I have a netbook without a cd/dvd drive. I want to be able to use some old game (not DOS based) cd/dvds on it but when I copy accross using a USB and install these games all I get is "insert cd in d: drive"

I have tried cd/dvd emulators but they do not recognise the usb as a cd/D Drive.

I do not have access to a portable cd to connect to my netbook but obviously have cd.dvd drives on my desktops and USB sticks.

Ant advice would be welcome.

1. Buy a portable USB CD drive for your netbook. They are only about 2000 baht for a good one.

I use UltraISO to make an .iso image of the CD I want to use on my desktop. and then I use the same UltraISO software to mount the .iso image to a virtual CD drive on my netbook.

This simulates a real CD in a real CD drive.

with UltraISO, you can just right click any .iso (or other CD image file) and mount it on a virtual CD drive that will appear as a CD drive in "My Computer".

There are other programs that will do the same thing. a search in Google with "virtual CD drive" will give you some ideas.

hope this helps.

IMHO liveinlos solution is the best. This problem is going to come up again and is one of the disadvantages of owning a netbook and will future proof your investment

I use UltraISO to make an .iso image of the CD I want to use on my desktop. and then I use the same UltraISO software to mount the .iso image to a virtual CD drive on my netbook.

This simulates a real CD in a real CD drive.

with UltraISO, you can just right click any .iso (or other CD image file) and mount it on a virtual CD drive that will appear as a CD drive in "My Computer".

There are other programs that will do the same thing. a search in Google with "virtual CD drive" will give you some ideas.

hope this helps.

Thanks for the Possative response.

I assume from what you say thet I need to install "ultraiso" on both machines, mount the cd on the desktop and then can export/import via usb. Is that correct.

As for the suggestions of carting an external D drive! It is a NETBOOK! It is called traveling LITE

I use UltraISO to make an .iso image of the CD I want to use on my desktop. and then I use the same UltraISO software to mount the .iso image to a virtual CD drive on my netbook.

This simulates a real CD in a real CD drive.

with UltraISO, you can just right click any .iso (or other CD image file) and mount it on a virtual CD drive that will appear as a CD drive in "My Computer".

There are other programs that will do the same thing. a search in Google with "virtual CD drive" will give you some ideas.

hope this helps.

Thanks for the Possative response.

I assume from what you say thet I need to install "ultraiso" on both machines, mount the cd on the desktop and then can export/import via usb. Is that correct.

As for the suggestions of carting an external D drive! It is a NETBOOK! It is called traveling LITE

I think you have a misunderstand of a Virtual CD drive and the concept. There is no Export/Import.

You use a CD burner program or ISO manager program to read the ISO image that is recorded on the CD and save it to a hard disk or memory stick as a .iso image file. That would need to be installed on a machine that has a CD drive.

Then you need a Virtual CD Drive Emulator/Player to 'mount' the ISO image file to, on the netbook computer.

You don't need to use a memory strick. All your CD (ISO) images, can be stored on the netbook computer. They can be transfered to the netbook though a network connection.

There are a multitude of Virtual CD Drive Emulator/Players. There are also a multitude of ISO burning programs.

Ultra ISO is not free, but it is a good program.

Windows 7 has CD ISO image mounting support built-in. For Windows XP there is a free Microsoft utility, albeit an unsupported one, to mount ISO images. Here is the download link:

http://download.micr...rolpanel_21.exe

ImgBurn is an excellent free-ware burning tool for reading CD ISO images off the CD and saving the image to a disk drive as a .iso file. Here is the link to the ImgBurn site:

http://www.imgburn.com/

These tools will work with non-copy protected CDs. For copy protected CDs, Thai Visa Forum rules prevent that discussion

BTW by using Virtual CDs. the performance of the Virtual CD dramatically outperforms a CD. I'm with you, I do not recommend purchasing an external CD drive.

Even if you purchase Virtual CD software, it's still less expensive than purchasing a drive.

CDs are also easily prone to damage, a Virtual CD isn't.

I highly recommend to anyone to convert their CDs to images and use the images on Virtual Drives and lock away the original CDs.

Try Daemon tools lite..

I use UltraISO to make an .iso image of the CD I want to use on my desktop. and then I use the same UltraISO software to mount the .iso image to a virtual CD drive on my netbook.

This simulates a real CD in a real CD drive.

with UltraISO, you can just right click any .iso (or other CD image file) and mount it on a virtual CD drive that will appear as a CD drive in "My Computer".

There are other programs that will do the same thing. a search in Google with "virtual CD drive" will give you some ideas.

hope this helps.

Thanks for the Possative response.

I assume from what you say thet I need to install "ultraiso" on both machines, mount the cd on the desktop and then can export/import via usb. Is that correct.

As for the suggestions of carting an external D drive! It is a NETBOOK! It is called traveling LITE

I think you have a misunderstand of a Virtual CD drive and the concept. There is no Export/Import.

You use a CD burner program or ISO manager program to read the ISO image that is recorded on the CD and save it to a hard disk or memory stick as a .iso image file. That would need to be installed on a machine that has a CD drive.

Then you need a Virtual CD Drive Emulator/Player to 'mount' the ISO image file to, on the netbook computer.

You don't need to use a memory strick. All your CD (ISO) images, can be stored on the netbook computer. They can be transfered to the netbook though a network connection.

There are a multitude of Virtual CD Drive Emulator/Players. There are also a multitude of ISO burning programs.

Ultra ISO is not free, but it is a good program.

Windows 7 has CD ISO image mounting support built-in. For Windows XP there is a free Microsoft utility, albeit an unsupported one, to mount ISO images. Here is the download link:

http://download.micr...rolpanel_21.exe

ImgBurn is an excellent free-ware burning tool for reading CD ISO images off the CD and saving the image to a disk drive as a .iso file. Here is the link to the ImgBurn site:

http://www.imgburn.com/

These tools will work with non-copy protected CDs. For copy protected CDs, Thai Visa Forum rules prevent that discussion

BTW by using Virtual CDs. the performance of the Virtual CD dramatically outperforms a CD. I'm with you, I do not recommend purchasing an external CD drive.

Even if you purchase Virtual CD software, it's still less expensive than purchasing a drive.

CDs are also easily prone to damage, a Virtual CD isn't.

I highly recommend to anyone to convert their CDs to images and use the images on Virtual Drives and lock away the original CDs.

Thanks to 'johndeuf' and 'bb1950' for some great practical advice.

My netbook now has the progs on board which was the original aim. I am also no moving my most used discs to virtual cd format.

Thanks a lot

GFB

1. Buy a portable USB CD drive for your netbook. They are only about 2000 baht for a good one.

IMHO liveinlos solution is the best. This problem is going to come up again and is one of the disadvantages of owning a netbook and will future proof your investment

there is an alternative that no one has hinted on

a sharkoon swift-case 5.25 external odd enclosure.

iv got one as I have a blue-ray DVD player out of a desk computer and stuck it into the sharkoon case and walla can use the net book or hook it up to hdmi very convenient and ale to use a blue-ray player at substantially reduced cost.

My link