Error Message: There is no disk in the drive. Please insert a disk in

[aintnorock]

Error: "There is no disk in the drive. Please insert a disk into drive \Device\Harddisk4\DR5"

The situation is this. I have an old program that came entirely on CDs. You can load the program on your hard drive, but it's constantly asking you to insert CD's to read portions of the program. I had a computer that I got it to work on, by loading the program on the Hard drive, and then fooled it into reading a flash drive that has all the content of the extra 7 disks.

I just got a new computer, and that solution is not working. The software won't recognize the flash drive no matter which USB slot I put it in. The software is no longer supported. It runs, but only if I insert the CDs. No matter where I put the
disk, it's not recognized, even if I change the drive letter to what the initial installation came from.

I know it's an odd question, but it's driving me nuts.

Thanks.
carl

 

[mohavepc]

There is a utility from Microsoft that allows you to mount iso's as virtual dc roms, dvd, roms ect. it can be downloaded from Virtual CD-Rom. If you need to create iso's from the disks themselves try ImgBurn just be sure to uncheck any added software it wants to install including conduit.

 

[mohavepc]

If you need help using either feel free to contact me. I will be out of contact until Saturday morning but I will check back on this thread then. Have a good afternoon.

 

[aintnorock]

I've downloaded the Virtual Machine software, but not sure what to do next.

 

[mohavepc]

Ok lets start with a couple questions.
1. do you have an iso or a few iso's of the disks you are wanting to use?
2. Did you follow the directions in the Microsoft read me file that was part of the download?

Once you have the iso's in place then use the VCDControlTool.exe to "Mount" those files as drives. choose drive letters in order so you will remember where to point the program I.E. disk 1 is drive J:, disk 2 is drive K: ect. once in the program that wants the disks just point it to the appropriate drive letter. Be sure to choose drive letters far enough down the list as to not interfere with use of usb's or externals. j through s should suffice.

 

[mohavepc]

Aintnorock I apologize but I am about to head out for a long weekend. I have asked for someone else to monitor this thread in case you come back needing more help. If more help is Not needed would you mind marking this thread solved?

Thank you

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Well for my two cents worth I think you might need to look at beefing up the RAM to 4GB at minimum. But that is a by the by and I am really interested if it is not a confidential program as to what it is because it seems strange these days to have a program on seven disks.
Is it not possible to get a newer version of it because this seems a very long way round the houses way of installing a program.

Now out of interest did you follow Mohavepc's instructions yet?

 

[whs]

I am a bit puzzled. If that program comes on 7 CDs and asls for the next CD, why can't you just take the first CD out and insert the next CD.

 

[Slartybart]

You could try to extract the files from the install.
See this thread for three utilities
http://www.sevenforums.com/general-...act-contents-exe-file-instead-installing.html

Sometimes you can run the install package in a command line and get the install options help.

AnInstallPgm.exe /?

InstallSheild: Setup.exe and Update.exe Command-Line Parameters

MS Self Extractor: Description of the command-line switches that are supported by a software installation package, an update package, or a hotfix package that was created by using Microsoft Self-Extractor​

It's much easier to use the utilities 7zip or WinRAR (I've never used Universal Extractor, but I might try it if the need to extract an installer package arises again)

You might have to do this on the old machine and transfer the resulting extraction to the new machine due to the CD sequencing error. Hopefully the CDs are still viable.

 

[mohavepc]

I know it seems a bit extreme to mount ISO's as drives, in this case however it has worked for me. I was playing several D&D games from win98. Why? Because that's where I started and I have a place in my heart for them. There is no new version of the old 8bit and 16bit games that I enjoyed. So I found a way to make the discs load from the hard drive rather than the cd tray. first it loads faster and two I don't have to risk scratching old hard to find next to impossible to replace disks.

If and/or when this person returns I would like to know if this worked for them.

 

[Berton]

I don't have to risk scratching old hard to find next to impossible to replace disks.

I use a CD/DVD burning program to create an .iso image file of such discs then when I need it can use that file to burn a new exact copy of the original without needing to have the original at hand. Most Linux Operating System downloads are .iso format, quite useful for creating an exact copy of the original.

 

[mohavepc]

I don't have to risk scratching old hard to find next to impossible to replace disks.

I use a CD/DVD burning program to create an .iso image file of such discs then when I need it can use that file to burn a new exact copy of the original without needing to have the original at hand. Most Linux Operating System downloads are .iso format, quite useful for creating an exact copy of the original.

I do as well, for discs I need a physical copy of. This however is an option where you don't need physical discs. I have a 500gb hard drive on my work desktop that is only ISO's. From game discs to OS and Office installers. I burn one when a physical disc is needed. I usually burn the OS and Program install discs to several USB drives. Most PC's today support USB boot. Much faster to install the OS from a flash drive.

 

[aintnorock]

Problem Solved

I apologize for not getting back to you all about this issue. Although I did not use mohavepc's solution, his post and others' posts led me to a solution:

I changed the CD drive's name from E: to F: when I installed the software, since the program was always looking for the disk in E:. Then I changed it back to E:.

I copied each disk (which were not installable) to a flashdrive F:. That worked.

I went one step further so I wouldn't even have to use the flashdrive.

I set up a small partition on my harddrive and named it F: I then copied the entire contents of the flashdrive to the partition.

Now when I run the program, it automatically looks for drive F: and finds it, and I can run the program entirely from the hard drive. It runs faster and more efficiently than having to swap disks in an out of the C: drive.

mhs asked why I couldn't take the CD out and insert the next - I could have, but that's the whole problem I was trying to solve, not having to swap disks in and out while I was running the problem. Had it been an install, it would have been easy, but the program being so old, it had no clue that I had 8gb of RAM and a 1 TB hard drive.

Thanks everyone for contributing. I appreciate the conversation. And I'm about to post another problem with another very old program, so watch for it.


Carl

 

[mohavepc]

Glad you found a solution Carl. Please mark this thread solved
Have a good day.

 

[Berton]

that's the whole problem I was trying to solve, not having to swap disks in and out

That's a whole lot of the reason for programmers to put their software on a DVD, holds up to about 7 times as much as a CD.

 

[Slartybart]

Old programs ... changed drive letters ... glad you were able to get the program off the CDs and onto a partition and ... most importantly the program is working. Thanks for the feedback that provided the solution that worked for you.

Bill
.