Need a free (open source would be best) CD Emulator for Windows 7 Pro.
Suggestions please.
Thank you.

Jordee <Jordee@Noplace.com> wrote:

> Need a free (open source would be best) CD Emulator for Windows 7 Pro.
> Suggestions please.
> Thank you.

With Windows 8/10, you can double-click on an .iso file to mount it.
Not available in Windows 7, or earlier, where you need a 3rd party tool.
ISObuster will load ISO images. Some others are: WinCDEmu, MagicDisc.

WinCDEmu would not install
MagicDisc website gone

I need an emulator so I can drop the .iso into it and then execute from
it otherwise I will have to write CD which I do ont want to do.

This is a one off so I need it short sweet and free.

VanguardLH wrote:
> Jordee <Jordee@Noplace.com> wrote:
>
>> Need a free (open source would be best) CD Emulator for Windows 7 Pro.
>> Suggestions please.
>> Thank you.
>
> With Windows 8/10, you can double-click on an .iso file to mount it.
> Not available in Windows 7, or earlier, where you need a 3rd party tool.
> ISObuster will load ISO images. Some others are: WinCDEmu, MagicDisc.
>

Jordee <Jordee@Noplace.com> wrote:

> VanguardLH wrote:
>
>> Jordee <Jordee@Noplace.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Need a free (open source would be best) CD Emulator for Windows 7 Pro.
>>> Suggestions please.
>>> Thank you.
>>
>> With Windows 8/10, you can double-click on an .iso file to mount it.
>> Not available in Windows 7, or earlier, where you need a 3rd party tool.
>> ISObuster will load ISO images. Some others are: WinCDEmu, MagicDisc.
>
> WinCDEmu would not install
> MagicDisc website gone
>
> I need an emulator so I can drop the .iso into it and then execute from
> it otherwise I will have to write CD which I do ont want to do.
>
> This is a one off so I need it short sweet and free.

I've used WinCDEmu on Windows 7. I cannot address "would not install"
issues. The product claims to support Microsoft Windows (incl. x64)
10/8.1/8/7/2008/Vista/2003/XP.

They have their own forum at:

https://sysprogs.com/w/forums/forum/wincdemu/

but even those folks will need more than "won't install".

As for MagicDisc, go to:

https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/magicdisc.html

It was last updated back in 2011, which was when Windows 7 got released,
and its Windows support ended back with Windows 7 which got unsupported
back in 2015 (for mainstream support, extended support which is just
security updates died in 2020). Since they stopped developing MagicDisc
after Windows 7 got released, yeah, I can see them dropping their site
for a 10-year old stagnant product. That doesn't stop the old program
from still running on the old OS.

According to:

http://web.archive.org/web/20210619002602/http://www.magiciso.com/

the last time they saw the site get updated was June 19 (3 weeks ago),
so it was very recent when they took down their web site.

My recollection with MagicDisc was they claimed to support more emulated
CD mounts, but I found more than 10 made it crash.

There is a comparison of lots of ISO image tools at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_disc_image_software

The first one I mentioned was ISObuster. Did you try that one? You get
a trial, but can disable it to the free version. You can see what
features get crippled in the non-expiring free version at:

https://www.isobuster.com/license-models.php

However, I've only used ISObuster (free) to extract from an .iso image,
not to mount it (which ISObuster won't do). Just extract the folder
with the setup program from the .iso file to your own drive, and run
from your own drive. You don't have to run from the .iso image file.

Even zip tools can extract from .iso files, like 7-Zip (and its
variants, like Peazip that I use). Extract from the ISO, and run from
somewhere else.

Jordee wrote:

>
> WinCDEmu would not install
> MagicDisc website gone
>
> I need an emulator so I can drop the .iso into it and then execute from it otherwise I will have to write CD which I do ont want to do.
>
> This is a one off so I need it short sweet and free.
>
>
>
> VanguardLH wrote:
> >Jordee <Jordee@Noplace.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Need a free (open source would be best) CD Emulator for Windows 7 Pro.
> > > Suggestions please.
> > > Thank you.
> >
> > With Windows 8/10, you can double-click on an .iso file to mount it.
> > Not available in Windows 7, or earlier, where you need a 3rd party tool.
> > ISObuster will load ISO images. Some others are: WinCDEmu, MagicDisc.
> >

Jordee,

I've used this one on Windows 7.

https://www.techspot.com/downloads/6236-magiciso-virtual-cd-dvd-rom.html

You do have to install it but can be easily uninstalled.

