How to automatically add a shortcut for removable media on Windows desktop, like some Linux distros? [duplicate]
Solution 1:
In Windows 7 (and I assume this works in XP) you can place a shortcut on your desktop to the CDROM drive; the downside is that this icon doesn't update when you insert a drive (but it does allow direct access to the drive).
You could also consider the DeskDrive tool - I haven't tried it, but it looks like it will do what you want. It's also more dynamic than the native shortcut method.