Why doesn't Parallels see my CD/DVD-ROM drive in Windows XP?

One of the common questions I have seen from people using Parallels is related to how the software "grabs" devices and connects them to the virtual machine. It's not too hard to figure out, but you do have to sort of wrap your mind around the idea that devices aren't automatically associated with the virtual machine in many cases, but you have to actually connect them so that Windows XP "sees" them.

The default configuration, however, should support the CD/DVD-ROM drive on your system so I'm a bit puzzled that you're not seeing it work. Nonetheless, let me show you the basic way to connect a device to WinXP VM:

As you can see, there's a Devices menu and from there you can check on the status of any of a wide variety of USB and other peripherals. My CD/DVD-ROM drive is already connected, but if it weren't then simply choosing "Connect CD/DVD-ROM Drive" would make it available to the Windows XP virtual machine.

To change your configuration so that the CD/DVD-ROM drive is always and automatically linked to your virtual machine, you'll want to choose Edit --> Virtual Machine....

Of course, if you see the following, well, you'll need to actually shut down Windows before you can proceed:

Once you're shut down, you can edit -- and fix -- the configuration:

Notice the choice in the top right under "CD/DVD-ROM Drive 1": Connect at startup. That's what you want to select and then forevermore you'll have the drive connected and accessible from Windows XP within the virtual machine.

Oh, and just about all the Windows screenshots I produce here on AskDaveTaylor are done with Parallels running Windows XP on my MacBook Pro. It's a GREAT application, well worth 5x its price. :-)