Windows won't show the CDRom drive in My Computer or Windows Explorer.

This could be because the drive cables are not connected properly or that the drive as failed. Normally you don’t need a driver for Windows, as Windows brings in it’s own CDRom driver although you might need the driver when using the CDRom in DOS (see below).

However, there can be an issue with SCSI CDRoms not working properly using the normal defaults, so that it disappears in My Computer.

This problem was found and fixed by Alan Chow

He double-clicked the CDRom driver in the Device Manager (Start, Settings, Control Panel, System, Device Manager), and in the CDRom properties dialogue box, Settings tab, he unchecked the Disconnect option – which is what you need to do if a SCSI CDRom is not working properly. Well done Alan.

Windows95/98 can't setup or re-install because system says 'Invalid Drive Specification' for CD Rom Drive (usually D Drive)

In DOS, the problem here is not that your CD Rom driver has suddenly gone missing but that your Config.sys file is not calling for it.

On older systems, when a CD Rom was first added to a system using DOS, a CD command was placed in the Config.sys file. However once Win95/98 had received this information and setup the CDRom, it then REM's the command out (puts 'rem by Windows95/98' in front of the Config.sys command - why - because it is not needed for subsequent re-boots of Win95.).

Edit your Config.sys (in DOS, Edit Config.sys) and take out the remark in front of the command, (leaving the command to be used again), reboot and re-install Win95/98 using the CD Rom Drive.

 NOTE: Windows98 will boot from the CDRom and bring in an Oak Technology CDRom driver. To use this facility, set the boot up sequence in your BIOS Setup to 'CDRom' as the first device in the string, or use a Windows98 start up diskette to achieve the same thing. After Windows98 is installed fully, don't forget to put the BIOS Setup boot option setting back to A,C,CDRom.