If you have difficulties installing or running the software, and by manually browsing
the CD-ROM (right-click on the CD-ROM icon, and select Explore) you notice that all
directory and file names are "truncated" to a maximum length of 8 characters
(for example, you see a directory named "Document" instead of
"Documentation"), then you should upgrade your CD-ROM filing system to support
long file names. All Cloanto CD-ROMs for Windows use the Joliet (standard since Windows 95)
filing system. Cross-platform and Amiga CD-ROMs may also use
additional extensions, such as Rock Ridge. If you experience this problem under
Windows 95, you probably are using some old "real-mode" CD-ROM drivers designed
for DOS, which were possibly included on a floppy disk with your CD-ROM drive.
The MSCDEX (Microsoft CD-ROM Extensions) system was introduced to support CD-ROMs under
MS-DOS. This system is also referred to as "Real-Mode Drivers". These drivers
are usually provided by manufacturers of CD-ROM drives, and involve entries in the
Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files. MSCDEX only supports short file names
("8.3"), whereas modern software applications need to use file and directory names longer
than 8 characters.
The Windows 95 CD-ROM drivers (also referred to as "Protected-Mode Drivers",
or "Windows 95 Compact Disc File System") are part of all Windows versions since
Windows 95, and allow Windows to automatically detect and access most CD-ROM drives
without requiring real-mode drivers. The Windows drivers support long file and directory
names, as used in most CD-ROMs by Cloanto.
One simple attempt to disable real-mode drivers and let Windows 95 automatically use
its own drivers consists in editing the Config.sys and Autoexec.bat files. While we have
tested the procedure described here in different configurations, we must also warn you
that all changes to the system configuration may lead to unpredictable results, so please
proceed carefully, and at your own risk. To launch the System Configuration Editor, select
Run in the Start menu, and type "sysedit" (without the quotes), then select OK.
In the Config.sys window, locate and comment-out the line that loads the real-mode CD-ROM
driver, by typing "REM " at the beginning of the line. The resulting line should
be something like: "REM device=...". Make sure that the only change you make is
adding the "REM " prefix, so that the change can easily be undone in case of
difficulties. Similarly, in the Autoexec.bat window, comment-out the line beginning with
"MSCDEX", which references the device commented-out in Config.sys, so that the
line becomes "REM MSCDEX...". If, after rebooting the system, Windows 95 does
not detect the CD-ROM drive, it may be necessary to also remove (in Control
Panel/System/Device Manager) the controller for the IDE or SCSI device to which the CD-ROM
drive is connected, and let Window reinstall the controller.
Please refer to the computer's documentation, to Microsoft Support Online and/or to the
manufacturer of your CD-ROM for additional information. Article Q151634
on the Microsoft Knowledge Base explains protected-mode CD-ROM drive support in Windows
95. Article Q131499 explains
which CD-ROM drives are not automatically recognized by Windows 95, requiring special
treatment. Article Q137813 includes
some more technical information.
If you are experiencing this problem on an Amiga computer, then please make sure that the filing
system you are using supports Rock Ridge extensions, and that these are enabled. Freely
distributable CD-ROM filing systems for the Amiga that include these features, such as
"AmiCDROM"/"AmiCDFS" (at least version 2.0), are available from most
Aminet or Fred Fish collections.