Good luck!

JT

--

Jordee wrote:
>
> WinCDEmu would not install
> MagicDisc website gone
>
> I need an emulator so I can drop the .iso into it and then execute from
> it otherwise I will have to write CD which I do ont want to do.
>
> This is a one off so I need it short sweet and free.

Number 9 here - PassMark OSFMount

https://www.raymond.cc/blog/10-free-software-to-mount-cd-or-dvd-iso-image-file-as-virtual-drives/2/

That program has its share of rough edges, but
I've got it loaded on more than one OS.

https://www.osforensics.com/tools/mount-disk-images.html

Paul

On 09/07/2021 23:37, Jordee wrote:
> Need a free (open source would be best) CD Emulator for Windows 7 Pro.
> Suggestions please.
> Thank you.

Virtual CloneDrive is free:
https://www.redfox.bz/virtual-clonedrive.html
I use it.

--
Brian Gregory (in England).

On 10/07/2021 10:47, Brian Gregory wrote:
> On 09/07/2021 23:37, Jordee wrote:
>> Need a free (open source would be best) CD Emulator for Windows 7 Pro.
>> Suggestions please.
>> Thank you.
>
> Virtual CloneDrive is free:
> https://www.redfox.bz/virtual-clonedrive.html
> I use it.
>

This link might be easier:
https://forum.redfox.bz/forums/virtual-clonedrive.21/

--
Brian Gregory (in England).

Jordee <Jordee@Noplace.com> wrote in
news:scat17$t2$1@gioia.aioe.org:

<Top-posted for brevity>

Why not just extract .iso?

7zip'll do it.

>
> WinCDEmu would not install
> MagicDisc website gone
>
> I need an emulator so I can drop the .iso into it and then
> execute from it otherwise I will have to write CD which I
> do ont want to do.
>
> This is a one off so I need it short sweet and free.
>
>
>
> VanguardLH wrote:
>> Jordee <Jordee@Noplace.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Need a free (open source would be best) CD Emulator for
>>> Windows 7 Pro. Suggestions please.
>>> Thank you.
>>
>> With Windows 8/10, you can double-click on an .iso file to
>> mount it. Not available in Windows 7, or earlier, where
>> you need a 3rd party tool. ISObuster will load ISO images.
>> Some others are: WinCDEmu, MagicDisc.
>>
>

On 10/07/2021 15:52, DanS wrote:
> Jordee <Jordee@Noplace.com> wrote in
> news:scat17$t2$1@gioia.aioe.org:
>
> <Top-posted for brevity>
>
> Why not just extract .iso?
>
> 7zip'll do it.
>

Because then the software will be able to see it's a copy and not an
original CD?

--
Brian Gregory (in England).

Thanks but I tried all three links at MajorGeeks to download MagicDisc
and all failed.
I saw a lot of activity on the bottom left of firefox but if finally
fails. It took 5 attempts to at last get a download going.

Thanks for the links and I have both to try out now.

