Hello everyone,

The other day a client gave me her Windows Vista laptop that was in very bad shape. After a quick diagnosis it was apparent that the machine needed a new hard drive. I popped in a nice new 2.5″ Western Digital drive, inserted my Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade disc (into the CD/DVD ROM drive), rebooted the computer, and we were “off to the races”. This installation was going to be a “snap”.

Not quite!!

After the first two initial screens came up (1: selections for language, time, currency format, and keyboard layout  2: repair a previous installation or “Install Now”), I got the following message:

A required CD/DVD drive device driver is missing. If you have a driver floppy disk, CD, DVD, or USB flash drive, please insert it now.

When I saw this message this is what I did:

1) I hooked up an external USB CD/DVD ROM (like this one) to one of the USB ports,

2) Removed the Vista installation disc from the computers CD/DVD ROM drive,

3) Inserted the Vista installation disc into the external DVD drive ( didn’t have to reboot),

4) Sat back and watched the Vista installation proceed without a hitch! Great stuff!

I’m sure that this same procedure will work with Windows 7 also.

Professor Randy says: Don’t get “bent out of shape” when you see the “A required CD/DVD drive device is missing….” message. Choose the easy way out and continue the installation by inserting the disc into a portable USB external DVD drive.