How to disable Vista’s CD/DVD burning or recording features

Disable/turn off Vista’s built-in CD/DVD Burning or recording features:

Windows vista provides a CD and DVD disc burning or recording feature.However the built-in CD and DVD burning or recording feature is very basic and it can be disabled or turned off.Vista users can only burn individual files, images or pictures or photos, documents and files to disc, as data CD or DVD only.The built-in CD and DVD burning or recording feature in windows vista does not support CD or DVD disc image handling or burning.Neither does it provides the ability to create slide shows, audio CD or video CD/DVD.

Windows vista’s built-in CD and DVD burning or recording feature only allows users to burn the selected files and folders to a CD or DVD disc with a recordable optical drive.

Why to disable Windows vista CD and DVD disc burning or recording feature?

Since the built in feature is pretty basic, users may prefer to use third party CD/DVD burning softwares/programs like Nero, that provides superior functionality.In such circumstances, it would be preferable to disable or turn off the built-in feature to avoid conflicts or interferences with the third party programs.

What happens when the windows vista optical disc burning feature is disabled or turned off

When the optical disc burning feature is disabled, the “Burn” button that appears on the Windows Explorer’s toolbar or task pane will be hidden and thus would disappear.In any case, the “Burn” button that appears on the Windows Explorer’s toolbar or task pane in windows vista, is seldom used by many.

How to disable and turn off CD and DVD burning feature in Vista

• Click Start and type gpedit.msc (Group Policy Editor) in Start Search.Then press Enter.
• Navigate to Local Group Policy –> User Configuration –> Administrative Templates –> Windows Components.
• Select Windows Explorer.
• On the right pane, double click on “Remove CD burning features“.
• Set the value to “Enabled” to stop and disable all features in the Windows Explorer that allow users to use their CD writer to burn.
• Finally Click OK

If you don’t have a Group Policy Editor, then you can manually change the CD burning feature support in the registry.

How to manually change the CD and DVD burning feature support of windows vista in the registry ?

• Run registry (regedit.exe).You can Click Start and type regedit in Start Search and press Enter.
• Navigate to the following key in the registry:
  

  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

• on the right pane, right ckick on the blank space and choose New to create a new 32-bit DWORD value. Name the new value name as “NoCDBurning“, and assign its datavalue as 1.

To reset and turn on the CD burning feature, delete the NoCDBurning value, or set its value data to 0.The registry changes will take effect only after you restart the system or you logout and login again.

ref: http://techblissonline.com/how-to-disable-vistas-cddvd-burning-or-recording-features/