.