Copyright: © 2000-2003 by H+H Software GmbH
Citation: © 2000-2003 by H+H Software GmbH


Overview
 – Overview

The Virtual CD Settings dialog lets you configure all user-definable parameters in the Virtual CD program. The Settings dialog is divided into the following pages:

Global

CD Management

Folders

Hotkey

CD

Creating Virtual CDs

Compression Defaults

Audio Defaults

Network

Drivers

	Configuration settings are user-specific. In other words, if more than one user works with the same computer, each user can store their own version of the Virtual CD settings.


Global Page
 – Global Settings

The Current language is valid for all Virtual CD programs. If you change the language, you need to restart the computer before the new language is used in all parts of the Virtual CD program.

The Current symbol style lets you choose between the Windows XP and Windows 98/Me/NT4/2000 styles for the symbols displayed in program windows, as well as in the Drive View of the Management program. If you change this setting, the new style is used in all parts of the Virtual CD program following reboot.

If you activate the Use the Virtual CD selection program option, then the Start Selection dialog, rather than the Management program, is opened when Virtual CD is started.

	If you don't want to deactivate this option, you can still start the CD Management program directly by double-clicking on the Quick Start Utility icon in your Windows taskbar.

When you install the Virtual CD program, the Virtual CD Quick Start Utility, indicated by a small Virtual CD icon, is automatically installed in the Quick Launch portion (or System Tray) of the Windows taskbar. You can double-click on this icon to start the Virtual CD Management program, or right-click on it for a shortcut menu .  If you don't want this icon on your taskbar, deselect the Start the Quick Start Utility automatically on system start option here.

When the Show popup information texts (tool tips) option is enabled, a description of the function is displayed when you hover the mouse over a control element. Once you know your way around the Virtual CD program, you can deactivate this option.

Select the Retrieve audio CD information from CDDB² server option to have Virtual CD download album names, track titles and artist names automatically from the CDDB server when you work with audio CDs. If your computer does not have Internet access, please deselect this option.


CD Management Page
 – CD Management Page

The option for the double-click function lets you determine what happens when you double-click on a virtual CD in the CD View of the CD Management program. The dialog box offers you the following choices:

•	Show the virtual CD/DVD properties: The Image File Properties window is opened when you double-click on a virtual CD.

•	Insert the virtual CD in its default drive: The virtual CD is inserted in its default drive when you double-click on it. If no default drive is defined for a given virtual CD, then it is inserted in the first available virtual drive found. If no virtual CD drive is available, then the virtual CD in the first virtual drive found is ejected, and the virtual CD in question is inserted in its place.

In the middle portion of this dialog page, you can define which navigation elements are available, and the order in which they appear, in the Drive View of the CD Management program.

The boxes at the bottom of this page let you define which columns are shown, as well as the order they appear in, when 'details' are shown in the CD View of the CD Management program.


Folders Page
 – Folders Page

On this dialog page you can define defaults for all of the folders  that Virtual CD uses. These include the following:

Default folder for virtual CDs	The default path used by the Image Writer for storing virtual CDs as they are created.
Folder for temporary files	Folder used for temporary files created by Virtual CD programs (such as the Editor)
Folder for Quick Copy files	This is where Virtual CD Quick Copy files will be stored.
Folder for script files	Folder for storing scripts created by the Virtual CD Script Generator.
Gracenote CDDB² folder	When you download audio CD information from the Gracenote CDDB server, the database information is stored here by default.
	Make sure the directory you define for the temporary files is on a hard disk that has sufficient available space.
	It is important to choose a directory for temporary files that does not contain any other files, because all files in this directory are deleted automatically when the Editor program is closed.
	Virtual CD creates all its directories under "My Documents." If you have multiple users working on one computer, make sure Virtual CD can access its folders regardless of which user is logged on.


Hotkey Page
 – Hotkey Page

Virtual CD lets you define hotkey combinations to open the Quick Start Utility menu and other programs:

•	Open Quick Start menu: This lets you access the main Virtual CD functions even more quickly.

•	Start Virtual CD Management program: Opens the CD Management program directly, without first showing the Start Selection dialog.

•	Start Virtual CD Editor: Opens the Virtual CD Editor for composing customized virtual CDs.

•	Start Virtual CD Image Wizard: Starts the Image Writer for making 1:1 images of physical CDs.

	You can only define a hotkey for the Quick Start menu if the Quick Start Utility is already running.


CD Page
 – CD Page

Do not show virtual CDs for which files are not found: With this option activated, Virtual CD does not attempt to show icons for virtual CDs that are not currently accessible.

A given virtual CD can appear only once in the categorized folders: Select this option if you do not want to allow duplicate virtual CDs in the display folders.

Permit editing of CD/DVD labels: Activates the "CD label" fields in the Image Writer and in the Image File Properties shown in the CD Management program so you can edit CD labels.

