You can add a shortcut to the desktop which ejects the CD/DVD drive. From that you can establish a keyboard shortcut for ejecting CDs and DVDs. There are various ways you can do that such as using the NirCmd command-line utility.

Check out this website to add the NirCmd software to any version of Windows. At the bottom of that page there is a Download NirCmd option which when selected saves the software as a Zip file. As such, you should right-click the Zip file and select Extract All. Then choose a folder to extract the software to and click Extract.

Right-click the Windows desktop, select New and Shortcut to open the window in the shot below. It is there that you should input: “C:\path\to\nircmd.exe” cdrom open D:. Of course, you will have to modify that to include the folder location you installed NirCmd to, and you might also have to adjust the drive letter so that it matches your disc drive. Click Next and enter a title for the shortcut.

Then you should have a shortcut on the desktop as in the shot below. Click on the shortcut to open the CD/DVD drive. You can add an icon to it by right-clicking the shortcut, selecting Properties and then Change Icon. Then pick a suitable icon for the desktop shortcut.

You can also add a keyboard shortcut from the shortcut’s properties window. Note the Shortcut key text box on the window, and enter a suitable shortcut key for it such as Ctrl + Alt + E. Click Apply > OK to close the window, and then press the shortcut key to eject a CD/DVD.

So now you have a both a desktop shortcut and keyboard shortcut that ejects CDs and DVDs. It’s a great shortcut to have on the Windows desktop. There’s plenty more that you can do with the NirCmd command-line utility as well.