Life after removing your Mac Book Pro DVD drive, A valid DVD drive could not be found

This year… or was it last year? I can’t remember. I replaced the Hard drive in my Macbook Pro with a Solid State Drive. Like many others, I took the opportunity to use the old Hard Disk to replace my DVD drive (which I though I hardly used). Turns out, I use it more than I think, so I bought an external drive. It’s handy, but of course, nothing is that simple. Because I have no internal drive, I cannot play movies on the external drive through the build in DVD Player.

If this error looks familiar to you, you’re not alone: “There was an initialization error. A valid DVD drive could not be found. [-70012]”

Thankfully, there is a solution.

Step 1: For this to work, you will have to make some changes to the DVDPlayback framework on your Mac. You will need a Hex editor to do that, you can download 0xed for free here.
Step 2: Back up the file /System/Library/Frameworks/DVDPlayback.framework/Versions/A/DVDPlayback by copying it to your desktop, or somewhere else on your computer. This is just an added precaution.
Step 3: Open the file in 0xed.
Step 4: Hit Command + F (Find) or go to EDIT> FIND> FIND, and then type in “Internal” in the top FIND box, and type “External” in the bottom REPLACE box. leave “Ignore case” checked, and then hit REPLACE ALL.
Step 5: Go to File->Save As. Save the file to your desktop careful not to replace the backup copy. Now just drag that file back into the /System/Library/Frameworks/DVDPlayback.framework/Versions/A/ folder, overwriting the old file. (You may have to give your admin password to modify the file).

That’s it!

This worked for me and I hope it saves you some fussing around as well. Took me several months to find this information, so I’m hoping by putting it on my Blog I can help someone else find it more easily.


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13 responses to “Life after removing your Mac Book Pro DVD drive, A valid DVD drive could not be found”

  1. Greg Avatar
    Greg

    Thanks for this works a dream

    Greg

    1. steedancrowe Avatar

      Thanks Greg! I’m glad it helped you.

      1. Katherine Avatar
        Katherine

        I second that—have seen a few different versions of these instructions on the web, but, following to the letter, yours were the only ones that worked. Much gratitude!

  2. Magicman Avatar
    Magicman

    Hi man,

    HexEdit says cant change the content, it is read only.
    What should I do?

    Thanks

    1. steedancrowe Avatar

      Sorry for the late reply, It’s been a busy winter.
      Generally, Mac software will prompt you to enter your credentials to overwrite a read only/protected file. In your case, you can save your version with a new name. Rename the original to DVDPlayback~original and then rename the version you just saved to DVDPlayback. This way you have a backup, and you get around the read only issues.

  3. Aaron Avatar
    Aaron

    THANK YOU! THERE IS LIFE AFTER REMOVING THE DRIVE!

  4. Robert McGuire Avatar

    I’m trying to do these changes, but I’m unable to do: Step 3: Open the file in 0xed. – it doesn’t open.. I’m using Yosimite MacOS

    1. steedancrowe Avatar

      It could be an issue with Oxed on Yosemite. You could try a different Hex editor like: https://www.synalysis.net/

  5. Roberto Colombo Avatar
    Roberto Colombo

    Hi steedancrowe, the procedure works to the point where I have to save the modified file. It saves in a different format (TextEdit) which won’t copy in the original A folder!! I’m using OS X 10.1.6 El Capitan in a Mid 2009 MacBook Pro. Thanks in advance for any help

  6. Roberto Colombo Avatar
    Roberto Colombo

    It’s me again! I managed to modify the DVDPlayback file that is in the same format as the original and I steel can’t drop it in the A folder. I also tried to modify the original file but the changes can’t be saved!

    1. steedancrowe Avatar

      Hi Roberto,
      It’s likely a permissions issue. You may have to use terminal and the cp command with sudo to copy the file to that directory

      1. Mandy Avatar
        Mandy

        Could you give step by step instructions on what you mean by “You may have to use terminal and the cp command with sudo to copy the file to that directory” Thank you.

  7. Christina Avatar
    Christina

    Your instructions were clear and concise, and worked like a charm. Thank you so much!

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