In this tutorial I will show you how to burn your files on a CD or DVD, using only Windows Vista's built-in tools. In order to write a CD or DVD you must have an optical disc drive capable of burning such storage media. If you double click on the Computer icon from your desktop, these drives are listed as CD RW Drive or DVD RW Drive. If you have an appropriate drive, then you need blank CDs or DVDs on which to burn your files. If you have those as well, just follow these instructions:

First, take a blank CD or DVD and insert it into your CD RW or DVD RW optical disc drive.

After a few seconds the AutoPlay menu should pop-up. Depending on your configuration, you will have several options available. Click on 'Burn files to disc using Windows'.

If the AutoPlay menu does not show up, you can right click on the drive containing the writable CD or DVD and then select Open AutoPlay.

The 'Burn a Disc' wizard will now start. Type the disc title and click on the 'Show formatting options' arrow.

Now you can choose the format of your disc. If you choose Live File System, you can copy files to the disc at any time, instead of burning them all at once. This option is recommended if you want to burn files that occupy less space than the disc capacity. This way, you can add other files at a later time until you fill all the available space on your CD or DVD.

If you choose Mastered, you won't be able to add files to the disc at a later time, even though there is some free space left. Also, discs created using this format are more likely to be compatible with older computers and operating systems.

Once you have decided on the format click on Next. A new window will appear, asking you to drag files to this folder to add them to the disc.

Open another Computer window or Windows Explorer and go to the location of the files you want to burn. Select them and, with the left mouse button pressed, drag them to the previous window.

After you have dragged all the files you want to burn, click on the Burn to disc button.

Choose the recording speed and check the option that says 'Close the wizard after the files have been written'. If you want to, you can also change the disc title. When finished, click on Next.

The burning process will now start. Wait until the progress bar reaches its end and the CD or DVD is ejected from the optical disc drive unit. Depending on your system and the amount of files burned, the burning process can take from a few seconds up to several minutes.

Related articles:
How to burn a Video DVD using Windows DVD Maker
How to burn an Audio CD

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