text: how do i get my dvd to read? every time i put in my dvd, it says there is nothing inserted in my computer.  how do i get it to read??? do you have your hardware specs? first you need a dvd-rom (or rw) drive. also with that you should have recieved a dvd decoding program to watch video dvds (like powerdvd).  if you have all of that, its most likely that windows isn't recognising your drive as a dvd reader. you can check this by entering your control panel, opening the system information, going to the hardware tab and selecting device manager, if the only device listed is marked as a cd reader (or rw) windows doesn't have the right drivers for your dvd player.