Hello. I didn't know this forum existed separate from Linux.org where I get pretentious feedback. I installed Ubuntu 20.04 on my Dell Latitude E6430 and it is smooth. The only problem is Linux doesn't see my DVD drive. I loaded VLC media player and my USB port works great and for eject, but nothing for the DVD drive. I want to watch movies from RedBox and I am of the belief this has to do with codecs and I am stuck right about there. And maybe this is not about codecs, too, because I set my "Removable Media" to "open folder" instead of VLC and get no reaction. I can play audio from my harddrive. Any comments are appreciated. Thank you kindly.

Does your DVD drive function correctly with just data on it rather than videos?
You say your usb port works, does that mean you can watch videos from the usb?
Do you have the Open Disc option selected in VLC from the Media tab?

Not sure what you are referring to or how you did that?

Hello yancek. Thank you for responding. I don't know if a data disc can be read as I have none. I set the DVD to be bootable in the BIOS and I hear it spin when I turn the laptop on. FYI, I bought this DVD separate and installed it and I never tried to use it in Ubuntu because I was using my USB. There is no indication of the DVD player in the Files cabinet. The laptop is a Dell E6430. When I attempted to open the DVD in VLC, I got the error messages of Playback failure, DVDRead could not open the disc "/dev/sr0", your input can't be opened, VLC is unable to open the MRL "dvd:///dev/sr0", Check the log for details. I haven't found the log yet. I found /dev/sr0. In VLC, selecting Discs for Devices for playlist does not show anything/is blank. The DVD will not spin.

I said that I set my Removable Media in Settings to Open Folder. What this means is that when I pop in a DVD, the open folder box pops up...or should.

Hello again. I went to linux.hardware.org and there was a big error message regarding IP address. I tried to contact the webmaster and it was returned undiveracle. I do know that the BIOS is trying to boot from the DVD drive but Ubuntu doesn't see it and this is not a new laptop. There is a newer version.of Ubuntu 20.04 out and I just bought it from eBay on DVD. Do you have any information on this please?