iTunes 8 Loses CD & DVD Import & Burning Drivers
It seems that some users installing iTunes 8 on Windows systems are encountering an error message:
“ERROR: The registry settings used by the iTunes drivers for importing and burning cds and dvds are missing… Please re-install iTunes”
iTunes uses GEAR software drivers for importing and burning CD’s & DVD’s. Re-installing (or installing the latest GEAR drivers seems to fix this problem. No reboot required for this install.
You can get the current GEAR drivers here: http://www.gearsoftware.com/support/drivers.cfm
If this does not fix your problem download a fresh installer for iTunes here: http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/
Uninstall iTunes, reboot, & then do a fresh install of iTunes.
Paul Simpson's Worldwide Tech Update 
October 6, 2008 at 5:13 pm
I have uninstalled iTunes, rebooted, installed the new correct gearsoft drivers, rebooted, installed iTunes, uninstalled, made the registry recommend changes, reinstalled, rebooted and have done all this several times logically and still I get the problem that iTunes can not see my CD or DVD drives, running Vista Home Premium.
Any assistance would be greatly appreicated.
October 6, 2008 at 5:21 pm
I wish I had something else. This process fixed my problems on WinXP Pro.
December 27, 2008 at 4:01 pm
When I went to the registry entry, there was not an entry for UpperLimit so I added one, as follows:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
I created a new “Multi String Value” within this key (very important to select Multi String Value).
I named it UpperFilters, and then double clicked it to add the GEARAspiWDM text WITH a carriage return.
This resolved my problem.
June 4, 2009 at 11:52 am
mjveteto – thanks a lot for your post!
I my case – I had an entry named UpperLimit_1.
I just renamed it to UpperLimit – and iTunes starts up fine.
Thanks again 🙂
October 1, 2009 at 6:27 am
You are my hero. Thank you soooo much. Apple owes you a fortune.
October 1, 2009 at 8:47 am
Oops, but my cd rom disappeas again.
October 7, 2009 at 7:01 pm
wow that worked!! thank you so much.. that error was really REALLY starting to piss me off..
November 3, 2009 at 11:30 am
In my case, I had an entry called UpperFilters.bak. Maybe an uninstaller for an old version of Roxio that I ran didn’t properly restore the entry. Anyway, it contained the same information included in your fix so I removed “.bak” and now iTunes starts up properly. Thanks a million.
December 29, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Thank you!!!! I spent so much time on this and the issue was that I didn’t have the regedit key set as a Multi String Value. As soon as I created a new one, it worked!!!
January 17, 2010 at 9:44 am
Thank you very much for this entry. I was pulling my hair out and you input fixed the problem. Cheers!
February 2, 2010 at 7:40 pm
Thanks. Appreciated very much.
February 15, 2010 at 5:25 am
Sucess, Thanx pal u r g8
🙂
May 3, 2010 at 12:34 pm
Thanks man, your post saved my from losing my religion. If your ever in Salt Lake, drop us an email. I’ll take you to lunch and show you how do solve a Rubiks Cube.
Thanks!
Shane Ownbey
Farmington, UT – USA!
801.554.4142
rsownbey@msn.com
June 24, 2010 at 11:53 am
This worked for me. mjveteto you are fucking awesome thanks for sharing your knowledge for the rest of us!
July 1, 2010 at 7:08 pm
Thanks man…I have been looking for a fix for a while now…this one solved my problem…
December 1, 2011 at 3:55 pm
Caramba, this is it. After searching helplessly for 4 days this is the answer.
Thank you so much, Tom
January 1, 2009 at 10:33 am
Mjveteto – This worked for us – thank you!
January 9, 2009 at 8:06 pm
You said “WITH a carriage return” What does that mean?
January 10, 2009 at 1:09 pm
With a Carriage Return means you need to hit “Return” / “Enter” at the end of the line of text to move down to the next line.So you have 1 line with text, and a second line with nothing on it.
January 20, 2009 at 12:20 am
Hi,
I have tried this but no success any other ideas!!
