Eject or close CD/DVD Tray using Hotkey, Shortcut or Freeware (2024)

While there is a button on the CD/DVD tray to let you eject a DVD or CD, many people prefer using the keyboard or a simple click to eject the DVD. It could be because sometimes it is inconvenient as the DVD door may not be on the front, and using the button might involve searching for the button. And then, at times, the physical button may not work correctly. Moreover, controlling the DVD tray using a keyboard or mouse is faster.

Eject or close CD/DVD Tray

Some people create custom VBScripts for a sequence of tasks. Calling a third party enables such people to eject DVD/CD trays without performing any manual task. Whatever be your reason, check out the following ways to eject the DVD or close it using a keyboard or mouse.

1] Using Door Control to open DVD Tray

Door Control is lightweight freeware that lets you eject the DVD door/tray using a simple mouse click. When you install Door Control, you get an icon in the Windows System Tray. Whenever you wish to eject the DVD tray, click on the icon.

You can also configure hotkeys using Door Control if you prefer the keyboard over the mouse. You can have both mice and hotkeys. If you are using a mouse, you can click the System Tray icon. You can press the hotkey when on keyboard gaming or doing anything else.

To set up the hotkeys, right-click on the Door Control icon. It will open a small window containing three keys: F11, Home, and F8 keys. You need to select one of them and click OK, as shown in the image above. Once set, you can use it any time you wish. Just make sure you have selected the option to start Door Control with Windows. The software works well with all versions of Windows, including Windows 11/10. You can download Door Control from the Digital website.

2] WinEject will eject or close DVD tray using Hotkeys and Mouse

Though WinEject claims to close the DVD drive tray, I could not get it to work for closing the tray. It does eject DVD using a keyboard and mouse click. The third-party software works the same way as the above one. It ejects the DVD tray when you click its icon in the Windows System Tray. The application site says it also closes the door – both manually and automatically, but I could not get this function working on my computer.

You can also set up Hotkeys to use for opening the DVD door. Unlike Door Control which gives you the option of selected keys only, you can choose any hotkey of your choice in WinEject.

Open the Settings by right-clicking on the System Tray icon of WinEject and then go to the Hotkeys tab. There, place the cursor in the hotkey selection textbox, and press the key combination you wish to use for ejecting the DVD. Then click OK and close the Settings dialog. After setting up the Hotkey, you can use it to open the door. You can also set up auto close CD door under Settings -> General. You have to specify the number of seconds to wait before the door auto closes. Download WinEject here.

3] Close CD/DVD tray using the command line

You can use the NirCmd.exe program from Nirsoft for a number of tasks, including opening and closing the DVD tray/door. You will have to run a command-line command each time you wish to open or close the CD door.

4] NirCmd can add Open & Close CD/DVD Tray to Context Menu

A better method is to download NirSoft NirCmd.exe and copy it to the Windows folder. Then create a shortcut that you can double click to run the commands. You can create a shortcut to eject the DVD tray and a shortcut to close the DVD door. To create a shortcut:

1. Right-click on the desktop
2. Select New -> Shortcut
3. In the text box that appears, type: C:\Windows\nircmd.exe cdrom open <CD drive letter:> and click Next. For instance, if your DVD is drive H, you will have to type C:\Windows\NirCmd.exe cdrom open H: and click Next.
4. Give a name to the shortcut and click OK to close the shortcut wizard
5. Whenever you feel like opening the DVD door, press Windows Key + D to minimize all windows and then double click on the shortcut you created on the desktop

You can also create a shortcut to close the DVD door. The method is the same as above. Just use cdrom close in the command-line highlighted in step 3. You can download NirCmd.exe from the NirSoft website.

Wizmo, FGS CD Open Close, and EjectCD are some other essential tools that will create an Open or Close shortcut on your desktop for your CD/DVD Tray.

See this post if your Optical drive tray will not open. It offers tips on opening a stuck CD, DVD, Optical Drive Tray of your computer, including using a third-party tool called Tray Control.

What happens if you unplug a CD/DVD Drive while ejecting?

Nothing. The tray will abruptly stop, and it won’t be easy to take out the CD or the DVD. If the computer suddenly shuts down while ejecting or closing the drive, it’s best to turn it on and then take the media out of the tray. If your computer is dead, I suggest connecting to another PC or getting a convertor that can plug the drive into a USB port and then properly eject the tray.