Using Rosetta Stone without a CD drive

italianranma

I just bought a new netbook without a CD drive. I've got the Rosetta stone on CDs (legally: I bought them), and I'd like to use it with the new netbook. Is there a way that I can install the software (maybe by installing it on another computer and then using a usb thumbstick or something to add it. Of course I could get an external drive, but then that's just an extra expense.

Any suggestions?

Roland_tHTG

I've been wondering the same thing with other programs for the kids to use on the netbooks. From what I've found, you should be able to create a disk image with another computer and send that to the netbook and mount the image with no trouble.

It never hurts to send an e-mail to them because you never know if they have an easy answer or not.

travathian

If you have access to another PC with an optical drive, you can always share that drive over the network to do the install. Does the software do a cd check or something? If so you can either find a crack, or use the other PC to create an iso, transfer the image to the netbook, and then mount the iso.

elliotw2

I'm fairly sure that this program streams from the Cd drive, so I'd try an ISO mounter first

Tofystedeth

Do you have Windows XP? If so there is a Virtual CD Drive PowerToy you can get for XP (Here: From Microsoft) that is pretty small and easy to use. So just rip an ISO of the Rosetta CDs, copy them over the network or via USB drive and then mount them and it will treat it just like a real disc.

Megazver

italianranma wrote: »

I just bought a new netbook without a CD drive. I've got the Rosetta stone on CDs (legally: I bought them), and I'd like to use it with the new netbook. Is there a way that I can install the software (maybe by installing it on another computer and then using a usb thumbstick or something to add it. Of course I could get an external drive, but then that's just an extra expense.

Any suggestions?

Pirate it. \o/

Seriously, that's the only way I can think of for you to use it without a drive.


Oh god, an infraction! What have I done WHAT HAVE I DONE!?

Tofystedeth

Suggested he do something that's expressly forbidden by board rules? We've pointed out several ways to run it without a CD. Ripping an ISO and mounting it is easy and can be done largely with tools available for free, and even from Microsoft themselves.

Cokebotle

Do you have a USB flash drive? Maybe copy the entire CD to it and try to run it directly on your netbook?

warban

If you need to make an ISO file, http://www.imgburn.com/ can do the job.

fightinfilipino

and for ISO mounting, Daemon Tools Lite is probably the best. resource-lite and easy to use.

Tofystedeth

I'd still recommend the Virtual CD drive I linked earlier. It's tiny, and easy to install and use. And I've never seen antivirus/antimalware programs freak out over it like they often do with daemon tools.

italianranma

Thanks for the help guys. As it happened, a buddy of mine had an external CD drive that he didn't need anymore, so I've been using that. I'm going to try to...uh...do those crazy things you said about iso files and mounting (:winky:) anyway.

If an admin wants to they can lock this thread. Thanks!

travathian

Once you learn about iso files and mounting software you will much appreciate the power they offer.

Athenor

I really would like to start doing ISO mounting. It's one of those areas of computer use that I've never done, but now that I have an incredibly large SATA HDD I really want to do it. After all, nothing annoys me more than needing to have DVD's in my drive to play games. It's why I buy on Steam anymore anyways.

Edit: Is there a Vista x64 compatable program out there that can do this? The virtualCD thing up there is only for XP. Granted, I hope to upgrade to Windows 7 here eventually, but I actually do like Vista...

LuvTheMonkey

Yeah, Virtual Clone Drive should work on Vista x64. I know it works on Windows 7 64 bit.

Athenor

Alright, that was simple enough.. I assume I need to burn an image of the disk before I can mount it though, right? IE this program doesn't make the image itself?

LuvTheMonkey

This is true. Warband mentioned Imgburn, which is also 100% free and can do that job for you. Appears to work on Vista x64 as well.

I can't say what/any copy protection the programs you want to do this with use, so it may not work with all of them - can't hurt to try though.

Athenor

Yeah, I have imgburn.. and off the bat I just wanted to get Fallout 3 to load. I hate the sound of my DVD-RAM drive spinning up all the time.

The autoplay feature doesn't work, but the game loads up fine. wewt.

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