How do I burn a CD using Windows XP?

In the old days, you used to have to have special software to burn information to a CD. With Windows XP, this functionality is built right into the operating system. When you first insert a blank CD-R into your drive, Windows will ask you if you wnt to open a writable CD folder.



Select "Open writable CD folder using Windows Explorer" and then check the box at the bottom that says "Always do the selected action" so you don't have to deal with this again. A new folder will open.




Now, with this writable CD folder open, you can drag and drop files and folders to it. Windows stores these files in a temporary folder on your hard drive until it's time to burn the CD - this way you can change your mind and remove or edit files before actually writing them to disc.

When you're ready to burn the CD, just click Write these files to CD in the task bar to the left.



The CD Writing Wizard opens up and prompts you for a label for the CD. Click next and the wizard continues to burn the CD.



Now, for you more advanced users, if you right-click on your CD-R drive in My Computer or Windows Explorer, select Properties, and go to the Recording tab, you'll see some advanced options, such as whether or not to enable recording on this drive, where you want your CD image (temp folder) to be located, what write speed to use (slow it down if you're having problems burning), and whether or not to eject the CD after use.




hope this helps