Software installation through CD or DVD disc is quite simple and almost anyone can do it nowadays but the problem arises when you purchase a desktop or a laptop and wanted to install some essential soft wares such as antivirus or any other editing soft wares but then found out that your newly owned PC /laptop doesn’t even have a disc drive in the first place?
If you are pondering what you would do now? how would you install it from a physical disc without having an optical drive? Then fear not because in this article we have got you covered. We did a lot of research and came up with various solutions that would help overcome this problem which we have shared in the article below.
USB FLASH DRIVE: How to Install a Software on a Laptop without a CD Drive
The first way to install software that is present on a CD/DVD is by copying the contents onto a flash drive. You can easily do it by purchasing a USB flash drive that has enough space to carry your software files. Usually, they come in various sizes, so it is safe to buy a USB drive that is around 16 GB.
Then after you acquired a USB flash drive plug it into your desktop or laptop that has a CD drive and insert your CD/DVD that the software is on it. Now proceed to the next step by copying the files from your CD/DVD disk into your USB flash drive. This will take a while, after transferring your files is done you can then proceed to plug the USB drive into your desktop or laptop and install the software from your USB drive. After the installation is done you can safely remove the USB flash drive.
Although this method might seem lengthy, it gets the job done and is way more convenient than any other alternative.
External Optical Drive:
The second way to install software is through an External CD drive. You can find plenty of external CD drives that have a USB port connector ranging from $10 to $25, depending on their quality and brand, but they are usually almost all decent and gets the job done. On the flip side, they also have a feature for reading and writing, so you can burn files onto an empty CD or DVD disk too. Although Blu-Ray optical drives tend to be more pricey as compared to the generic ones, they are always on sale so you can find them at decent prices too.
After acquiring an optical disk drive, connect its USB port to your Desktop or your laptop and insert the CD/DVD, your laptop or desktop will recognize it as a standard CD/DVD drive, proceed to double clicking on the files in the CD/DVD and click install the software.
Viola, that’s pretty much it, you will be able to install it through an external disc drive in a matter of a few minutes. Although if it’s a video game, just make sure you have your disc in the drive when the game checks for CD/DVD while you’re playing.
Through ISO Files or Virtual Discs -How to Install a Software on a Laptop without a CD Drive
An iso image or file is an archive file that has all files emulated in such a way, sector by sector, including the file system of an optical disc, that your laptop or desktop device recognizes as an optical disc device. It can be identified by the extension of .iso which is an abbreviation for the International Organization for the standardization of optical disc drives.
An ISO file or image can be created by disk imaging software, some of which are either free or come with a price tag, depending on the feature it has to offer. All you have to do is select the desired files from a CD disc into the imaging software and convert it to an ISO image. After the ISO image is made, you can then move it to your desktop or laptop and double-click on it, in Windows 8 or Windows 10 it will automatically mount it without having external software to recognize it. But on older versions of Windows, you might want to use 3rd party software available on the internet.
After the Iso image has been mounted, install the software by double-clicking on install and following the steps given in the software’s manual.
Keep in mind the conversion of the files to iso images is a time-consuming process, so you have to be patient.
Installing software from the Internet:
Installing software from the Internet:
The most easiest and convenient way is by downloading the software onto your laptop or desktop from the internet. Depending on the speed of your carrier or Internet provider, your desired software will be downloaded in due time. Although some software tends to have a price tag so you have to purchase it before downloading it such as Adobe Photoshop, lightroom CC, etc.
Make sure you have a decent antivirus before downloading software off the internet because most websites can trick you into downloading malicious programs which can do more harm than good. After the file has been downloaded double click on the file with the .exe extension and proceed by following the steps given by the software.
If you have a decent internet connection, this procedure is way more convenient and hassle-free. As most of the new laptop and Desktop comes with no CD drive, this method of installing software without a CD drive is widely used.
Through Shared Folder on a Network:
How to Install a Software on a Laptop without a CD Drive
This method is very versatile and used widely on commercial or office platforms because through this method you can just make the files public through the network and share the files with all the users that are connected on the same network, this method is very safe and you can also give access to anyone you want and opt out anyone you don’t want to give access to.
This is a very easy method to provide files to more than one Pc or laptop while saving you precious time. Just insert the CD disk in one of the laptops of the desktop that does have an optical drive and share the components of the Disc with another Pc or laptop connected through the network and then the users can install the desired files through the network-shared folder.
Conclusion:
So these are the various steps to install software without having a CD drive, we hope we have guided you well. You can choose any method above that suits your needs and is convenient for you.
