How to Copy Files and Programs from a CD-ROM to a Hard Disk

This article describes how to copy files and programs from a CD-ROM to a hard disk. The following topics are included in this article:

• Copying Files from a CD-ROM to a Hard Disk
• Copying Programs from a CD-ROM to a Hard Disk

Copying Files from a CD-ROM to a Hard Disk

When you install a program from a CD-ROM, files are automatically copied to your hard disk; you should not have to perform any additional actions or copy any additional files to your hard disk. However, it may be useful to copy files from a CD-ROM to a hard disk (for example, to view files at a higher speed, to permit alteration of the files, and so on). To copy files from a CD-ROM to a hard disk:

1. If you already have a folder on your hard disk to contain the files from your CD-ROM, note the full path to your folder (for example, C:\Pictures, D:\Images, and so on), and then skip to step 2. If you do not have a folder for your files, create a new folder:
   1. Click Start, point to Programs, and then click Windows Explorer.
   2. Click the hard disk you want to contain the new folder. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Folder.
   3. Type a descriptive name for your folder, and then press ENTER. For example, if you want to copy picture files to your hard disk, you might name the folder Pictures, Images, or some other descriptive name. Note the full path to your folder (for example, C:\Pictures, D:\Images, and so on), and then quit Windows Explorer.
2. Click Start, point to Programs, and then click MS-DOS Prompt.
3. At the command prompt, change to the CD-ROM drive, and then change to the folder that contains the files you want to copy. For example, if you want to copy files from the Drivers folder on the Windows 98 CD-ROM and your CD-ROM drive is drive D, type the following commands, pressing ENTER after each command:
   d:
   cd\
   cd drivers
4. Copy the files from the source folder on the CD-ROM to the destination folder on your hard disk. To continue the previous example, if your source folder is the Drivers folder on the Windows 98 CD-ROM, your CD-ROM drive is drive D, and you want to copy files to the C:\Drivers folder, type the following commands, pressing ENTER after each command:
   copy *.* c:\drivers
   exit

Copying Programs from a CD-ROM to a Hard Disk

Most programs you install from CD-ROM cannot be copied to a hard disk. Instead, most or all of the files are automatically copied to the hard disk when you install the program from the CD-ROM. Because of this, you do not typically need to perform any additional copying to use your program on your hard disk. Note that some Setup programs can be run after you copy the Setup files to a "flat" folder on your hard disk. For additional information about installing a program from a flat folder on your hard disk, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: