So you insert a CD or DVD into your CD/DVD drive, and without your knowledge something goes wrong: you can no longer open the drive by pressing its button. Going to "My Computer" and right-clicking on the CD/DVD drive and picking "Eject" doesn't work either. Nor does putting a paper clip through the tiny hole in the front of the drive to force the drive to open. However, even with all of this, you are still capable of navigating the contents of the CD or DVD. This may mean that your drive is "locked."

If your drive is locked, then the solution is simple. There are about two ways to fix this. Due to the fact that the operating system can still navigate the contents of the CD or DVD, we know that the drive is still working. The first, tedious method is to—you guessed it—restart the computer. When it is starting up, attempt to open the drive every now and then until it opens. The best time may be when the drive tries to read from the CD or DVD itself and the green (or whatever color) light is flashing.

A more convenient way is to download a CD/DVD drive locker program. I have come across one that is small and did the job for me. The name of the program is "CD/DVD Drive Locker." It can be downloaded from SoftBureau. Upon running the program, if your drive isn't on the locked list, then lock the drive and unlock it, and you should now be able to open your CD/DVD drive.