---
lang: en
layout: doc
permalink: /doc/how-to-use-optical-discs/
redirect_from:
- /doc/optical-discs/
- /doc/recording-optical-discs/
- /en/doc/recording-optical-discs/
ref: 204
title: How to use optical discs
---

Passthrough reading and recording (a.k.a., "burning") are not supported by Xen.
Currently, the only options for reading and recording optical discs (e.g., CDs, DVDs, BRDs) in Qubes are:

 1. Use a USB optical drive.
 2. Attach a SATA optical drive to a secondary SATA controller, then assign this secondary SATA controller to a VM.
 3. Use a SATA optical drive attached to dom0.
    (**Caution:** This option is [potentially dangerous](https://github.com/Qubes-Community/Contents/blob/master/docs/security/security-guidelines.md#dom0-precautions).)

To access an optical disc via USB follow the [typical procedure for attaching a USB device](/doc/how-to-use-usb-devices/#with-the-command-line-tool), then check with the **Qubes Devices** widget to see what device in the target qube the USB optical drive was attached to.
Typically this would be `sr0`.
For example, if `sys-usb` has device `3-2` attached to the `work` qube's `sr0`, you would mount it with `mount /dev/sr0 /mnt/removable`.
You could also write to a disc with `wodim -v dev=/dev/sr0 -eject /home/user/Qubes.iso`.