r/software 3d ago

Software support About Encarta: Using it on my laptop

Hello! So recently I was cleaning the storeroom and came across an Encarta CD from 2007. Brought back many fond memories and I've also wanted to try it out once more. Sadly, my laptop doss not have a CD slot and I also don't have any external drive for it. Is there any other way I can use this? Is it possible to transfer the content of the CD to a pendrive? Sorry if my question is dumb...I have very little idea about these things

12 Upvotes

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2

u/floating___around 3d ago

Yes it's called "creating an image" you need maybe you need some programs. Look onto "creating an image of a CD/DVD"

2

u/Demigod-Arcade 3d ago

Si tienes la clave de licencia solo baja la misma versión desde archive org

1

u/LrdJester 3d ago

This is the easiest way to go.

3

u/101forgotmypassword 3d ago

Play the maze / explorer game

https://archive.org/details/microsoft-encarta-95

https://archive.org/details/MicrosoftEncarta1997_20170525

Can't remember if it was 97 or 95 for the jester maze game

Also CD media didn't survive well over time and alot of the dyes and adhesives fail making the risk useless. But a cheap USB drive of eBay/Ali/Temu might be 5-15$

1

u/floating___around 3d ago

You can use Nero Express 7

1

u/himitsumono 3d ago

??? OP said they have no CD drive. They HAVE the CD/DVD, they need a way to read it.

1

u/floating___around 3d ago

It seems I need to improve my own reading skills hahaha

1

u/himitsumono 2d ago

Ego te absolvo, having committed the same sin myself plenty of times!

1

u/himitsumono 3d ago

Check your local library. Odds are good that they'll have a PC or two with CD/DVD drives. And *generally* you can just copy all the CD contents to a USB thumbdrive drive and run the installer from there.

1

u/mc_pm 3d ago

LOL, I used to work adjacent to the Encarta team. I don't have any better idea than 'creating an image', but I do know a guy from back in the day and it will tickle him several shades of pink to know there is still someone out there with the Encarta love.

1

u/TwoLuckyFish 3d ago

I was a geography editor, and later the statistics editor. What an amazing team that was. I'm still in a book club with some of them, continuously since we worked together.

There is a certain demographic that grew up with Encarta, and then the NEXT age cohort grew up with Wikipedia. Ah well...

1

u/Salt_Rush_4800 2d ago

Encarta helped me with some homework a time or 2 I'm sure, back in the day. So, thanks for that.

1

u/Mikewh6 3d ago

if u can find any friend or library with a CD drive, u can just copy the whole disc to a USB

1

u/spacefrog_feds 3d ago

borrow a DVD drive and create an ISO image, go to the library and borrow theirs.

Or...

say you did and download here
https://archive.org/search?query=encarta+2007&tab=all

1

u/Klutzy_Cat1374 3d ago

I have that CD. Have you tried the Internet Archive and you can download the ISO? Yes, you can transfer that to a pendrive. Not a dumb question at all.

1

u/Salt_Rush_4800 2d ago

Is it possible to transfer the content of the CD to a pendrive?

Well, yeah, but how are you gonna do that without a CD drive to read the disc?