More Windows 10 help, this time regarding removable media

Dalboz

Okay, so the fix for Windows 10 eating up my hard drive seems to have helped, but I have another problem that seems like it may have been going on for a while.

Whenever I put removable media in my laptop (blank DVDs, USB thumb drives, Kindle) nothing happens. I can see it in the File Explorer, but I don't get any popups asking me what to do, which I have checked is what Windows is set to do. I can access the USB drive and the Kindle when attached, although the lack of a popup is concerning me.

The reason this is so concerning is that I'm having enormous trouble burning to DVDs. I can usually burn to them, but then have a lot of trouble reading them (the discs are being burned to quite clearly). I'm using fairly high quality JVC discs. I feel this is related to the lack of popups because I had a problem a long time ago with ImgBurn when it was loaded where it would prevent the popup from loading (in WinXP) which would cause the disc to not burn correctly. My belief is that something is preventing these discs and possibly other media from mounting correctly. I have burned the faulty discs using the latest version of ImgBurn. I have also tried burning using Windows itself, but it is complaining that the disc I put in the drive is not valid media and keeps asking for a blank disc. So something's not right.

If it helps, I'm using Windows 10 recently upgraded from Windows 7.
Dell Inspiron N5110
Optiarc DVD +- RW AD-77717H
I'm not running much in the background, as far as I know. The only thing that I can think might interfere might be Avast! (latest version), although out of habit I disable all shields before I start burning.

BlindZenDriver

The pop up is just there to make it a little easier and it not showing either means Windows isn't really recognizing the disc or is for some reason not doing the pop up thing correctly - what ever the reason I don't think that should interfere with the burn process.
To me it sounds like you have a faulty or dirty drive. Try using a cleaning disc to see if that helps.

Shadowfire

Cleaning disc probably won't help, but I'd second the faulty drive thought. Have you tried other discs? Store bought CDs or DVDs, for instance?

Dalboz

I've used both cheap Memorexes and the high-quality JVC discs with the same result. Really hoping it's not a faulty drive and has any easier and cheaper fix. I'll try the cleaning disc when I can get one. Otherwise, I'll be stuck with the slow process of transferring everything to my wife's laptop and burning it there.

Shadowfire

I didn't mean blank media. I meant, have you tried inserting a disc with data and running it? Especially if it was a writable you'd made in the past.