How to Burn a CD or DVD in Windows 11
Even though most people use cloud storage or USB drives today, you can still burn files onto a CD or DVD using Windows 11. This is a great way to create a physical backup of your important files.
Why do this? Burning a disc creates a permanent, offline copy of your data that you can keep safe or share with others.
What happens when done? Your files are permanently written to the disc, and you will have a physical copy that you can play or open on other compatible computers.
What you need
You need a computer with a disc drive that can write (burn) data. You also need a blank disc. You can use a CD-R or DVD-R (which cannot be erased once written) or a CD-RW or DVD-RW (which can be erased and reused).
Steps to burn a disc
- Insert your blank disc into your computer’s disc drive.
- Windows will show a “Burn a Disc” window. automatically initiate when you insert a blank recordable CD or DVD into your optical drive
- Choose how you want to use the disc:
- Like a USB flash drive: This lets you add, change, or remove files on the disc whenever you want.
- With a CD/DVD player: This is the traditional way to create a “mastered” disc. Files are held in a temporary folder until you are ready to burn them. You can click Burn in File Explorer to finish.
- Click Next.
- A File Explorer window will open for your disc. Drag and drop the files you want to save into this window.
- Once you have added all your files, look for the Burn button or command in the File Explorer menu bar to start the process.
- Wait for the computer to finish writing the data. When it is done, click Finish.
Note: If you need to access system settings to manage your drive, some advanced commands may require admin privileges. For example, checking drive status via command line might require you to run the prompt as an administrator.
C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exeSummary
- Burning a disc is a simple way to back up your files offline.
- You must choose between “USB mode” (flexible) or “CD/DVD player mode” (traditional).
- Make sure you have the correct type of blank disc for your needs.
- The process is handled entirely within Windows File Explorer.
Was this guide helpful?
When inserting a blank DVD+RW disc, the “Burn a Disc” window does not appear.
after dragging the files to new disc, the window shows a list of the files with a top header which says, “Files Ready to Be Written to the Disc,” but i can’t find a way to complete the process!
additionally, there is no “You have successfully burned your files to the disc” pop-up window.
after the files are copied [in spirit, i’m guessing,] a new explorer window opens with the ‘…ready to be…” message.
Yup, this doesn’t seem to work. Bad advice, but what do you expect from Windows?
My old faithful dell died at 14 years old so I bought the new dell Enspirion 3880 window 11 and it sucks! It’s not an update, they changed the whole program! Yes, I also tried these “how to burn instructions” with the same results as the above consumers. I’ve been disappointed with this since the day I got it. I’ve decided since being extremely happy with my iPhones for the last 12 years, guess it’s time to switch to APPLE for my office needs…I’ll be donating this piece of crap.
PS I wrote this on my wonderful iPad 🙂
There is no burn to disk option after dragging the files over and following the instructions. And the author hasn’t updated it. I have Windows 11. Rather useless article.
As it doesn’t show in this article the “Burn to disk” option, I found it here:
https://www.simplified.guide/microsoft-windows/burn-iso-image
After dragging the files over to the DVD drive, in the Windows Explorer window you’ll see a button of 3 black dots at the top right of the Eject button. In there is “Burn to disc”.
this only words for data DVD’s not video DVD’s i.e ones that work on a standalone DVD player, which is mostly used in installations in art
Yes I am 75 years old and I like CD’s but unable to do so. I just may have to get a refurbished older computer or do you think if I purchased a cd burner software like Nero or something like that will work with windows 11. Windows 11 the biggest mistake I ever made.