Thank you
January 21, 2009 at 12:28 am
Hi Everyone,
I am still unable to get this resolved I have tried all the above steps anyother ideas would be of great help
January 24, 2009 at 3:33 pm
I have the same problem but on windows 64-bit . I have tried everything mentioned above but nothing has worked.
January 25, 2009 at 9:31 am
I am having the same problem and running low on solutions. When I open itunes the following error message appears. “The registry settings used by the ITUNES drivers for importing and burning CDs and DVDs are missing.” I have uninstalled/reinstalled iTunes 8; Quicktime; & updated Gear drivers umpteen times and the error still occurs. I’ve run MS Registry cleaner; CCleaner; still have error.
Per the instructions in this thread re: GEARaspiWMD.inf, that file resides in my C:\i386 folder. I don’t have a Gear folder & my x86 folder only holds Diskeeper.exe.
Still looking for a solution…any new leads?
thanks
January 27, 2009 at 4:30 pm
THANK YOU for this page. I have been experiencing this warning message since I accidentally hit “auto update” on my itunes and it updated me into itunes 8 — now everytime I click into itunes I get the Warning message: “The registry settings used by the ITUNES drivers for importing and burning CDs and DVDs are missing.”
I am unable to burn any CD’s or upload to itunes. I’ve taken the above steps regarding Total removal of itunes and downloading/updating the Gear Drive. All to no avail.
Have been on the phone with an Apple Tech for over 2 hours. He’s a nice guy, but nothing we have tried is fixing this issue.
FRUSTRATING…. anything new?
January 27, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Chris,
Did you try editing the registry as above:
When I went to the registry entry, there was not an entry for UpperLimit so I added one, as follows:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
I created a new “Multi String Value” within this key (very important to select Multi String Value).
I named it UpperFilters, and then double clicked it to add the GEARAspiWDM text WITH a carriage return.
February 15, 2010 at 5:27 am
Sucess, Thanx pal u r g8
🙂
Fixed my headache too
Lolz
January 28, 2009 at 10:52 am
Thanks for all the help. I finally went to the registry and added the UpperFilters string & typed in the GEARAspiWDM text. I didn’t insert a carriage return, but the solution worked just the same. I can’t believe I spent so much time on such a stupid error. Apple & Gear ought be tarred & feathered.
thanks,
January 29, 2009 at 10:14 pm
this worked for me with the multistring value. at first it gave the same error message, closed it, then reopened and now it’s good. THANK YOU!!!
also i reinstalled new gear drivers, etc beforehand.
February 13, 2009 at 12:28 pm
I have removed upper and lower filters, added upperfilter multi string, removed itunes and re installed itunes, downloaded drivers with no help. At least I can use the burner with other programs except Itunes. I’m currently with out upper and lower filters.
When I open itunes I get; the registry settings used by itunes drivers for importing and burning Cds and DVDs are missing.
Anyone have a new Idea, you help will be greatly appreciated.
February 14, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Downloading the latest gear drivers worked!! I had uninstalled and re-installed iTunes at least twice. Finally downloaded the latest gear drivers (dated 02/04/09) and then tried iTunes and it finally loaded up. Seems to burn the CD slower than I recall, but maybe I just don’t remember how long it took before.
February 17, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Extremely thankful
The gears drivers worked for me too and I do not even know what was wrong! Thanks so much
February 18, 2009 at 12:06 am
I can’t believe this. Apple claims to be the king of user friendliness. And iTunes creates these persistent problems. Their website gives the manual Registry setting changes work-around, which cannot be considered a true solution because editing the registry is not a joke. Ironically when my computer stopped reading my CD/DVD Drives I went to the Microsoft website. And their website provided a manual solution for editing the registry and also gave a small executable file as an alternative to those who are not sufficiently tech savvy. I ran the program and voila, I was able to use my CD/DVD drives. But then came the rub, and like everyone else leaving comments here kept getting the same error message “The registry settings used by the iTunes drivers for importing…” since then I have reinstalled iTunes 4 times and the problem does not go away. I love iTunes but am thinking that I need to switch to EphPod or another iTunes substitute. Someone here commented that they noticed their CD/DVD write times have gotten longer. I think this person hit the nail on the head. Because I recall shortly after I installed iTunes for the first time my DVD write time went from about 10-15 minutes to close to an hour. At the time I thought it was Nero that was creating theproblem. Now I know that it was iTunes. I have never been an Apple basher, but sorry to say this I have found out the hard way that Apple SUCKS!!! They are so bent on controlling DRM through their iTunes that they care two hoots for the problems their customers experience. Pathetic!!!! Sorry for this long rant folks, but I am EXTREMELY frustrated. What is truly tragic is that I love iTunes but I just may have to give it up and load another software on my iPod.
