copying your sat nav cd

[Superjorn]

i might be going in a dark zone here, but i was looking for a post here on the forum about copying your sat nav cds? something about making and iso file of it, and changing some files and then burn it to a new cd...i tried to do a search, but was out of luck:confused:

its not copyright infragmet is it? its legal here in norway i know, but who knows how it is in the rest of the world...

[mluton]

Copyinig (backup) is fine for personal use, not sure about changing files though.

[BigW]

I found this on vwnavi, is this what your thinking of?

OK' date='

I've had enough of this bogus copyright stuff. Don't delete this post, or I'll be very upset.

I'll say this first:

IT IS NOT A VIOLATION OF THE DMCA OR ANY OTHER COPYRIGHT LAW, EVEN EUROPEAN, TO MAKE PERSONAL COPIES OF DISKS THAT YOU LEGALLY OWN IF YOU DON'T DEFEAT A COPY PROTECTION MECHANISM.

In order to use this "starter CD" method, you must be using original CDs that are paid for, and you are allowed by US copyright law and other countries' copyright law to make backups of these CDs that you legally purchased, AS LONG AS YOU DON'T DEFEAT A COPY PROTECTION MECHANISM.

Luckily, you don't have to.

Here's what you do.

1) You will need a program called WinISO. This program allows you to edit ISO files which are basically CD image files. Note you will have to purchase this program as the demo version cannot save more than 100MB of data. It's only $30. WinISO is a CD-ROM image file utility that can convert BIN to ISO, extract/edit/create ISO files directly, make bootable CDs and as a BIN/ISO converter/extractor/editor

(Alternatively, you could try copying all the files off of the CD to a folder, making the changes to the configuration files described below, and burning the files in the folder back to a CD, but I'm not sure if it will work. At best, it will save you $30, at worst, it will cost you a CD.)

2) Insert your first NAV CD, open WinISO, and go to Actions, "Make ISO from CDROM"

3) Once that is finished, you should see the files in the image in the WinISO program.

4) You need to modify two of the files. To do that you have to extract them, then delete them from the image, modify the files, then add them back to the image

5) Extract the files CONFIG.SYS and PARAM.SYS to your desktop or some other convenient location.

6) VERY IMPORTANT: Delete CONFIG.SYS and PARAM.SYS from the ISO file by selecting them and pressing the delete key. You must delete them since we are adding the modified ones back in later.

7) Leave WinISO open.

8) We are going to modify the two files that you extracted, then add them back into the ISO image. Note that we ARE NOT MODIFYING ANY SOFTWARE OR REVERSE ENGINEERING ANYTHING, ONLY CHANGING TEXT CONFIGURATION FILES THAT ARE INDENTED FOR THIS PURPOSE!!!!

9) Go to Start, Click RUN, and type "notepad"

10) in notepad, click "file, open" and select the PARAM.SYS file

11) You will find parameters for several different navigation systems. Look for the one marked "AUDI 2DIN, VW_2DIN" number 605. It looks like this:

#[550] # RNS4-VW basic

# SWProduct = navusa_m

# NOMAP_ENBL = TRUE

# BDATA_PREFIX = !~

#

#[605] # AUDI_2DIN, VW_2DIN

# SWProduct = navusa_m

# BDATA_PREFIX = !~

#

[1100] # DX_R70 / RNS4-FH / DX-R52

SWProduct = navusa_m

NOMAP_ENBL = TRUE

12) The middle set is what we want to change. The # symbol is used to tell the navigation system to ignore whatever comes after it, so we are simply going to remove the # symbols ONLY BEFORE OUR MFD UNIT so that the Navi does not ignore it. This will allow both the Audi Navi+ and the VW MFD to work.

13) when you are done, it should look like this:

#[550] # RNS4-VW basic

# SWProduct = navusa_m

# NOMAP_ENBL = TRUE

# BDATA_PREFIX = !~

#

[605] # AUDI_2DIN, VW_2DIN

SWProduct = navusa_m

BDATA_PREFIX = !~

[1100] # DX_R70 / RNS4-FH / DX-R52

SWProduct = navusa_m

NOMAP_ENBL = TRUE

14) Save the file

15) now go to "file, open" and open the CONFIG.SYS file. Make sure this is the one you extracted from the CD, as config.sys is a very common file name.

16) Look for this section:

# Konfigurations-File fuer Produkt TypD

[NavECE_m]

NavECE_m.EXE # Typ D CAN-Product Deutschland Version

[NavUSA_m]

NavUSA_m.EXE # Typ D CAN-Product USA Version

17) This is a European Navi unit, or "NavECE_m", so it is going to try and configure itself as such. However we want it to configure itself as a US Nav Unit, so...

18) Under the [NavECE_m] section, modify the NavECE_m.EXE to say NavUSA_m.EXE, just like the one below it. It should look like this:

# Konfigurations-File fuer Produkt TypD

[NavECE_m]

NavUSA_m.EXE # Typ D CAN-Product Deutschland Version

[NavUSA_m]

NavUSA_m.EXE # Typ D CAN-Product USA Version

19) Save the file.

20) That's it. Now we are going to add them back in. In WinISO, right-click in the right pane and click "add files".

21) Find the CONFIG.SYS and PARAM.SYS that you modified and click Open to add them to the Image. You should see the two files at the bottom of the list.

22) Click the Save button.

23) Now you should be able to use any CD burning program to burn your modified ISO back to CD. I recommend ISORecorder:

ISO Recorder v 2

That's it. Remember, you only have to do this on one CD, to load the new configuration files.

WE HAVE NOT DEFEATED ANY COPY PROTECTION, SINCE THIS MODIFIED CD WILL NOT WORK EXCEPT TO UPDATE THE CONFIGURATION.

Once you load the disk, it will update, then give you an error that the disk won't work. Remove it and insert a disk from the set that you paid for and you should be good to go.

All we have done, in the end, is to change the configuration of our navigation unit. We haven't altered our CDs or software in any way, and we have left the copy protection mechanism intact, as our Navi unit still won't read burned disks.

I hope this helps.

If you are a lawyer and would like to speak with me about this, you may contact me at

+1 (919) 260-0803 or by mail at

Wesley S. Garrison

10 Green Ridge Ln.

Pittsboro, NC 27312

USA

[Superjorn]

thats exactly it! thanks!