My dvd/cd drive will play both dvd and cd, will burn on cd but not dvd.
Each time I try to burn on dvd I get a windows error message stating a problem when trying to copy file.

Dvd burners sometimes don't burn all media. Have you tried DVD-R media. Don't use Sony media.

Are you sure it's meant to burn DVDs? I know my laptop has a CDRW/DVDROM drive, which means it will read and write CDs, but only read DVDs and not write them. Usually it will say on the drive itself, on the front of the tray, what the drive is capable of. If you see DVD Rom on it, it probably isn't going to burn any DVDs.

What is the exact error message

Find your device in the device manager and look up the manufacturer's data. It should tell you what media to use.