Q: help please - iTunes disc burner or software not found... with full troubleshooting details

In iTunes 11.1.3.8 on my Windows 8 HP Laptop, when trying to "Burn Playlist to Disc", I get the Burn Settings window "E: hp DVD A DS8A9SH", then I select MP3 CD and click "Burn", I unfortunately get the dreaded iTunes "disc burner or software not found...". I think this is the second time this has happened (first time I think a simple reboot fixed it), and I assume because iTunes was updated this issue came back again and I cannot burn MP3 cds anymore because of it!

I've followed all steps outlined in this support article "iTunes for Windows: Optical drive is no longer recognized, or "Disc burner or software not found" alert after install" (http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2308)

Solution 1, no updated firmware was available for dvd drive.

Solution 2, not relevant because those files were not present when I looked for them.

Solution 3, I'm familiar with regedit and did exactly what the step by step instructions told me including rebooting multiple times to completely remove Gear drivers/keys, installing the new Gear driver files with their official setup file "For 32-bit and 64-bit systems:" from http://www.gearsoftware.com/support/drivers.php (and gave another reboot just in case) and opened iTunes at the very end of the entire process.

Still getting the dreaded "disc burner or software not found..." error when trying to burn a playlist to a CD. The weird thing is when I click Burn playlist to a CD, I see the DVD drive "E:  in the next prompt which asks for Data CD/MP3 CD, Audio CD.

So I clicked on Help > Run Diagnostics, selected "CD/DVD Drive tests" only and clicked "Next".

Window says "To begin the test, please insert a prerecorded audio cd..." so I did that and clicked "Next".

Under "Choose an optical drive to test:", the drop-down menu only shows "[Choose a Drive]", no other options. Under "Optical drive:" it says "No drive chosen for testing.", and I click the "Next" button.

Here are the diagnostics output I got:

Microsoft Windows 8 x64 Home Premium Edition (Build 9200)

Hewlett-Packard HP Pavilion g6 Notebook PC

iTunes 11.1.3.8

QuickTime not available

FairPlay 2.5.16

Apple Application Support 2.3.6

iPod Updater Library 11.1f5

CD Driver 2.2.3.0

CD Driver DLL 2.1.3.1

Apple Mobile Device 7.0.0.117

Apple Mobile Device Driver not found.

Bonjour 3.0.0.10 (333.10)

Gracenote SDK 1.9.6.502

Gracenote MusicID 1.9.6.115

Gracenote Submit 1.9.6.143

Gracenote DSP 1.9.6.45

iTunes Serial Number 002AB1700B7C4780

Current user is not an administrator.

The current local date and time is 2014-01-20 18:23:52.

iTunes is not running in safe mode.

WebKit accelerated compositing is enabled.

HDCP is supported.

Core Media is supported.

**** External Plug-ins Information ****

No external plug-ins installed.

iPodService 11.1.3.8 (x64) is currently running.

iTunesHelper 11.1.3.8 is currently running.

Apple Mobile Device service 3.3.0.0 is currently running.

I'm extremely confused as to what to do next. I was thinking I should try reinstalling iTunes but I'm not sure that would even work and I'm so paranoid about installing it correctly and referencing the right existing library files that I'd like to see other suggestions first.

Any help from the community or Apple would be tremendously appreciated and I would be glad to do more testing and provide more details. Thanks!