VanguardLH wrote:
> Jordee <Jordee@Noplace.com> wrote:
>
>> VanguardLH wrote:
>>
>>> Jordee <Jordee@Noplace.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Need a free (open source would be best) CD Emulator for Windows 7 Pro.
>>>> Suggestions please.
>>>> Thank you.
>>>
>>> With Windows 8/10, you can double-click on an .iso file to mount it.
>>> Not available in Windows 7, or earlier, where you need a 3rd party tool.
>>> ISObuster will load ISO images. Some others are: WinCDEmu, MagicDisc.
>>
>> WinCDEmu would not install
>> MagicDisc website gone
>>
>> I need an emulator so I can drop the .iso into it and then execute from
>> it otherwise I will have to write CD which I do ont want to do.
>>
>> This is a one off so I need it short sweet and free.
>
> I've used WinCDEmu on Windows 7. I cannot address "would not install"
> issues. The product claims to support Microsoft Windows (incl. x64)
> 10/8.1/8/7/2008/Vista/2003/XP.
>
> They have their own forum at:
>
> https://sysprogs.com/w/forums/forum/wincdemu/
>
> but even those folks will need more than "won't install".
>
> As for MagicDisc, go to:
>
> https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/magicdisc.html
>
> It was last updated back in 2011, which was when Windows 7 got released,
> and its Windows support ended back with Windows 7 which got unsupported
> back in 2015 (for mainstream support, extended support which is just
> security updates died in 2020). Since they stopped developing MagicDisc
> after Windows 7 got released, yeah, I can see them dropping their site
> for a 10-year old stagnant product. That doesn't stop the old program
> from still running on the old OS.
>
> According to:
>
> http://web.archive.org/web/20210619002602/http://www.magiciso.com/
>
> the last time they saw the site get updated was June 19 (3 weeks ago),
> so it was very recent when they took down their web site.
>
> My recollection with MagicDisc was they claimed to support more emulated
> CD mounts, but I found more than 10 made it crash.
>
> There is a comparison of lots of ISO image tools at:
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_disc_image_software
>
> The first one I mentioned was ISObuster. Did you try that one? You get
> a trial, but can disable it to the free version. You can see what
> features get crippled in the non-expiring free version at:
>
> https://www.isobuster.com/license-models.php
>
> However, I've only used ISObuster (free) to extract from an .iso image,
> not to mount it (which ISObuster won't do). Just extract the folder
> with the setup program from the .iso file to your own drive, and run
> from your own drive. You don't have to run from the .iso image file.
>
> Even zip tools can extract from .iso files, like 7-Zip (and its
> variants, like Peazip that I use). Extract from the ISO, and run from
> somewhere else.
>

Thanks all for the help.
I now have several to try and see what works for me.

Because I have saved a CD that I own as an ISO on my NAS.
I cannot find the CD.
I am too lazy to get a CD burner to burn a CD.
The clone drive will do the install of my software without all the
hardware hassle. (Just the software hassle for now.) I will have it
ready for any future needs.

Brian Gregory wrote:
> On 10/07/2021 15:52, DanS wrote:
>> Jordee <Jordee@Noplace.com> wrote in
>> news:scat17$t2$1@gioia.aioe.org:
>>
>> <Top-posted for brevity>
>>
>> Why not just extract .iso?
>>
>> 7zip'll do it.
>>
>
> Because then the software will be able to see it's a copy and not an
> original CD?
>

Jordee graced us with on 7/10/2021 8:31 AM:
> Thanks all for the help.
> I now have several to try and see what works for me.
>
If you find one you particularly like, could you post back here and give
your reasons why? Others may disagree but your feedback would be
welcomed by others.

Cheers

--
Sailfish
CDC Covid19 Trends: https://www.facebook.com/groups/624208354841034
Rare Mozilla Stuff: http://tinyurl.com/z86x3sg

Brian Gregory <void-invalid-dead-dontuse@email.invalid> wrote:

> Brian Gregory wrote:
>
>> Jordee wrote:
>>
>>> Need a free (open source would be best) CD Emulator for Windows 7
>>> Pro.
>>
>> Virtual CloneDrive is free:
>> https://www.redfox.bz/virtual-clonedrive.html
>> I use it.
>
> This link might be easier:
> https://forum.redfox.bz/forums/virtual-clonedrive.21/

The product's home page is at:
https://www.elby.ch/en/products/vcd.html

The history of Elaborate Bytes, Slysoft reorganized as Redfox (because
their country had anti-piracy laws) back in 2016, and Slysoft
contracting to resell Elby's CloneCD is too muddy to get into here.
I'll just mention that Slysoft/Redfox purchased a distribution license
for CloneDVD from Elaborate Byte, distributed is as AnyDVD, and back
then Elby CloneDrive and Slysoft's AnyDVD were the same program. I
don't know if AnyDVD went off on its own fork. At Slysoft/Redfox, they
still sell both CloneCD and Virtual CloneDrive from Elby, and why you
see the sheep icon for those two products. I haven't kept up for many
years what's been going between those two companies, or just whose
software Redfox is reselling. Elaborate Bytes (Elby) is located in
Switzerland. Redfox was in Belize and now Netherlands (Antigua when
they were Slysoft). From what I gleaned of Redfox (formerly Slysoft),
they are a software publisher, not a software developer. Because of
Elby (and Slysoft/Redfox reselling Elby's products) involved in
copyright protection breaking, they've had a checkered past.

