Age of Empires II Gold without CD

I'm looking for an official Microsoft solution to run Age of Empires II
without a CD. I have a tiny Dell Latitude laptop with an external CD drive,
which suffice to say I don't always connect when I travel. Forcing me to run
the game with the CD in the drive (after I've gone out and purchased it
legally) is a right pain in the ass.

If there are no official solutions then please can someone point me towards
a patch that isn't loaded with trojans and viruses. I'm not fussed about
multi-player since I can't pursuade my girlfriend to play against me!

Any help and advice is most welcome. Ironically I've been playing the trial
version and enjoyed wasting all those hours on the plane without a damn CD!

There are solutions, but none of them are really legal.

Ben wrote:
> I'm looking for an official Microsoft solution to run Age of Empires II
> without a CD. I have a tiny Dell Latitude laptop with an external CD drive,
> which suffice to say I don't always connect when I travel. Forcing me to run
> the game with the CD in the drive (after I've gone out and purchased it
> legally) is a right pain in the ass.
>
> If there are no official solutions then please can someone point me towards
> a patch that isn't loaded with trojans and viruses. I'm not fussed about
> multi-player since I can't pursuade my girlfriend to play against me!
>
> Any help and advice is most welcome. Ironically I've been playing the trial
> version and enjoyed wasting all those hours on the plane without a damn CD!
>

Also, many of the 'No CD Cracks' are actually worms in disguise :-)

"Thomas Kuck" <Kolossus@Rhodos.com> wrote in message
news:eK3sZiILHHA.2236@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> There are solutions, but none of them are really legal.
>
> Ben wrote:
>> I'm looking for an official Microsoft solution to run Age of Empires II
>> without a CD. I have a tiny Dell Latitude laptop with an external CD
>> drive, which suffice to say I don't always connect when I travel. Forcing
>> me to run the game with the CD in the drive (after I've gone out and
>> purchased it legally) is a right pain in the ass.
>>
>> If there are no official solutions then please can someone point me
>> towards a patch that isn't loaded with trojans and viruses. I'm not
>> fussed about multi-player since I can't pursuade my girlfriend to play
>> against me!
>>
>> Any help and advice is most welcome. Ironically I've been playing the
>> trial version and enjoyed wasting all those hours on the plane without a
>> damn CD!
>>

Sadly, that is my fear. It is a sad day when you need to "crack" legally
purchased software!

I'm going to try and mount a copy of the CD using Daemon Tools as a
workaround.

"John E. Carty" wrote:

> Also, many of the 'No CD Cracks' are actually worms in disguise :-)
>
> "Thomas Kuck" <Kolossus@Rhodos.com> wrote in message
> news:eK3sZiILHHA.2236@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> > There are solutions, but none of them are really legal.
> >
> > Ben wrote:
> >> I'm looking for an official Microsoft solution to run Age of Empires II
> >> without a CD. I have a tiny Dell Latitude laptop with an external CD
> >> drive, which suffice to say I don't always connect when I travel. Forcing
> >> me to run the game with the CD in the drive (after I've gone out and
> >> purchased it legally) is a right pain in the ass.
> >>
> >> If there are no official solutions then please can someone point me
> >> towards a patch that isn't loaded with trojans and viruses. I'm not
> >> fussed about multi-player since I can't pursuade my girlfriend to play
> >> against me!
> >>
> >> Any help and advice is most welcome. Ironically I've been playing the
> >> trial version and enjoyed wasting all those hours on the plane without a
> >> damn CD!
> >>
>
>
>

As far as I know that is a legal way, provided you have the original and
use it only yourself.

Ben wrote:
> Sadly, that is my fear. It is a sad day when you need to "crack" legally
> purchased software!
>
> I'm going to try and mount a copy of the CD using Daemon Tools as a
> workaround.
>
> "John E. Carty" wrote:
>
>
>> Also, many of the 'No CD Cracks' are actually worms in disguise :-)
>>
>> "Thomas Kuck" <Kolossus@Rhodos.com> wrote in message
>> news:eK3sZiILHHA.2236@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>
>>> There are solutions, but none of them are really legal.
>>>
>>> Ben wrote:
>>>
>>>> I'm looking for an official Microsoft solution to run Age of Empires II
>>>> without a CD. I have a tiny Dell Latitude laptop with an external CD
>>>> drive, which suffice to say I don't always connect when I travel. Forcing
>>>> me to run the game with the CD in the drive (after I've gone out and
>>>> purchased it legally) is a right pain in the ass.
>>>>
>>>> If there are no official solutions then please can someone point me
>>>> towards a patch that isn't loaded with trojans and viruses. I'm not
>>>> fussed about multi-player since I can't pursuade my girlfriend to play
>>>> against me!
>>>>
>>>> Any help and advice is most welcome. Ironically I've been playing the
>>>> trial version and enjoyed wasting all those hours on the plane without a
>>>> damn CD!
>>>>
>>>>
>>
>>

Install the game with the full installation. Start playing the game,
and you can take out the CD.
(You must have it to start)
(I'm not sure if you need it for menu's)