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Can BibleWorks Be Installed on a Computer with No CD or DVD Drive?
Author: KB Admin Reference Number: AA-02755 Views: 33372 Created: 2012-08-05 19:00 Last Updated: 2018-12-04 16:14 100 Rating/ 1 Voters

BibleWorks 10 is distributed either by download or in a media version on a flash (thumb, USB) drive.  In either case, no CD or DVD drive is required for BibleWorks installation: instructions for accomplishing the installation appear here.  While a download order of a new BibleWorks 10 license immediately provides a BibleWorks 10 activation code, those wishing to upgrade from a previous BibleWorks version cannot make use of the download until their code is transmitted to them following the purchase of an upgrade license and the validation of their previous version's activation code or serial number.

BibleWorks versions 3 through 9
were distributed on optical drive media (CDs or DVDs).  (A beta download capability for BibleWorks 9 was tested but is no longer available; none of versions 3 through 9, therefore, can be downloaded.)  The use of external media provides two options for installing these versions of BibleWorks to devices without optical drives, such as certain netbooks and mobile devices:

     a.  One way is to mount an external CD or DVD drive via a USB connection. Such external drives are inexpensive (about US$40) and provide flexibility for the installation of other CD- or DVD-based programs beside BibleWorks.  (Note: getting Windows 10 to recognize an external CD/DVD drive requires some intermediate-to-advanced software modification or a drive specified to be Windows 10-compatible.)

     b.  Using an external CD or DVD drive is not the only solution, though. BibleWorks can be installed to such a computer by copying the data from the CDs or DVDs to an external hard drive, or a flash (thumb, USB) drive.  On Windows computers one may use the steps below.  For version 9 on Mac, use the steps here. Please note that the steps for copying data from one drive to another will differ slightly, depending on the version of Windows running on the computer on which this takes place.  A separate FAQ provides the steps below in more detail and with graphics.

        i.  Setting Up the External Drive for Copying

1. Verify that the external hard drive has sufficient free space.  (For BibleWorks 9, the installation files total about 12 GB.  For earlier versions the requirement will be less.)
2. Connect the external drive to a computer that does have an optical (DVD or CD) drive.
3. Insert the Program Disk (Disk 1) in the computer. If an Autoplay window opens, click Open Folder to View Files; otherwise, cancel the prompt to install BibleWorks if it comes up.
4. If it has not already opened, open My Computer (also known as Windows Explorer) on the computer. In Windows Vista, 7, or 10 go to Start | Computer. In Windows 8 search for File Explorer.
5. Verify that both the external hard drive and the BibleWorks disk are visible in the My Computer window.
6. View the contents of the external drive by clicking the icon for it in the folder tree.
7. Create a new folder named "test" on the external drive, make that the active folder, then proceed.

        ii. Copying Files to the External Drive

1. View the contents of the optical drive, that is, the DVD or CD, by clicking on the name of the drive in the folder tree, on the left.
2. Press the key combination of CTRL+A to select all files in the window. This can also be done by clicking EDIT on the menubar and choosing SELECT ALL from the menu.
3. Copy the selected data to the Windows Clipboard by pressing the keystroke combination of CTRL+C.
4. Click the external, removable drive to make it the active drive, then find and select the folder you named "test" that was created for this task.
5. Perform the Paste action by clicking EDIT | PASTE, by right-clicking in the right-hand window and choosing PASTE, or by performing the keystroke combination CTRL+V.  If you have difficulty copying the file to a flash drive due to a limitation of file size, you must convert the file system format for the flash drive to paste the file successfully. Please click HERE (or HERE and/or HERE for additional information) for instructions on how to do so.
6. If the installation media consist of multiple disks, whether DVDs or CDs, remove the disk currently in the drive and replace it with the next and repeat the steps above.  Continue this until the contents of all disks in the set have been copied to the folder.  (If performing this process to install BibleWorks 7 do not use the Module Disk.)   
7. Remove the external drive from the computer when all copying is complete.

        iii.  Installing BibleWorks to the Computer

1. Start the computer to which BibleWorks is to be installed.
2. Check to make certain that there is enough free drive space for the installation to be performed.
3. Mount the external hard drive or flash drive by plugging into a USB port. Wait for Windows to recognize the drive. This action will install BibleWorks from the folder you had copied to the external drive.
- If a window opens offering choices, select the option to open a window to view the files on the drive.
- If no such menu appears, it may be necessary to open a Computer or My Computer window to view the contents of the drive.
4. If necessary, open the folder that contains the BibleWorks files.
5. Find SETUP.EXE and double-click on it to execute it.
   (If file extensions do not display, the EXE will not show. The file to be executed must be an Application file. The icon will appear in blues and whites, and the file type will be an application file.)
6. Follow the installation steps from this point as prompted. Reboot the computer when the process is complete.

7. If you are using BibleWorks 5, 6 or revision A01 of the BibleWorks 7 disks for this process, additional measures are necessary to achieve compatibility with Windows Vista, 7, 8/8.1 and 10. Do not run BibleWorks after you install until you have followed the instructions indicated here.

8. If you are using BibleWorks 8, please use the instructions here immediately after installing to enable BibleWorks to work properly in Windows 10. If you are not using Windows 10, please use the instructions here to update the BibleWorks 8 executable so that the program may activate properly.

Last Updated: RG/January 17, 2017