I couldn't remember the Elby CloneDrive when trying to recall CD/DVD
emulators that I've tried in the past. Beware that VCD, and Alcohol
(another optical drive emulator), install stacked file drivers (aka
rootkits), so uninstalling those programs could leave behind remnants.
I had to do remnant cleanup of registry entries, like drives listed
under HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum, and using Device Manager to
uninstall their device definitions to regain access to the real hardware
optical drives. They can be handy, but they dig too far into the OS,
and can be a bitch to completely eradicate without consequences. They
are more geared to mounting ISO images with a slant toward nullifying
very old and outdated copy protection mechanisms.

Not sure how, but I remember some protected programs, usually games,
that saw they were running from an emulated optical drive instead of
real hardware, and they would refuse to run their installer or the game.
They weren't just using deliberately damaged (bad) sectors on the
optical media as a fingerprint (the installer would deliberately attempt
to read specific sectors that were damaged during disc production), but
also tried to get around some other copy protection schemes. When you
run their installer, you'd get a message like "CD/DVD emulation software
detected". They may have simply looked for processes by certain names,
sets of files with certain names, looked for registry entries, or used
another trick. The OP didn't mention he was attempting to thwart copy
protection, and this isn't a pro-warez newsgroup.

The OP had a problem downloading MagicDisc. I got it from the
MajorGeeks web site, but the download was very slow. Elby's download
was very fast, but there are gotchas to using Elby CloneDrive, CloneCD,
or Slysoft's/Redfox's renamed resell of Elby's software. However, the
OP can use many tools, like archivers (7-zip, Peazip) to extract the
setup folder from the .iso file. He doesn't need to mount an ISO image
file to run an installer or program -- unless he is trying to pirate
some software. If the software is copy protected, he really needs to
hunt further to find the optical disc.

Brian Gregory <void-invalid-dead-dontuse@email.invalid> wrote
in news:ikts47F25hqU3@mid.individual.net:

> On 10/07/2021 15:52, DanS wrote:
>> Jordee <Jordee@Noplace.com> wrote in
>> news:scat17$t2$1@gioia.aioe.org:
>>
>> <Top-posted for brevity>
>>
>> Why not just extract .iso?
>>
>> 7zip'll do it.
>>
>
> Because then the software will be able to see it's a copy
> and not an original CD?
>

I mean...that's a possibility, but, not *typical*, in my experience.

If it's alreadsy an ISO, it's already a copy...

Jordee <Jordee@NoPlace.com> wrote:

> Thanks but I tried all three links at MajorGeeks to download MagicDisc
> and all failed. I saw a lot of activity on the bottom left of firefox
> but if finally fails. It took 5 attempts to at last get a download
> going.

Then extract, as mentioned by me and later by DanS by using ISObuster,
7-Zip, or Peazip, the setup folder and run it from wherever you saved
the extracted folder, like on an HDD, SDD, or even a USB thumb drive.
Skip trying to get an ISO mounter, and just extract the setup folder
from the .iso image file.

So far NONE of them work !

My memory has failed me as I used to have a program that worked on WIn 7
Pro but it is lost to my memory. I cannot rember the name of the
program although I may have it archived some place but do not know how
to search for it. I use everything app to search but do not remember
any part if the app's name.

This app I had did the following.

Simply created a CD drive as immediately show in Explorer.
All I had to do was drag and drop a .ISO file on it and it was
immediately active. Simple !

Some of the recommended app are a convoluted meth of creating various
drives, none of which evan allow me to drag drop a .ISO on it.
Some want to have what it formatted, but Windows will reject it and not
format it.

One has NO uninstall command and Revo Uninstaller cannot find it.
That is crappy programming.

I will have to get a registry tool to find entries and delete all
instances. What a terrible application.

I will keep updating this post if I have any additional informat.

That was the first thing I tried but the setup.exe I need to run sees
that it is not a CD and fails. I guess I will have to find my CD but I
doubt that I will be able to. It is about 21 years ago that I bought
it. At least I did make a .iso backup. But here I am now.

