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I think the problem is is recently switched to UEFI when I had to reinstall windows 10.

But now I cannot boot to my dvd drive? the bios only shows 1 option, Windows Boot Manager. And the only options I see in Windows Boot manager is to boot to other versions of windows on my hddrive.

This is not how it worked before, I used to have the dvd drive and all my HDDs show up as options.

ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard Have 2-3 HDDs and the one dvd drive.

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  • Make and model of PC?
    – Moab
    Apr 22, 2021 at 19:12
  • ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard, I assume the cpu and memory are not important, but I can post the entire list if you like.
    – Jonathon
    Apr 22, 2021 at 19:16
  • Your windows will not break if you switch from UEFI to legacy and back. So set it to legacy and see if you can boot from the DVD again, then switch back to UEFI so you can boot windows. Do note that UEFI may enable secure boot and secure boot may prevent the DVD boot option.
    – LPChip
    Apr 22, 2021 at 19:21
  • hmm, @LPChip could I not just change my bios settings as I will not need access to the hdds when I am, booting? would that bee easier, it looks like I have to mess with partitions or clean install if I want to switch my windows. Are certain DVD drives just not compatible with UEFI booting?
    – Jonathon
    Apr 22, 2021 at 19:27
  • Its first a test, just to make sure that your statement "it used to work" is accurate. If you set it to legacy and you still cannot boot, there could be another setting that causes this or your DVD player may have an issue. We're testing here by eliminating possibilities. That's why my previous comment was not posted as an answer.
    – LPChip
    Apr 22, 2021 at 19:28

1 Answer 1

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This is not how it worked before, I used to have the dvd drive and all my HDDs show up as options.

This was common on BIOS systems, yes. But UEFI firmware typically check whether a disk is bootable before showing it in the list, because they have a more reliable way of knowing that.

Are certain DVD drives just not compatible with UEFI booting?

That shouldn't be the case – they all use the same standard command set (just as all SATA HDDs do, for example), and if the firmware supports one of them it'll support all of them.

It's more likely that your DVD disc itself is not compatible with UEFI booting.

Just like with the installed OS on HDDs, UEFI firmware expects different data – on HDDs it means looking for an "EFI System Partition", and on CDs/DVDs it means looking for a special El Torito system ID which is different from the BIOS-specific system IDs.

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  • OK, so can I write a new bootable DVD to fix this issue? Or should I try another DVD to test?
    – Jonathon
    Apr 22, 2021 at 19:51
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    The problem is not with the physical DVD but with its contents. If you write the same ISO to 5 different DVDs, they'll still have the same contents... Test something like an official Windows 10 ISO or Fedora Linux ISO (as those are definitely UEFI-compatible). Apr 22, 2021 at 19:58
  • I found the legacy mode settings in the CSM submenu. And it worked exactly like you stated, UEFI media would show up as bootable.
    – Jonathon
    Apr 23, 2021 at 15:08

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