Burn a CD/DVD on Windows XP, Vista or 7 without using software

01. Burn a CD on Windows XP without using software

Windows XP comes with a builtin CD-copy feature that not many people are aware of. Although almost everyone has his/her favorite CD-copy software to stick with, it is still good to know about this CDR feature from Windows XP. You will find it very useful when you come to another PC that doesn't have a CD-copy software, and you can't just install your favorite software to it. With this feature, you can write some data or MP3 files to a CD/DVD, or erase a re-writable CD/DVD.

If you're using a Re-Writable CD (CD-RW), make sure the disc is blank. You might need to erase (or "format") it before use. For information how to erase a CD-RW on Windows XP without using any other software, see below:

1. Insert a ReWritable CD/DVD disc into the CD/DVD drive.
2. From Desktop, double-click on "My Computer".
3. Double-click on the CD-Rom drive.
4. On the window that displays the contents of the CD, click on the menu "Erase this CD-RW" on the left panel.
5. On the window "CD Writing Wizard", click "Next".
6. The "CD Writing Wizard" starts to erase the CD:
7. Once the erasing is complete, the wizard will disappear and the CD-Rom window shows no files on the CD. You're done!

Requirements: You need to enable the CD-R feature on Windows XP. If you haven't done so, see below:
1. From Desktop, double-click on "My Computer".
2. Right-click on the CD Drive and select "Properties".
3. Select the tab "Recording" then select the option "Enable CD recording on this drive" and select "Fastest" for the write speed.
4. Click "OK".
5. Your CD Drive is now configured with built-in CD Recording feature enabled.

Burn a CD on Windows XP ... Continued

1. Insert a Formated-ReWritable CD or a Recordable (CD-R) disc into the CD drive.
2. From Desktop, double-click on "My Computer".
3. Navigate to the files/folders you want to copy to CD. Select them and press "Ctrl-c" to copy.
4. Browse back to the CD-ROM, and press "Ctrl-V" to paste. The files/folders will show up as temporary files/folders at this time.
5. On the left panel, select "Write these files to CD".
6. The window "CD Writing Wizard" appears with the default CD name. Change the CD name if you wish, then click "Next".
7. The "CD Writing Wizard" starts to write files/folders to the CD:

8. Once the writing process is complete, the wizard will disappear and the CD-Rom will be ejected.

02. Burn a CD/DVD on Windows Vista or 7 without using software

CD/DVD burning capability has been added to Windows Operating System since the release of Windows XP. However, the steps to burn CD/DVD on Windows Vista and Windows 7 are a bit different (and somewhat simpler) comparing to Windows XP.

You can use this built-in feature to create a data CD/DVD or an audio CD. The steps below will guide you through the procedures. Although the steps below are based on Windows 7, they are very much similar to Windows Vista.

If you're using a Re-Writable CD (CD-RW) or DVD (DVD-RW, DVD+RW), make sure the disc is blank (or "formatted"). You might need to erase (or "format") it before using. 

For information how to erase a rewritable CD/DVD on Windows Vista or Windows 7 without using a third-party software. See here:


Erase a Re-writable CD/DVD on Windows Vista or 7 without using any Software
Like Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 come with a built-in feature to burn CD/DVD as well as to erase (format) re-writable discs.

Although the feature is very similar to Windows XP, the steps to burn or erase a disc on 

Windows 7 and Vista are a little bit different.

Note that you can only erase "rewritable" discs (not "recordable" discs). For the differences between the disc types, see this article 

Warning: At the end of this guide, all existing data on your disc will be erased!!!

1. Insert a re-writable CD/DVD disc into the CD/DVD drive.
2. Navigate to "Computer" (Double-click on Computer from your desktop or press Windows key + E)
3. Right-click on the CD/DVD drive and select "Erase this disc"
4. At the wizard Burn to Disc click "Next"
5. Windows will start erasing the disc and automatically close the wizard when finish.

Burn a CD/DVD on Windows 7... Continued

1. Insert a blank recordable/rewritable CD (CD-R) or DVD (DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW) disc into the CD burner drive.

2. With a new blank disc, Windows might pop up a prompt asking you which format you want to use (as shown on the image below).

As explained on the popup, the option "Like a USB Flash Drive" is more convenient if you want to use the disc as an external storage, which you can add or delete (rewritable disc) files on the fly; however, once the disc is formatted with this option, it can only be read on computers with Windows XP or later. On the other hand, the option "With a CD/DVD Player" is the traditional format of CD/DVD disc and is compatible with a wider range of Windows versions as well as other devices, but requires to burn the disc (or erase the entire disc) all at once.

3. To keep it simple, we will follow the steps to create traditional CD/DVD, so select "With a CD/DVD Player". Don't forget to change the "Disc title" to something descriptive for your disc, then click "Next".

4. Navigate to the folders or files which you want to burn to the disc, then select (highlight) the folders/files and click "Burn" (located above the file browsing panels)

5. A new window is now created similar to the following image, showing the selected files and folders added to the queue to burn to disc. Click "Burn to disc".

6. On the next popup "Burn to Disc", verify the disc title and select the maximum burning speed, then click "Next".

If you have selected audio files (i.e. MP3), you will be asked to burn the disc as data or audio as shown in the following image. 

The burning wizard will start writing data to the disc and will close and eject the CD/DVD when finish.