VanguardLH wrote:
> Jordee <Jordee@NoPlace.com> wrote:
>
>> Thanks but I tried all three links at MajorGeeks to download MagicDisc
>> and all failed. I saw a lot of activity on the bottom left of firefox
>> but if finally fails. It took 5 attempts to at last get a download
>> going.
>
> Then extract, as mentioned by me and later by DanS by using ISObuster,
> 7-Zip, or Peazip, the setup folder and run it from wherever you saved
> the extracted folder, like on an HDD, SDD, or even a USB thumb drive.
> Skip trying to get an ISO mounter, and just extract the setup folder
> from the .iso image file.
>

On 10/07/2021 17:43, VanguardLH wrote:
> Brian Gregory <void-invalid-dead-dontuse@email.invalid> wrote:
>
>> Brian Gregory wrote:
>>
>>> Jordee wrote:
>>>
>>>> Need a free (open source would be best) CD Emulator for Windows 7
>>>> Pro.
>>>
>>> Virtual CloneDrive is free:
>>> https://www.redfox.bz/virtual-clonedrive.html
>>> I use it.
>>
>> This link might be easier:
>> https://forum.redfox.bz/forums/virtual-clonedrive.21/
>
> The product's home page is at:
> https://www.elby.ch/en/products/vcd.html
>
> The history of Elaborate Bytes, Slysoft reorganized as Redfox (because
> their country had anti-piracy laws) back in 2016, and Slysoft
> contracting to resell Elby's CloneCD is too muddy to get into here.
> I'll just mention that Slysoft/Redfox purchased a distribution license
> for CloneDVD from Elaborate Byte, distributed is as AnyDVD, and back
> then Elby CloneDrive and Slysoft's AnyDVD were the same program. I
> don't know if AnyDVD went off on its own fork. At Slysoft/Redfox, they
> still sell both CloneCD and Virtual CloneDrive from Elby, and why you
> see the sheep icon for those two products. I haven't kept up for many
> years what's been going between those two companies, or just whose
> software Redfox is reselling. Elaborate Bytes (Elby) is located in
> Switzerland. Redfox was in Belize and now Netherlands (Antigua when
> they were Slysoft). From what I gleaned of Redfox (formerly Slysoft),
> they are a software publisher, not a software developer. Because of
> Elby (and Slysoft/Redfox reselling Elby's products) involved in
> copyright protection breaking, they've had a checkered past.

I don't believe they're really totally separate companies.
Problems with Elby products reported in the Redfox forum get fixed.

The separation into two parts may just be because Elby products are 100%
legal in every sense while Redfox products include ways to get around
copy protection.

> I couldn't remember the Elby CloneDrive when trying to recall CD/DVD
> emulators that I've tried in the past. Beware that VCD, and Alcohol
> (another optical drive emulator), install stacked file drivers (aka
> rootkits), so uninstalling those programs could leave behind remnants.
> I had to do remnant cleanup of registry entries, like drives listed
> under HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum, and using Device Manager to
> uninstall their device definitions to regain access to the real hardware
> optical drives. They can be handy, but they dig too far into the OS,
> and can be a bitch to completely eradicate without consequences. They
> are more geared to mounting ISO images with a slant toward nullifying
> very old and outdated copy protection mechanisms.

It's confusing to call it "CloneDrive" it is "Virtual CloneDrive".

The products with Clone at the beginning of the name are actual disk
copiers.

I wouldn't say any of them are rootkits any more than they need to be to
get their job done. But Virtual CloneDrive does install drivers needed
to better emulate some kinds of copy protected disks (you need to use a
different kind of image file though, an ISO isn't usually good enough).

If you don't want them just uninstall in the normal correct way rather
than blindly deleting their directories or anything dumb like that.

> <snip>... He doesn't need to mount an ISO image
> file to run an installer or program -- unless he is trying to pirate
> some software. If the software is copy protected, he really needs to
> hunt further to find the optical disc.

Will you please shut up about this.
Maybe the OP doesn't want to wait while he extracts from the ISO.
Maybe he doesn't have enough space to extract from the ISO.

Maybe you approve more of this link to download Virtual CloneDrive:
https://www.elby.ch/download.html

--
Brian Gregory (in England).

