Windows 10: There was a time when applications like Nero or CDBurnerXP were extremely popular, as the lack of sufficient storage space on local drives made CD and DVD burning a necessity for many users out there.
Now that hard drives and SSDs are constantly expanding the available storage space and USB drives are more commonly used, burning CDs and DVDs is no longer in fashion. In fact, few people use them on Windows these days.
However, Microsoft does not provide options to disable disc burning. However, there are two different ways to do it. It always depends on the version of the operating system you are running.
On Windows 10 Home
In the case of Windows 10 Home, all the magic can be done with the Registry Editor. This means you will need an administrator account, because otherwise you will not be allowed to make any changes to the registry.
The first thing you need to do is launch the Registry Editor by pressing Windows key + R and typing regedit – you can also click the Start menu and type Registry Editor. Navigate to the following path in the Registry Editor:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > Software > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Policies > Explorer
The Explorer key should host an entry called NoCDBurning. If it doesn't, no problem because you can always create it yourself. Right-click in the sidebar, go to New > DWORD (32-bit), and name it NoCDBurning.
By default, this item is assigned a value of 0, which means it is disabled, so double-click it and change the value to 1 (enabled). No restart is required and the changes take effect immediately.
On Windows 10 Pro
While the aforementioned method also works on Windows 10 Pro, users running this more advanced version of the operating system can also turn to Group Policy.
To launch Group Policy, you can either type the full name in the Start menu or press Windows key + R and then type gpedit.msc. In Group Policy, navigate to the following path:
User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > File Explorer
On the right side of the screen, there is a special policy called “Remove CD” features. By default, it is set to “Not Configured,” so just double-click it and switch it to “Enabled.” Again, no reboot is required because the settings are applied immediately.
