is there a way to disable DVD Eject button?

[ibmford]

I keep on pushing the eject button, I tried disabling the DVD drive in device manager, but did not help.

Is there a way to disable it eject button so the tray doesn't pop open.

[Serge1410]

hey ibmford,

there isn't away to disable the physical eject button. I have done what you did and disabled my optical drive via the device manager and it will still eject if i press the button.

[BenG83]

There should be a way in software to "lock" the drive, it happens automagically when running Linux and the disc is mounted, so you are not able to eject the disc by accident. I think this even is/was part of the ATAPI/ASAPI spec and there should be tools available for Win32/64 somewhere as well... for example:

http://www.pctips3000.com/lock-your-cddvd-with-cdrom-lock/

http://sourceforge.net/projects/cdrom-lock/

Ah, there it is, ATAPI Spec:

.... "There is a need to support a removable Device protocol that allows the Device to send a request to the Host to unlock
and/ or Eject the media. There is already an existing methodology that provides this capability in ATA. The device-
requested eject is performed by setting the MCR bit in the Error Register and issuing an Error status to the Host (ERR
bit in the Status Register) for all subsequent DOOR LOCK commands. The Host would then issue an ACKNOWL-
EDGE MEDIA CHANGE command to indicate that it will perform the Unlock / Eject sequence. The SCSI PREVENT/
ALLOW MEDIUM REMOVAL command only allows the host to “Prevent” the user from removing the media and not
to signal when the user needs to remove the media. As such both the ATA and Packet (ATAPI) versions of the com-
mands will be supported. When the ATA Door Lock is used, only the MCR bit will be presented to the host, which can
then poll for this condition. When the Packet commands are used the MCR / Door Lock sequence will not be used. The
Door Lock / Unlock command is optional, but if the MCR bit is set by the device, it shall be supported
...."

My DVD III drive which came with the W520 definitely has the DOOR LOCK command:

enjamin@blackswan /proc/sys/dev/cdrom $ cat info 
CD-ROM information, Id: cdrom.c 3.20 2003/12/17

drive name:		sr0
drive speed:		24
drive # of slots:	1
Can close tray:		1
Can open tray:		1
Can lock tray:		1
Can change speed:	1
Can select disk:	0
Can read multisession:	1
Can read MCN:		1
Reports media changed:	1
Can play audio:		1
Can write CD-R:		1
Can write CD-RW:	1
Can read DVD:		1
Can write DVD-R:	1
Can write DVD-RAM:	1
Can read MRW:		1
Can write MRW:		1
Can write RAM:		1

[ColonelONeill]

Cool! Works for me on my T400. It wants MSINET.OCX though, but that can be obtained off of various sites.

[ibmford]

Also, there are 3rd party software like CDLock.exe or CDROM-Lock, etc... but it looks like all of them have to "mount" the drive. I posted another thread complaining about "parasitic background writes to SDD drive" when DVD drive is mounted. So, to disable the eject button, a software makes the drive "busy" to prevent eject. But, it results in SSD writes because DVD drive is mounted. Anyhow, life is funny in strange ways.

[ColonelONeill]

The above lock tool doesn't look like it's generating any writes for me. It loses the lock after the drive powers down though.

[todm]

Wont work for me, I reistered msinet.ocx after download but then I get out of bounds errors in Win 7

Frustrating

[todm]

I found something that worked!  It is called Toddler Keys.   It runs in the systray and you can configure it to only lock the DVD drive if you wish

http://tk.ms11.net/

Right click it inthe systray to configure it.

I am using it now because of this embarssing placement of the eject button on my T420

[Vexidus]

---

todm wrote:

I found something that worked!  It is called Toddler Keys.   It runs in the systray and you can configure it to only lock the DVD drive if you wish

http://tk.ms11.net/

Right click it inthe systray to configure it.

I am using it now because of this embarssing placement of the eject button on my T420

---

Wow, thank you for this! My T420 hasn't arrived in the mail yet, but I expect this to be an issue, as I often use the laptop on the couch and in the bed. 

[todm]

It is a HUGE issue!  I was at the point of wishing I had bought anything other than a T series when it is all I have used for the past 15 years.

Put Toddler Keys in your startup; you can right click the icon in the taskbar to unlock the DVD drive when needed