Jordee wrote:
> So far NONE of them work !
>
> My memory has failed me as I used to have a program that worked on WIn 7
> Pro but it is lost to my memory. I cannot rember the name of the
> program although I may have it archived some place but do not know how
> to search for it. I use everything app to search but do not remember
> any part if the app's name.
>
> This app I had did the following.
>
> Simply created a CD drive as immediately show in Explorer.
> All I had to do was drag and drop a .ISO file on it and it was
> immediately active. Simple !
>
> Some of the recommended app are a convoluted meth of creating various
> drives, none of which evan allow me to drag drop a .ISO on it.
> Some want to have what it formatted, but Windows will reject it and not
> format it.
>
> One has NO uninstall command and Revo Uninstaller cannot find it.
> That is crappy programming.
>
> I will have to get a registry tool to find entries and delete all
> instances. What a terrible application.
>
> I will keep updating this post if I have any additional informat.

Someone has already suggested unpacking the ISO contents
into a folder. 7ZIP can do this. The version 19 release one is fine.

https://www.7-zip.org/

*******

There were commercial ones.

Maybe you had some flavor of Nero that had one.

Nero Imagedrive (no, don't even try this...)

https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how-to-use-the-iso-file-mount-drive-in-nero

*******

You can put an ISO onto a USB stick. USB stick should
be 8GB or larger, and not have files on it.

http://web.archive.org/web/20120102232642/http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/html/pbPage.Help_Win7_usbdvd_dwnTool

http://web.archive.org/web/20111005233104/http://images2.store.microsoft.com/prod/clustera/framework/w7udt/1.0/en-us/Windows7-USB-DVD-tool.exe

Rufus can also do this. And is a bit more
modern than the previous item.

http://rufus.ie/en_US/

*******

I hope when you were doing all these fine experiments,
you weren't using a "limited account". Your account
should belong to the administrators group, if you expect
to make progress. If the computer in question, is the
laptop from work, it's locked down. If the computer
was acquired used from someones IT department, it may
still be domain joined and functionally altered. Machines
turned loose from IT, there is a ceremony of some
sort, to domain separate them and prepare them for
civilian (administrator group) life.

Paul

VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote in
news:7lvcbz15ce0l$.dlg@v.nguard.lh:

> Jordee <Jordee@NoPlace.com> wrote:
>
>> Thanks but I tried all three links at MajorGeeks to
>> download MagicDisc and all failed. I saw a lot of activity
>> on the bottom left of firefox but if finally fails. It
>> took 5 attempts to at last get a download going.
>
> Then extract, as mentioned by me and later by DanS by using
> ISObuster, 7-Zip, or Peazip, the setup folder and run it

Sorry, I didn't see you mention that prior to my suggestion.

Jordee <Jordee@Noplace.com> wrote:

> That was the first thing I tried but the setup.exe I need to run sees
> that it is not a CD and fails. I guess I will have to find my CD but I
> doubt that I will be able to. It is about 21 years ago that I bought
> it. At least I did make a .iso backup. But here I am now.

Then trying to run on an emulated CD drive will fail, too. The program
uses copy protection. One very old way, especially for games, was to
deliberately burn bad sectors on the disc which acted like a fingerprint
(which were the bad sectors constituted the fingerprint). Some
installers or programs would check the device type from which they were
loaded. Virtual drives may not get enumerated in the registry the same
as real hardware. They would check the currently loaded processes for
common filenames used by disc emulators.

My guess is you're trying to run an old game, it is copy protected, and
likely you won't run it anywhere else than from the game's disc. Some
emulators try to subvert the copy protection (e.g., Alcohol, CloneDrive,
etc) but they often fail, or they will let you load the game, but the
game fails when you try to play it. Sometimes it is the first disc in a
set that you use to start the game despite there may be N discs.
Sometimes it is the last Nth disc in the set you need to have in the
drive: you can start the game from an HDD, but it will check for the
fingerprinted or protected disc in a drive (it only needs to check when
the game is loaded, not for each mission or FM you play after loading
the game).

Do an online search on "<game> no CD" to see if someone came up with a
way to play the game without requiring the CD. You can try to use Elby
or Redfox to get around copy protection, like you install and start the
game from an HDD, but it's the emulated disc that gets used to subvert
the copy protection.

