6.7 Use in Plug & Play mode from a virtual CD-ROM drive (mod. 27/04/2003)

If you intend to use the software of the Rosetta distribution only in an occasional way, the use in Plug & Play mode from the CD-ROM is very well adapted. Indeed, when you want to use one of the software, inserting the Rosetta CD-ROM in the CD drive is sufficient, and the software is immediately available from assistant Rosetta. Outside of these occasional periods, your PC is modified insignificantly: the CD-ROM drive is free, the files related to the Rosetta distribution occupy practically no room on your hard disk, and the system of menus is not modified significantly.

If on the other hand you plan to use the software of the CD-ROM in an intensive manner, this mode of use can be penalizing insofar as the CD-ROM drive is blocked during the whole time where you use the distribution. In this case, if you have a big hard disk (for example M:) with a lot of free space (at least 700 Mo free in FAT32), it is recommended to copy the totality of the files of the Rosetta CD-ROM in a directory of this hard disk (for example in the directory M:\Copies of CD-ROMs\Rosetta), to associate a drive's letter (for example R:) to this directory with the help of the Subst instruction:

subst R: "M:\Copies of CD-ROMs\Rosetta"

and to proceed with the installation of the Rosetta distribution from this virtual CD-ROM drive instead of the physical CD-ROM drive.

The instruction subst above can be written in a batch file (for example inidv.bat). In double-clicking on this batch file in the Windows Explorer, a virtual CD-ROM drive, is created, from which you can proceed with the installation of the Rosetta distribution.

Under Windows 9x and Windows NT 4.0, this virtual CD-ROM drive can be made permanently available, by copying the file inidv.bat in the directory WINDIR\Start Menu\Programs\Starting (?) (cf. also the installation manual of AsTeX, sec. 18.19, Use in Plug Play mode from the hard disk). Under Windows NT 5.x (2000 and XP), it is necessary to copy the file inidv.bat in the directory ALLUSERSPROFILE\Start Menu\Programs\Starting to make permanently available the virtual CD-ROM drive to all users of the PC¹ .