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I have an application (that I paid for a long time ago) that runs only when the CD is in the drive. At the time of purchase it was annoying but I could live with it.

Now however I have a system with no CD drive.

Is there a way to run the app off a USB and make it think the USB is a cd?

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3 Answers

extract an .iso file from the CD using a tool like MagicISO on a computer with a cd drive. Transfer the .iso file, and then mount it so your computer thinks the cd is inserted.

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you can use DT-Lite as well.. –  tumchaaditya Aug 30 '12 at 9:38
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Try downloading virtual clone drive. It creates a virtual cdrom drives that allows you to mount ISOs. Its free, but not open source, and it works very well. There are other alternatives out there as well, you can just google them. I keep ISOs of all my CDs and DVDs on a network drive and just mount them as needed.

Unfortunately, some antipiracy software built into some software will detect these virtual drives and prevent the software from working. Its very rare though.

Worst case, contact the manufacturer of the software and explain the problem. They might give you a workaround.

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Microsoft makes a pretty neat USB/DVD tool available here, which does what you want. Virtual clone drive works very well too, but doesn't use a usb.

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Doesn't their USB/DVD tool only work for Windows installation ISOs? I think that tool is designed to make bootable USB drives that can be used in place of a CD to install the Windows OS. –  Isaac Dontje Lindell Aug 24 '12 at 4:07
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