I will try out the GEAR drivers update and only hope that it works. But even if it works I think I will just be postponing the inevitable i.e. using another program in place of iTunes.
February 23, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Thanks so much for the tip. Gear soft install fixed mine.
February 25, 2009 at 6:38 pm
The ‘multi-string’ value hint was the fix. I had regular string values in the registry so the ‘Carriage Return’ wasn’t recognised therefore not working. I deleted the string keys and recreated only the UpperFilter as suggested using a multi-string key and everything started working again. No errors in iTunes and I can now read a disc. Woo hoo!
As part of my diagnosis I also deleted the DvD out of the devices and rebooted so it auto-detected it. Not sure if you need to do both to make this fix work.
I have Nero installed but none of the other CD software that people have been talking about.
February 27, 2009 at 11:13 am
I am not savvy enough to do the regedit. Can anyone give a step by step for this procedure? I (and I assume others) would be grateful. This has been a pain in the backside.
March 3, 2009 at 11:30 am
Thanks very much – this fixed my issues. I appreciate it.
March 4, 2009 at 5:54 pm
OMG! thank u thanlk soo much for the registry thing thank you THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
March 19, 2009 at 2:24 pm
How do you know which E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318 you need to add the multistring value to? There are 8 more characters in front of that registry name.
ex: 4D36E965 – E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318
There is a big list. Please help from anyone who has solved this problem already
April 4, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Please explain the multi string value option. I’ve tried everything to no avail. Still keep getting the warning about registry settings for importing and burning are missing.
Thanks.
April 5, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Scott and others,
You don’t need to mess with the Registry (by using regedit.exe). Just run “Fix It” on this Microsoft page http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060/EN-US/ Unfortunately, that alone was not enough to make iTunes stop complaining about the missing DVD driver.
If you still have a problem, as I did, run the Gears drivers install as per the original post.
April 10, 2009 at 12:54 am
I have the same issue. I uninstalled iTunes a few days ago because I never use it and wanted to reclaim the space. Since then I cannot see my DVD/CD drive. I’ve un/reinstalled iTunes and the Gear drives countless times to no avail. Done the reg hacks, etc. Nothing. I found this article, though:
http://www.gearsoftware.com/wiki/index.php?title=Determining_if_GEARAspi_drivers_are_installed_correctly
and noticed one thing. In msinfo32.exe at the bottom, I have the gearaspiwdm driver listed, but it is not Started (value is ‘No’). Perhaps this is the problem — maybe the driver needs to be up and running.
My question: how can I load/run/start this driver to find out?
April 10, 2009 at 9:26 am
Mike,
There are many ways to make a driver start, but overall, I’d recommend a free Microsoft Download to manage startup services & driver… Sysinternals Autoruns ( http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx.
Run it, go to the “drivers” tab, and check the box next to the Gear driver, then restart the PC.
April 10, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Thanks. Unfortunately, that didn’t do the trick. So now I’ve re/uninstalled iTunes and the latest Gear drivers countless times. I’ve also now ensured that the Gear driver is indeed running. The included link is a screenshot of the registry key – as you can see it’s correct (and there is a carriage return after the value).
Any other thoughts? I do not get any error messages — I just don’t have access to my optical drive (doesn’t appear as a drive in My Computer).
Thanks,
Mike
http://mikeseyes.smugmug.com/gallery/7862207_uYN9G#509639206_pBYMT
April 10, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Grear software worked! I can import and burn CDs again!!
Thank you!
