Can consider me an intermediate to advanced windows user so don't be afraid to talk specifics.

I have no idea why the DVDRW stopped working. The only drivers available seem to be back from 2008, compatible with windows vista only.

For some reason windows is assigning my DVD/CD-Rom device a driver from 2006, called "DTSOFT VIrtual CdRom Device" and this seems to be the only one it finds in a search and the only one compatible.

Seems to be a windows 8 thing, worked fine when I had windows 7. I am running Win 8 Pro.

Give this a try and see if it helps...

1. Run Command Prompt as an Administrator. Hover your pointer over the lower left corner, and right click when "Start" pops up. It will be on the list that opens.

2. Type or Copy and Paste following and hit enter

reg.exe add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi\Controller0" /f /v EnumDevice1 /t REG_DWORD /d 0x00000001

3. Type Exit and hit Enter
4. Reboot the system.