I have a Creative CD-RW. Normally when I place a music CD in the drive, it would automatically bring up Windows Media Player as that is my default for this function, which is fine. However something got messed up just recently such that now it no longer brings up the player to begins to play. Instead I now get an error type box labeled Desktop at the top and within says "Access to the specified device, path, or file is denied." If I go to the D drive in My Computer, it shows "Audio CD" and if I right click to get the menu, the top one of which is "Play", when I click on play, I get another box labeled "Program not found" and within says "Windows cannot find Program.exe. This program is needed for opening files of type 'Audio CD'". It also has an active address bar for me to type in the location of the program for it to find. The problem is that I cannot find any file named that on the computer or on any of the O.S. Win2000 discs. Nor can I find it on the device (CD drive) disc. Tried re-installing it's drivers. Tried re-designating WinMedia Player as the default program, all to no avail. Somehow, it seems that the path has gotten messed up and it is now pointing to the desktop or something. I could really use some help with some insight as to what has happened and how to repair it.
Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Try poking around in your Event Viewer. Sounds like a service isn't kicking in....