April 11, 2009 at 1:38 pm
<< Mike
This is for the Mike with the pink star two posts above 🙂
I’m assuming that you can burn a CD from iTunes i.e. that iTunes can get to the drive now but you don’t see in My Computer?
I had that situation too. I followed another suggestion that I’ve seen to resolve. Put the PC to Sleep and then awake it. I can’t remember if I only saw the drive after a reboot or not but that solved the problem for me!
. . . . Brian
April 11, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Hi Brian. Actually iTunes does not see my drive, either. It seems that it became lost to Windows completely after uninstalling iTunes the first time — and reinstalling that and the Gear drivers has not brought it back. Sorry, the ‘sleep’ trick didn’t work, either. 😦
May 19, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Brilliant! I have been on the phone with Apple and they told me that my Nero was conflicting. BLAH!
The REGEDIT workaround with Gear drivers worked like a charm!
Thank you!!!
June 7, 2009 at 1:15 am
Hi All
I was getting the dreaded error so I look up the Registry (as indicated above) but instead of adding a value, I notice that under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} there was an entry for UpperFilter AND an entry for UpperFilters.BAK
I deleted UpperFilters and renamed UpperFilters.Back to UpperFilters then shut down Registry before trying iTunes. It opened normally. So…if you have a backup entry – that might be the solution
July 9, 2009 at 9:25 am
Thank you for your article. I have referenced your post on my blog. Excellent solution.
July 9, 2009 at 10:48 am
Hi ,
I had the same problem. I went to this site —> http://www.gearsoftware.com/support/drivers.cfm
and under downloads heading ……
For 32-bit and 64-bit systems: Driver_Installer_x86_x64.exe 4.010.1 Jun. 10, 2009
Download this and everything is back to normal. 🙂
August 10, 2009 at 4:03 am
Had the same problem; tried everything, the gearsoftware free download did the trick….than you all !
August 17, 2009 at 9:03 am
thanks, this fixed it
August 20, 2009 at 11:14 am
any vista users, with new i phone 3g, had this problem and itunes would not recongnize my phone, downloaded the gearsoftware drivers and all is well……..so far
August 23, 2009 at 2:21 pm
the driver solution worked thanx alot
August 30, 2009 at 10:40 am
Perfect! The problem was the entry name. It somehow got renamed to UpperLimit_1. Even Apple didn’t mention it in their fix. Lava’s suggestion was right on target. Just rename UpperLimit_1 to UpperLimit. That was the issue in my case and I bet most cases. You don’t notice the full name because you are fixated by what you’re suppose to be typing in and hitting the carriage return. Many thanks Lava!
September 16, 2009 at 9:40 pm
The gear software worked for me.
September 20, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Will this effect my itunes library?
October 1, 2009 at 4:26 am
hey mjveteto u r goog that fixed all my probs with itunes i love forums
now i don’t get pissed off about why hasn’t itunes opend, o wait yeah it has that gay message that comes up and now it doesn’t thnks mjveteto
November 1, 2009 at 8:33 am
Rock! Adding the Multi String Value registry key named “UpperFilters” was the fix for me. Thanks Paul Simpson and mjveteto. My iTunes is 8.2.1.6.
November 3, 2009 at 4:46 pm
What is the GEAR text?
November 23, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Thank you so much for this site for providing the solution with that error warning message. The driver solves it.
Its working now! Thanks!
December 3, 2009 at 9:28 pm
Hello. I am having the same issue after installing iTunes on a new hard drive with Windows 7. I spent a lot of time with HP chat because my CD/DVD was not recognized by windows at all. The tech had me remove the upper and lower filters, and all of a sudden my CD/DVD is back, but I get the same message about iTunes registry settings missing to burn CD’c, etc. My question is how do I install the gear drivers, and where? Any help would really be appreciated. Thank you, Cindy
January 2, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Thank you, mjveteto! I was missing the upper filter and that worked perfectly!
January 7, 2010 at 8:11 am
thankyou soooooooo much i had been banging my head against this problem all day. i cannot thank you enough.
