THSCC Forums

I'm a Mac guy, but just got a Dell Mini 10 with Win XP on it. This is mostly a computer for my daughter, so it will have lots of kids games on it.

Problem.

Many games require a CD to be present. Well, the Mini 10 doesn't have a built in drive, and it's a hassle to make a kid find the right disk anyhow.

On the Mac, I just make an iso image of the disk, mount the image and trick the computer into thinking the disk is there.

How do I do this for Windows? Even better, is there some "dll" file that I can hack to make it look for the files locally. Extra credit if the iso image can love on my NAS, rather than on the local disk (though the local disk has plenty of space).

Scott, I haven't done this in a long time (don't have the personal need to do so), but there are a number of virtual CD mounting programs out there for Windows. I think there was even one from MS named "Virtual CD Control Panel". I would expect you should have no problem with the image files living on the network. I think the real question is if the virtual drives will fool the copy protection system used by the games.

I suspect Google will be your friend regarding finding something that works well with copy protected games. A quick Google search found two pages that describes the MS Virtual CD I mentioned above...

http://blog.godshell.com/blog/index.php ... ility.html

http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/620/xp_s ... ning_them/

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

Scott - try this: http://www.daemon-tools.cc/eng/downloads - you want the Daemon Tools Lite product.

I've never used it with games that needed a CD, but it will let you mount an ISO as a local drive from just about anywhere. You should be able to mount it from your NAS, no problem.

Since it's a free tool, it does try to push you in to downloading some of their commercial products, but once you get past the initial pushy stuff, it quietly serves up ISOs like it promises. I've used it at work and personally for a couple of years.

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Tom Freeman
'98 M3/4/5 | '93 Spec3 325i | '12 TSX sport wagon | '03 Tahoe
Team Silver Bullets '91 240SX

MS has a tool called "Virtual CD" that I use regularly at work - looks like the tech-recipes link directs you there. It's a bit clunky but is stable and free.

(Shameless plug - a good friend is the co-owner of tech-recipes. Go there!)

--Kevin H.

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2003 WRX (again!)