Virtual CD/DVD Drive

D

dreamwriter

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 22, 2018
Messages
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A game, for which I have all the discs, will not play on one of my laptops, which has no CD drive. I understand that I can create a virtual CD/DVD drive, to which I can copy Disc one, and that will allow the game to run. The problem is that most of the virtual drives I've found are questionable, or download from questionable sites. Does anyone know of a reputable one for Windows 10?
 
If you have Windows 10 you can right click on a CD/DVD image and mount it without the need for additional software. If you're not on W10, WinCDEmu is still the best (open source, lightweight). Daemon Tools is good if you have a lot of images you need to manage, and a personal license is only $9.
 
I miss my DVD drive from my case was using a PS3 for a DVD player for a while boxed it up I want a external USB disk plug and play drive but alot of them are sketchy.
 
My Windows 10 machine has the DVD drive, but my Windows 7 machine does not.

Daemon Tools was mentioned quite often, but many refer to it as unsafe. So I might give WinCDEmu a try.

Should I make a disk image on my 10 machine, copy it to a USB flash drive, and then mount it on WinCDEmu?
 
If I go to the DVD icon in This PC in Windows 10 and right ckick, I see copy disc, Will that create an image?
 
dreamwriter said:
My Windows 10 machine has the DVD drive, but my Windows 7 machine does not.

Daemon Tools was mentioned quite often, but many refer to it as unsafe. So I might give WinCDEmu a try.

Should I make a disk image on my 10 machine, copy it to a USB flash drive, and then mount it on WinCDEmu?
Click to expand...

Not sure how Daemon Tools is considered unsafe. Never ever had any issues with many years of usage. o_O
 
dreamwriter said:
If I go to the DVD icon in This PC in Windows 10 and right ckick, I see copy disc, Will that create an image?
Click to expand...
I'm not aware of a "Copy disc" option in Windows 10. It may have been added by another program you installed. Can you take a screenshot of it?

Regardless, WinCDEmu can also create images from discs. After installing, it will add an option in the right-click context menu to create an ISO from the disc inserted in an optical drive.
 
So, I installed WinCDEmu on my Windows 10 machines, make an image, copy it to my flash drive, then install WinCDEmu on my Windows 7 machine, and use it as a virtuak drive?

How do I handle the image with the virtual drive?

Thanks!
 
dreamwriter said:
So, I installed WinCDEmu on my Windows 10 machines, make an image, copy it to my flash drive, then install WinCDEmu on my Windows 7 machine, and use it as a virtuak drive?

How do I handle the image with the virtual drive?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
With WinCDEmu installed a context menu option will be added when you right-click on an image (Select drive letter & mount). When you mount the image it will appear just like a physical drive in Explorer. You can see the files, navigate the folder structure, and execute files. For games that require the disc for a disc check, just mounting the image to a virtual drive should be enough.
 
I uninstalled the previous installation of the game, which I'd done with a simple copy of the disc via USB flash. It wouldn't run anyway, with wincdwmu.

Then I right clicking on the image, and the context menu gave me the option to name the new virtual drive, which I named E.
Then I installed the game from the virtual drive, but got the following error message near the end of installation.

The following error occurred on the file E:\system\assassinscreed_launcher.theexe

data error (cyclic redundancy check).

(0x17)

I would appreciate any light that can be shed on this problem.

Thanks.
 
Is there any way to check the integrity of the ISO? I createdi it yesterday, without apparent error, using wincdemu.
 
Maybe it's the drive you put the ISO on itself? I would think most ISO creation programs could verify the image after creation, during the process.
 
I also believes that image creation software confirms file integrity,

I ran check disk on Drive D: and there were no errors.
 
I use Virtual Clonedrive, (link) it's free and works on all the windows OSs. Been using it for more then a decade.

That said, many disc based PC games have some kind of DRM on the disc which prevented it from being ripped/mounted in the way you describe, it would throw an error unless the software you were using to mount could emulate or bypass the DRM. (One of the reasons Daemon Tools got popular back in the day of CDs/DVDs).

Many people in your position would just download a cracked/pirated copy of the game as you already own it. The legality of this varies from country to country, I believe some countries legally allow you to have a digital backup of physical games you own.
 
Does Virtual Clonedrive or the present iteration of Daemon Tools overcome the DRM issue?

I've shied away from cracked versions even though I've always owned the discs because the web sites you download them from seem to have horrible reputations, and, as evidenced by other people's experience, carry a risk of serious infection.

It was for the same reason that I was hesitant to download Daemon Tools.

But I think you're right about my issue.
 
dreamwriter said:
Does Virtual Clonedrive or the present iteration of Daemon Tools overcome the DRM issue?

I've shied away from cracked versions even though I've always owned the discs because the web sites you download them from seem to have horrible reputations, and, as evidenced by other people's experience, carry a risk of serious infection.

It was for the same reason that I was hesitant to download Daemon Tools.

But I think you're right about my issue.
Click to expand...

How about going with the legit versions? Warez is no basis for how software is supposed to work & using cloned discs is actually working with the DRM instead of circumventing it.

I only recommend cracks if the DRM prohibits you as a legal licensee of the software from playing the games properly. Lacking a good internet connection can be a great use case for such.
 
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I'm not sure I understand your post, particularly when you say "why don't you use the legit version."

The problem is, my second laptop has a second hard drive rather than an optical disk. So I can't insert the game disc, which is asked for when the game launched. So my question remains, will Daemon Tools (which I see has a legitimate website, with several paid versions) handle the DRM issue which is the probable consequence of using the image I created with wincdemu?

The funny thing is, originally when I had the game disc in my Windows 10 machine, right clicked on the drive icon, made a copy, put that on my flash drive, I was able to install that copy on the Windows 7 machine, and install the game without any error, including the redundancy. But when I launch the game, I was asked to insert the disc.