January 10, 2010 at 7:33 am
Same issue as Cindy, from Dec 3, 2009. Finally able to recognize DVD CD ROM optical, but I’m unable to make the following error message go away:
Registry settings used by iTunes driviers for importing and burning CDs and DVDs are missing.
There are no upper or lower case filters in my directory.
January 26, 2010 at 1:00 am
I’m using 32-bit Windows 7 Home Premium on a Sony VGN-SZ670n. The only burning software I have installed is iTunes and whatever came on the Sony eSupport Website as drivers for my computer (which I installed after I did a clean upgrade to Win7). My optical drive is a Matshita DVD-RAM UJ-852S ATA drive. I am using the latest version of iTunes which I believe is 9.0.2 or something like that.
I have tried nearly every solution offered. I deleted LowerFilters, created a multi-string value for UpperFilters and remembered to press enter at the end. This, at least, made my optical drive functional– and at this point I am able to import CDs but not burn them within iTunes.
In regard to this solution:
“This step requires that your pc be set up to show extensions for known file types. Which means if you look at any file in your c:\ drive it will show up as afs.sys not just afs. If you don’t see the .sys or .exe or .doc, etc when looking at your files please see TGM post “Showing hidden files, folders and extensions” ( http://techgeekandmore.com/2009/10/24/software-showing-hidden-files-folders-and-extensions-in-windows-vista-and-windows-7/) and follow those steps 1st.
– Once you know you can see the file extensions, open My computer –> C:\ –> Windows –> System32 –> Drivers. In the drivers folder look for a file called afs.sys (There is also one called afd.sys, do not touch that one). If you don’t see afs.sys, then close the Window and restart iTunes.
– If you do see afs.sys, right click it and select rename, and then rename the file to afs.txt. This file (from a company called Oak Technologies) will be there if you have iTunes or Norton Ghost, or Norton 360 (even if you have uninstalled the program). Once you rename that file (notice how I’m saying rename NOT delete). Restart your computer”
I did everything involved but I was unable to find afs.sys at all. Even while iTunes was running.
Finally, I tried this solution:
http://www.gearsoftware.com/wiki/index.php?title=Determining_if_GEARAspi_drivers_are_installed_correctly
Everything looks fine up until the last step. There, it is clear that the drivers exist and are “OK” but for some reason it’s not “Started”. There is no solution on that site listed for how to “Start” them.
Please let me know if you think you can help or if there is anything more I need to tell you. I am lost and really frustrated.
February 1, 2010 at 9:27 am
Hi there.
Thank you for a great post. It was very helpfull.
Anyone reading this post should bookmark this guys contents.
I have a new PC and needed some installation help so i went over to http://www.InstallSoftware.com but they did not provide me with the in depth
info this guy did. he kicks all the bigger sites’ butts.
Thanks Again
February 17, 2010 at 4:35 pm
I am downloading the gear drivers now. i recently updated to itunes 9.0.3. Doing thi sand then rebooting and praying because….I hav eno idea ho wto go to the registry and would need step by step instructions on how to get there. can anyone help me ..once i know how to get there, i think i can follow the above tips. shelly
June 7, 2010 at 12:33 am
hey sipsop, gotta say mate your a champ….
Thanks for the advice regarding the registry edit, for a computer simple person like myself you fixed my problem… cheers again mate and hope you stick with forums helping the blind like me!
August 5, 2010 at 5:27 am
Downloaded the Gear drivers and it solved the problem.
Thank you!
August 20, 2010 at 5:43 am
mjveteto you are a genuine genius. I made a new entry called “UpperFilters” with that information, and now iTunes works. THANKS 🙂
September 2, 2010 at 8:06 am
Gear drivers worked for me, no registry edits needed.
September 4, 2010 at 11:53 am
Thanks for this!
It took me all night to redo my songs, cause the older version erased everything then I thought I would have to do it all over again, after I saw this. 🙂
September 17, 2010 at 9:48 am
Thank you simpsop. Your solution worked finally. I had given up thinking it is my CDROM drive. Thought I was doomed and not be able to burn any CDs. Apple support on this sucks.
December 23, 2010 at 1:21 pm
Same problem – Updated gear drivers – no change.
Regsitry edit fixed the problem.