Without knowing what software you are attempting to subvert its copy
protection, no one using that game can tell you a no-CD workaround nor
can look it up for you.

For some copy protected software, if you lose the disc(s) then you lose
the software.

Brian Gregory <void-invalid-dead-dontuse@email.invalid> wrote:

> On 10/07/2021 17:43, VanguardLH wrote:
>> Brian Gregory <void-invalid-dead-dontuse@email.invalid> wrote:
>>
>>> Brian Gregory wrote:
>>>
>>>> Jordee wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Need a free (open source would be best) CD Emulator for Windows 7
>>>>> Pro.
>>>>
>>>> Virtual CloneDrive is free:
>>>> https://www.redfox.bz/virtual-clonedrive.html
>>>> I use it.
>>>
>>> This link might be easier:
>>> https://forum.redfox.bz/forums/virtual-clonedrive.21/
>>
>> The product's home page is at:
>> https://www.elby.ch/en/products/vcd.html
>>
>> The history of Elaborate Bytes, Slysoft reorganized as Redfox (because
>> their country had anti-piracy laws) back in 2016, and Slysoft
>> contracting to resell Elby's CloneCD is too muddy to get into here.
>> I'll just mention that Slysoft/Redfox purchased a distribution license
>> for CloneDVD from Elaborate Byte, distributed is as AnyDVD, and back
>> then Elby CloneDrive and Slysoft's AnyDVD were the same program. I
>> don't know if AnyDVD went off on its own fork. At Slysoft/Redfox, they
>> still sell both CloneCD and Virtual CloneDrive from Elby, and why you
>> see the sheep icon for those two products. I haven't kept up for many
>> years what's been going between those two companies, or just whose
>> software Redfox is reselling. Elaborate Bytes (Elby) is located in
>> Switzerland. Redfox was in Belize and now Netherlands (Antigua when
>> they were Slysoft). From what I gleaned of Redfox (formerly Slysoft),
>> they are a software publisher, not a software developer. Because of
>> Elby (and Slysoft/Redfox reselling Elby's products) involved in
>> copyright protection breaking, they've had a checkered past.
>
> I don't believe they're really totally separate companies.
> Problems with Elby products reported in the Redfox forum get fixed.

I've used resold software, reported problems to the reseller, they are
pretending they are the author, so they report the problem to the actual
author. There is a delay in the report getting to the actual author
because it had to go through a reseller.

For example, I used to use Applian's Replay Media Catcher to snag video
streams. Worked a hell of lot better than extensions in web browsers,
plus it would record at the full speed the server would deliver the
stream (like take 20 minutes to record a 4-hour video) rather than a
simple screen capture that records at playback speed (4 hours).

When I had problems and reported them, they in turn would report the
problem to Jaksta, the actual author of the software they resold. At
first, Applian applied their own frontend GUI to make it look like their
software, rather in support issues and resource shortages, and just went
with repackaing the Jaksta Media Record product but renaming it to
Applian Replay Media Capture. Applian contracted with Jaksta to sell
Jaksta's software under the Applian brand, Applian was a software
publisher, not developer, and problems got redirected from Applian to
Jaksta. Eventually I had licensing issues with Applian: buy their
license and it expires after 2 years, but the same exact program under
the Jaksta brand has an non-expiring license, so I dumped Applian and
went to Jaksta.

Both Elby and Redfox have their own forums. Problems can only get fixed
by Elby for the Elby products that Redfox (nee Slysoft) resells under
their brand. They are separate companies, but they cooperate. However,
they do support differently. Elby only has a contact-use web form: you
directly contact Elby. Redfox also has a contact-us web form and they
operate their own forums (slid over from Slysoft's forums). Any fixes
to software resold by Redfox have to get addressed by Elby since Redfox
is selling and rebranding the Elby products. Peer support or usage
support can be handled by forum members.

> It's confusing to call it "CloneDrive" it is "Virtual CloneDrive".

The products from Elby and resold by Slysoft/Redfox have varied over
time.

>> <snip>... He doesn't need to mount an ISO image
>> file to run an installer or program -- unless he is trying to pirate
>> some software. If the software is copy protected, he really needs to
>> hunt further to find the optical disc.
>
> Will you please shut up about this.

