Premiere Elements "burner not recognized" is one of the more frustrating of troubleshooting issues. And, there does not seem to be one answer to this issue when it strikes. Sometimes there is no answer found.
Some of the troubleshooting suggestions that have worked for some and not others have included:
a. burner firmware updates
b. latest version of QuickTime 7 installed on computer with Premiere Elements, and running the programs as administrator (from user account with administrative privileges)....also right clicking the Premiere Elements desktop icon and selecting and applying Run As Administrator.
c. another external or internal burner
d. if Premiere Elements 13/13.1 or 14/14.1, disabling the Hardware Acceleration preference with computers not using the Intel HD Graphics 2000 and higher/newer
e. depending on the Premiere Elements version, use of burn to folder or iso image instead of burn to disc, followed by taking the folder or iso image to disc with a program such as ImgBurn (if Windows)
f. uninstall, then use of the free ccleaner Windows or Mac run through (regular and registry cleaner parts), reinstall with antivirus and firewalls disabled.
g. several how to refresh DVD drivers tutorials (from Microsoft see HERE and from Adobe see HERE)
h. change the drive letter for the burner drive.
i. when indicated, System Restore.
j. new user account with administrative privileges.
ISSUE
After downloading and installing an online free virtual DVD/CD/Blu-ray drive to Windows 10 64 bit, Premiere Elements 14/14.1 and 13/13.1 on that computer would not recognize the DVD/CD burners (external and internal) for the choice of Export & Share/Disc/DVD (DVD-VIDEO on DVD disc), but no problem for Export & Share/Disc/AVCHD (AVCHD on DVD disc). At the same time, those DVD/CD burners were recognized by Windows Explorer.
Extensive troubleshooting followed which resulted in "worse" rather than solution after applying the possible remedies mentioned above and more. It got so bad that now burner was not recognized by Windows Explorer as well as Premiere Elements (14/14.1 and 13/13.1). Without no apparent alternatives, it was decided to take the Windows 10 64 bit computer back to factory settings (Windows 8.0 64 bit). No improvement. Then this computer was upgraded to Windows 8.1 64 bit. No Improvement.
SOLUTION
In this particular case, burner recognition for Premiere Elements and Windows Explorer came only after setting "System" permissions related to "Royalty Activation" which is required according to Adobe for "MPEG files import, DVD burn, etc.".
This was done by navigating to the Common Folder in the following path.
In Windows 7, 8, 8.1, or 10 64 bit
Local Disk C\Program Data\Adobe\Common\Adobe\ARA\
The Common Folder was right clicked to bring up its Properties/Security Tab. Under the Security Tab, Edit was selected, and "System" permissions assigned as shown in Figure 1.
 |
| Figure 1. "Royalty Activation" Issue/Common Folder Security Permissions Settings. |
COMMENTARY
The solution for this "burner not recognized" was suggested from
- The earlier Premiere Elements 10 Adobe document "Adobe Premiere Elements Help/Premiere Elements incidates an error occurred during startup"
- As well as the more recent supposedly Premiere Elements 14/14.1 Mac Only issue of Royalty Activation which was resolved by targeting the Common Folder permissions. See HERE for full details including for creating a Common Folder for use in resolving the issue when there is no Common Folder found.
_______________________________________________________________________________
ATR
