Free Virtual CD Drives, From Microsoft

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November 14th, 2003, 09:28 AM
Big Booger

ree Virtual CD Drives, From Microsoft

2) Free Virtual CD Drives, From Microsoft

Fred, Here's an unsupported tool from Microsoft called
"Virtual CD Control Panel" that allows you to mount CD images
(.ISO and others) as virtual CD-Rom drives in Windows XP. Go
to http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscripti...nfo/qa.asp#iso
and click on the "What are ISO image files and how do I use
them?" question to show the answer. The link is at the bottom.

This is the description from the page:

"The following tool for Windows XP allows image files to be
mounted virtually as CD-ROM devices. This tool is provided
here for your convenience, and is unsupported by Microsoft
Product Support Services."

And here is the direct link: http://langa.com/u/1p.htm

The above I found useful and handy, which I lifted from the Langa list.
:D

http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...olpanel_21.exe
November 14th, 2003, 17:01 PM
rik

I also downloaded the full pre-MS version of Virual PC thru MSDN. Seems to work pretty well...
November 15th, 2003, 11:19 AM
MSNwar

Some people are not familiar with this and it really is nice to have. Instead of buying a new CD-ROM Drive you can use this virtual CD-ROM Drive. A PC treats it just like a installed CD-ROM Drive where you would access it just like a regular drive. The advantages are you do not have to spend any money on a drive, or spend any money on someone to install it for you (if thats the case), and no need to worry about compatabilty issues.

I like the VCD Drive. It was really simple to install and so far no problems. My 12 year old son thinks it the coolest. He made an ISO of a game that has to be inserted in a CD-ROM drive to play the game. Now he runs the ISO from the Virtual CD instead of the physical drive. This gave him a few options like listening to sample muscic CDs in the physical drive that his friends produced. Lots of possibilities here.

Thanks for the recommendation Big Booger :cool:
November 16th, 2003, 13:26 PM
zErO

Quote:

Originally posted by rik
I also downloaded the full pre-MS version of Virual PC thru MSDN. Seems to work pretty well...

Ive been running this for a while now, I loaded Server 2003 on my Virtual PC. Saves me the hassle of dual booting and particianing my hd. Seems to work fine and is great cause I can switch o/s from inside windows;)

gotta have a look @ this VCD offer, ta B.B
November 18th, 2003, 11:11 AM
cash_site

Its nice that M$ has integrated this feature in XP, I've been using CloneCD for virtual drives... mostly for exactly MSN's reasons, able to image Cds instead of inserting/changing all the time.

ABout the virtual PC prog, I have a version for a G4 MAC, wanted to install it to be able to play PC games on network, CoD ;) , anyway, reading the documentation, it says that it emulates a PC of Pentium2 300Mhz specs... can this be changed to take advantage of the 1Gb of ram and dual 1Ghz processors ??
November 18th, 2003, 19:51 PM
rik

Quote:

Originally posted by cash_site
reading the documentation, it says that it emulates a PC of Pentium2 300Mhz specs... can this be changed to take advantage of the 1Gb of ram and dual 1Ghz processors ??

I've not found anything within it's help files specifying exactly what it emulates other than this: The virtual hardware components you can specify include the hard disk and RAM. There is no setting for the guest CPU, since the guest PC, by definition, uses the CPU of the host PC.

Note: Virtual PC does not emulate the CPU. Programs running on a guest PC pass through Virtual PC, and run in native mode on the host CPU.

I installed Server 2003 on it, booted fine once then added the VPC additions...I was then in a blue screen loop 0x8e. Couldn't do anything to get it back, so finally just deleted that image. Figure I'll try it again...
November 19th, 2003, 06:33 AM
Dehcbad25

MSN, I agree it can give you lots of advantages, but it doesn't replace a second CD-ROM. It depends on the use. Each image takes more space, so you don't want everythign on VCD either. IT is a lot faster to read from a VCD that from CD-ROM thought.
Basically only to keep your most used appz (or games) that run from CD and take time reading.
About the VPC, where can I find it?? I would like to test it. It is from M$?? IF so, maybe I have it with the Technet CDs, right??
November 19th, 2003, 09:54 AM
SupaStar

"What good is a Virtual CD if you don't know how to create ISOs?" I hear you ask...

Well try this great freeware ISO creator. http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm
It's an "XP-Powertoy" for basic ISO creation on-the-fly. Once installed, it appears in your right-click context menu. You just right-click your CD drive and choose Copy CD to image file. Easy as that :)
November 19th, 2003, 14:58 PM
rik

Quote:

Originally posted by Dehcbad25
About the VPC, where can I find it?? I would like to test it. It is from M$?? IF so, maybe I have it with the Technet CDs, right??

I got it thru my MSDN subscription...
December 12th, 2003, 04:56 AM
joshsiao

I have tried the program. Good for creating tons of free "drives". But I haven't been able to get Command and Conquer Generals:Z ero Hour to run using the mounted iso of the disk. This is what I did, I installed the Virtual Drive program and the iso creation program.
I created an iso of the disc needed to run C&C Generals:ZH and named it exactly as the name of the disc. I followed the readme for the Vitrtual Drive program and mounted the iso but when I tried to play Generals, it still had the no disc found error. Anyone hows how to fix it?
December 15th, 2003, 14:10 PM
Big Booger

Josh,
I'd say that the disk you have is copyright protected.. and has some kind of copy protection like safedisc.. or one of the other popular copy protection schemes.
:D

So when you tried to copy it to play it from the HDD, the copy you made was effected by one of the methods these companies employ to prevent 1:1 copies.
December 16th, 2003, 13:20 PM
joshsiao

I checked the disc and found it protected by SafeDisc, characterised by a file known as 00000001.TMP written on the disc.:(
December 16th, 2003, 13:29 PM
Big Booger

:p

http://www.cdfreaks.com/article/3

have a look at that site.
May 26th, 2004, 04:19 AM
zipp51

Quote:

Originally Posted by zErO

Ive been running this for a while now, I loaded Server 2003 on my Virtual PC. Saves me the hassle of dual booting and particianing my hd. Seems to work fine and is great cause I can switch o/s from inside windows;)

gotta have a look @ this VCD offer, ta B.B

I like VPC 2004 so far but can anyone tell me if sp3 and or sp4 will work on my 2000Pro Virtual machine?

I've tried win98,redhat,2003 server,and finally win2000 Pro,which worked the best.I can't get 2003 server to recognise my 56k US robotics ext modem(serial port).And trouble getting the sound card emulation(says soundblaster 16).VPC 2005 will be coming soon with a Vitual server edition,so maybe this will take the server emulation better. :D
April 30th, 2006, 08:48 AM
Tanglefoot

Joshsaio,
Did you try putting C & C Generals on there as well as the expansion pack? I'm playing this myself at the moment (stuck on level 3) and it seems like a goog idea to run it from a virtual CD
May 1st, 2006, 05:35 AM
capple

VCD Can I have other users on the PC use the drives

So far with little hacking I have only been able to get the virtual drive to work on my Admin level account. I would like to be able to let the kids account set to limited to run the games I created as a VCD. I also tried to let my own Power User account make or find the drive with no luck. Sorry If I am not making clear sence of all this It late and I need to sleep. Maybe I can map the drive.

Thanks for any help