No, I'm not trying to pirate anything. I have a CD-RW that I use on a Dell XP/Pro machine at work. I copy files to the CD by simple cut-pasting. Works great. I take the same CD-RW home and copy the files onto my laptop.

But, I can't copy files from my laptop onto the CD-RW. It tells me the "format" is wrong for CD writing. Now, my Dell at work has never argued with me over CD burning, but my laptop has.

Laptop is Sony PCGFX XP/home. I think it uses "Roxo" to burn the CDs I've tried to burn - whatever the hell that is. Why can't it just treat it like a disk like my CPU at work does? What gives? Sony is pretty media-oriented in its makes of CPU, so WTF? Any help appreciated.

<font color="cadetblue">Are you using a DirectCd formatted cd?</font>

Uninstall this Roxo software - XP has its own (poor, but functional) CD-burning built in. It should autodetect a CD-RW or CD_R and let you burn to it through explorer.

The Roxo software came pre-installed, and I am loathe to monkey with it. Can't I circumvent it by using something akin to the "open using..." function?

I do not know what DirectCD format is.

Hmm - try right clicking on your CD-ROM and exploring it. That way Roxo shoudnt kick in. Does anyone know how to monkey with XPs advanced autorun stuff?

Oh, I've got the autorun thing under control - it's not a problem here. Autorun just opens it like any other disk - exploring. But, it's the CD burning function that's the problem. I actually *want* to use the XP stuff rather than Roxo.

Then, since XP is sufficient for all (legal) burning, you can safely uninstall Roxo.

Of course if your legally burning a protected disc (under the one personal backup rule), youll have to get something more sophisticated, but this isnt the kind of thing to discuss here.

Sine Roxo is either taking over all burning, or being invoked for all burning, I dont think youll be able to work around it.

Find out what software you are using at work and install that on your laptop, or vice versa. Sounds like you're using directcd, though I could be wrong.