I don't do requests, and you don't command the Usenet. I mention piracy
in one reply, and you go ballistic. Hmm, we know what your purpose is
in using VCD.

> Maybe the OP doesn't want to wait while he extracts from the ISO.

But he can wait to trial several suggested emulated disc programs? Uh
huh, you lost that argument.

> Maybe he doesn't have enough space to extract from the ISO.

Oh, but he has enough space to install the game which still checks the
disc is in an optical drive? Uh huh, another assumption dashed.

> Maybe you approve more of this link to download Virtual CloneDrive:
> https://www.elby.ch/download.html

I already gave the URL to the product author's home page for VCD. You
missed that. It's at the very start of my reply.

Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> wrote:

> Jordee wrote:
>> So far NONE of them work !
>>
>> My memory has failed me as I used to have a program that worked on WIn 7
>> Pro but it is lost to my memory. I cannot rember the name of the
>> program although I may have it archived some place but do not know how
>> to search for it. I use everything app to search but do not remember
>> any part if the app's name.
>>
>> This app I had did the following.
>>
>> Simply created a CD drive as immediately show in Explorer.
>> All I had to do was drag and drop a .ISO file on it and it was
>> immediately active. Simple !
>>
>> Some of the recommended app are a convoluted meth of creating various
>> drives, none of which evan allow me to drag drop a .ISO on it.
>> Some want to have what it formatted, but Windows will reject it and not
>> format it.
>>
>> One has NO uninstall command and Revo Uninstaller cannot find it.
>> That is crappy programming.
>>
>> I will have to get a registry tool to find entries and delete all
>> instances. What a terrible application.
>>
>> I will keep updating this post if I have any additional informat.
>
> Someone has already suggested unpacking the ISO contents
> into a folder. 7ZIP can do this. The version 19 release one is fine.
>
> https://www.7-zip.org/
>
> *******
>
> There were commercial ones.
>
> Maybe you had some flavor of Nero that had one.
>
> Nero Imagedrive (no, don't even try this...)
>
> https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how-to-use-the-iso-file-mount-drive-in-nero
>
> *******
>
> You can put an ISO onto a USB stick. USB stick should
> be 8GB or larger, and not have files on it.
>
> http://web.archive.org/web/20120102232642/http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/html/pbPage.Help_Win7_usbdvd_dwnTool
>
> http://web.archive.org/web/20111005233104/http://images2.store.microsoft.com/prod/clustera/framework/w7udt/1.0/en-us/Windows7-USB-DVD-tool.exe
>
> Rufus can also do this. And is a bit more
> modern than the previous item.
>
> http://rufus.ie/en_US/
>
> *******
>
> I hope when you were doing all these fine experiments,
> you weren't using a "limited account". Your account
> should belong to the administrators group, if you expect
> to make progress. If the computer in question, is the
> laptop from work, it's locked down. If the computer
> was acquired used from someones IT department, it may
> still be domain joined and functionally altered. Machines
> turned loose from IT, there is a ceremony of some
> sort, to domain separate them and prepare them for
> civilian (administrator group) life.
>
> Paul

Many companies dispose of old computers by wiping them, but mislead the
buyers into thinking they're getting a license for Windows when, in
fact, the buyer is just getting hardware. The company is keeping the
license, especially since their workstations use bulk or volume
licensing, and peeling out individual licenses is a contact violation.
When my aunt bought a computer from Medtronics, he employer, and had me
set it up, it became obviously they kept the license and sold her only
the hardware. When I contacted the IT dept at Medtronics (I know lots
of IT folks at different companies) to notify them of the licensing
issue (slicing out individual licenses from a volume license), they
realized someone dropped the ball on disposing their old hardware.

I even see sellers at eBay trying the same trick. They setup up a
5-person account for Windows or N-user account for Quickbooks, and then
pretend to buyers that each is getting their own license already setup
for them. They don't want the buyers having to do the license
validation, because it won't, and the sellers want to hide their
subtefuge. It's just the old slice-out-from-volume-license trick.

If a company is disposing of their hosts to individual buyers then the
OS license for that host must be for a single entity, not sliced out
instances from a volume license. Sometimes companies pretend ignorance.
Sometimes they are ignorant, like some joker is assigned the task who
has no IT or sysadmin experience.