Puzzling. I was hoping to avoid buying an external optical drive.
 
If there on the same network can you fool windows by installing it from your W10 machine shared DVD drive ?
And thus if it prompts for you to insert the disc it should work with the networked device and btw it does not have to be the real DVD drive it can be the "device" you are using that just uses the iso.
 
dreamwriter said:
I'm not sure I understand your post, particularly when you say "why don't you use the legit version."

The problem is, my second laptop has a second hard drive rather than an optical disk. So I can't insert the game disc, which is asked for when the game launched. So my question remains, will Daemon Tools (which I see has a legitimate website, with several paid versions) handle the DRM issue which is the probable consequence of using the image I created with wincdemu?

The funny thing is, originally when I had the game disc in my Windows 10 machine, right clicked on the drive icon, made a copy, put that on my flash drive, I was able to install that copy on the Windows 7 machine, and install the game without any error, including the redundancy. But when I launch the game, I was asked to insert the disc.

Puzzling. I was hoping to avoid buying an external optical drive.
Click to expand...

Difference is that the DRM works fine on Windows 7 vs 10. You may not be able to play the game on Windows 10 without a crack. No joke since this is a known issue with some of the older DRM implementations like SecuROM.
 
dreamwriter said:
A game, for which I have all the discs, will not play on one of my laptops, which has no CD drive. I understand that I can create a virtual CD/DVD drive, to which I can copy Disc one, and that will allow the game to run. The problem is that most of the virtual drives I've found are questionable, or download from questionable sites. Does anyone know of a reputable one for Windows 10?
Click to expand...
If this game is on Steam, you may be able to activate the key on steam and then download and play it as a digital version.
 
I would try Daemon tools* first and if that doesn't work I'd try Alcohol 120%(I think there's a free or trial version but can't recall).

It's been years since I've downloaded any cracks but GameCopyWorld was always the best safe place to find clean cracks even if it looks sketchy as hell, I would imagine it's still a good place but I would probably do a couple quick google searches to make sure it hasn't changed.


*The free version should do all that you need but make sure you opt out of the search bar or adware crap they try to sneak in, that's probably why some people consider it sketchy unless there's also infected versions floating around.
 
Both Daemon Tools and Alcohol 120% are legit. I think they just have shaky reputations because they're associated with GCW and cracks. I haven't used any of those in years. The "mount" function in Windows has worked fine for all of the old games I made ISO's for.
 
The idea of setting up and networked homegroup seems an attractive solution, but I can't figure out how to do it. All of the online instructions seem not to describe what I see when I go into networking, sharing, etc. One expert will say open a particular window, and look for " homegroup" in the lower left corner, or over on the right side of the window, but nothing seems to correspond to my Windows 10 Professional installation!

Both of my computers are working off the same WiFi. I'm looking for step by step instructions that are really step by step.
 
You can get external USB DVD-RW drives for peanuts nowadays & could be the simple answer to your issue.
 
I may have to do as you say, but I'd like to avoid buying more hardware, unless it was a reasonably priced Bluray.

Apparently the reason I couldn't create a homegroup is because the latest updates of Windows 10 Professional removed the capability of doing so! The inscrutable ways of Microsoft…
 
So I'm trying out Daemon Tools, two days remaining in my trial. I made what's called an MDX image of Assassins Creed, transferred it to my Windows 7 laptop, and hoped that wincdemu would mount it and open it. No such luck

I don't see how Daemon Tools can make an image that is virtually mountable. Do I need to install Daemon Tools on my Windows 7 machine to open and mount it?
 
dreamwriter said:
So I'm trying out Daemon Tools, two days remaining in my trial. I made what's called an MDX image of Assassins Creed, transferred it to my Windows 7 laptop, and hoped that wincdemu would mount it and open it. No such luck

I don't see how Daemon Tools can make an image that is virtually mountable. Do I need to install Daemon Tools on my Windows 7 machine to open and mount it?
Click to expand...
Yes. Daemon Tools can be used to make a virtual drive, on which you can mount disc images.
 
So I installed Daemon Tools on my Windows 7 machine, was able to mount the Assassin's Creed MDX image file, and successfully install the game. However, when I hit play I get a message to insert the CD-ROM disc. Apparently Daemon Tools cannot emulate the actual presence of the disc.
 
dreamwriter said:
So I installed Daemon Tools on my Windows 7 machine, was able to mount the Assassin's Creed MDX image file, and successfully install the game. However, when I hit play I get a message to insert the CD-ROM disc. Apparently Daemon Tools cannot emulate the actual presence of the disc.
Click to expand...
You're hitting whatever DRM software is protecting the disk. Not the fault of DT.

This is a lot of work to avoid buying a 20 dollar usb drive.
 
You've got blame on the mind. I'm not blaming Daemon Tools. I like Daemon Tools. Daemon Tools is my friend. It would've been an elegant solution and have given me more imaging options. Plus, no clutter on the desk.
 
The reason I was hesitant to buy a DVD optical drive was because I'd rather invest in a Bluray drive when I find a good deal on one. In the meantime, my procrastination paid off. On a hunch I checked GOG, and they had a sale on the game, bringing it down from 20 bucks to $6.79.
 
Domingo said:
Both Daemon Tools and Alcohol 120% are legit. I think they just have shaky reputations because they're associated with GCW and cracks. I haven't used any of those in years. The "mount" function in Windows has worked fine for all of the old games I made ISO's for.
Click to expand...

I used Alcohol 120% on my old Win7 rig and it worked without much issue. I know it could make images that bypass some of the more common forms of copy protection, for what it's worth.
 
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