Running a copy CDROM from harddrive?

[alloydog]

OK, before everyone screams "buy the d*mn software" and the like, I have...

Here's the score:
We've got some educational games for our little boy (he's six). I have got them running on Wine with no problems, except that from the CDROM, autorun.inf does not work. That means to run the game, you need to open the file manager, browse to the CDROM directory then click the appropriate EXE file. For a six-year old, this is a bit much.

On another (now dead) PC, I copied the contents of the CDROM across to the PC, and used wineconfig to set the directory as a CDROM drive. I'm sure I then edited something in the "Windows" registry, changing "D" to "J" - I called the fake CDROM drive "J" for Josefina. I could then create a desktop shortcut that my boy could just click to run the game. After installing another of the games, I tried the same thing, but could not get it to work.

The games are:
Josefiina - Matikkaralli
Josefiina - Matikkajahti
Josefiina - Kirjainviidakko
Josefiina - Liikennevinkkejä
(not exactly the latest and greatest FPS.) None have copy protection.

The reason I need to run them from the harddrive is because autorun.inf does not seem to work under WINE. Also, running from the HDD means I can put the CDROM away safe from grubby fingers.

Any help? Or any better suggestions, such as how to get autorun.inf to work?

[dimesio]

Some apps can just be copied and run from the hard drive, but if the app expects to interact with real cd-rom hardware, that won't work. Try mounting an iso using cdemu.

[alloydog]

I'll tried copying the whole CDROM contents to the HDD, but it still asks for the CDROM - it's quite stupid, as installing the game copies the contents of the CDROM to the harddrive anyway...

Thanks, I'll give the iso thing a try.

[alloydog]

OK, finally got back to this. Since last time, Linux has been reinstalled (Linux Mint 13) and everything recently updated.

I retried installing the games, and they work fine. I created a directory on the harddrive and set that as a CDROM. Then, I copied over the contents of each CDROM that directory.

The CDROM contents for three of the games was the same for each CD: That is, a directory with the game files in, "aurorun.inf" and "install.exe". For the fourth one, there is an extra file called "00000001.TMP"

Of the games: Kirjainviidakko, Liikennevinkkejä and Matikkajahti now run OK from the harddrive without the CDROM in.

But the fourth one, Mysteeri Lonbtoossa, I get the message saying the DVD or CDROM needs to be installed. I get the same message even when I put the CDROM in. I can't find any other differences between this game and the others that work. They all came from the same pack. I though this is a bit of thread drift, but any ideas?

[dimesio]

As I said earlier: if the game is designed to interact with real cd-rom hardware, merely copying the files won't work. Try mounting an iso with cdemu.

[alloydog]

But the fourth one, Mysteeri Lonbtoossa, I get the message saying the DVD or CDROM needs to be installed. I get the same message even when I put the CDROM in.

I see your point, but I'm getting the error message even with the CDROM in the drive and running the exe file from the disc.

[dimesio]

Terminal output? Also, what Wine version are you using? If it's not the latest development release, upgrade.