Intervals (in seconds) at which Virtual CD checks for existing virtual CDs: Defines how often Virtual CD checks in the background for virtual CDs. The value here can be between 0 (off) and 300.

	If you have a large number of virtual CDs, this process might negatively affect performance. In this case, we recommend setting the interval to "0" in order to switch off this function.
	If this function is switched off, Virtual CD always shows all virtual CDs both in the Quick Start Utility and in the Windows Explorer.

The next option defines how virtual CDs are list for selection  when you choose the "Insert" command in the Quick Start Utility and in the Windows Explorer.

You can choose between

•	Sorted by category: The virtual CDs are sorted into user-definable folders. This can make it easier to find a specific virtual CD, especially if there are a large number available in your system.

•	All listed together in an overview: All CDs are listed in an overview, allowing you to see all CDs at a glance without browsing through the various folders.

	If you have a large number of virtual CDs, we recommend using the sorted by category option and giving the folders names that indicate the content type; such as "DVD Videos", "Music CDs" and "Applications," for example.

Eject physical CDs automatically: Helps you make sure your physical CDs are not used at any of your workstations. With this option selected, Virtual CD ejects any physical CD as soon as it is inserted. When you activate this option, you are prompted to define a password. You will need to enter the same password at the password prompt before you can switch this option off again.


Creating Virtual CDs Page
 – Creating Virtual CDs Page

When the Use virtual drives as source drives option is activated, you can create virtual CDs from other virtual CDs. Selecting this option affects other VCD programs as follows:

•	In the CD Management program, when you right-click on a virtual CD drive, you can select an option to Create a virtual CD if there is a virtual CD in the virtual drive.

•	The Explorer Extension adds the v5 - Create a virtual CD option to the shortcut menu that opens when you right-click on a virtual drive.

•	The Image Writer treats virtual drives in the same manner as physical CD drives. In other words, any virtual CD drive that contains a virtual CD is listed as a potential source drive.

	You cannot create a virtual CD from a virtual CD that contains analog audio tracks. If a given virtual CD drive contains a virtual CD with sound files, that drive is treated as an empty drive by the Image Writer.

CD-Extra is a multi-session CD containing audio tracks in the first session and a data track in the second. The data track usually contains a short video that starts automatically when the CD is inserted in a computer. To save disk space, you can select the option to Automatically remove the data track from "CD-Extra" CDs.

If you select the Allow repair of the CD's table of contents option, Virtual CD checks the ToC of the source CD and corrects any errors detected.

If you select the Create a track list in the 'Comment' field of virtual audio CDs option, then all track titles from a source music CD are listed in the "Comment" field of the virtual CD. The "Comment" field can be edited at any time, regardless of whether this option is selected or not.

Automatically set the "Eject on exit" option for new virtual CDs: Select this option to have the Eject on exit option automatically activated for every new virtual CD created. You can change this option later on the General page of the Image File Properties dialog.

Suppress autorun when the virtual CD is inserted: This setting defines whether the autorun function is initially active for new virtual CDs or not.

The last option on this page lets you adjust the priority given by the operating system when allotting system resources to the Image Writer for creating a virtual CD. You can choose from the following:

•	Low priority: With this setting, other programs are allowed a much greater share of system resources than Virtual CD, which can slow down the creation process considerably. We do not recommend this setting unless you have an operation running in the background that requires higher priority.

•	Normal priority: With this setting, Virtual CD is allotted about as much CPU time as would normally be the case, if no adjustment were possible.

•	High priority: Gives as much CPU time as possible to the Image Writer process. In this case, all other processes are allotted only the minimum required CPU time.

	If you have not experienced any problems while creating virtual CDs, we recommend leaving the setting at normal. This corresponds to the CPU time normally allotted to any program.


Compression Defaults Page
 – Compression Defaults Page

The defaults you set here are applied automatically in the Easy Copy Mode, and are presented as defaults that can be overwritten in the Image Wizard when working in the Expert Copy Mode.

In addition to the values for Standard and Editor, you can define specific compression settings for each type of CD. Standard: Allows central definition of compression settings to be used when no other settings are specified. Editor: Defines the compression level used when a virtual CD is composed in the Virtual CDs Editor.

	For CD types that contain audio tracks (audio CD, CD-Text, etc.) the settings you specify here are applied only if the audio tracks are to be written as data tracks.

Double-click on a given CD type to change compression defaults for that type. You can choose from the following settings for the compression defaults:

•	Use standard defaults: Applies the settings defined under Standard.

•	You can set a fixed Compression level to be applied every time for the select CD type. If you select "None" here, no compression is used.

•	·You can have Virtual CD apply compression only when a specified ratio is attainable. For example, if you want to use compression only on files that can be reduced to 80% of their original size, enter "80" here. When this option is selected, Virtual CD estimates the compression ratios that could be attained at each level of compression, and sets lowest compression level that can be expected to attain the required ratio.

	If you choose this option, do not set a ratio that is too low, as this could result in Virtual CD selecting the highest compression level every time—which might put a considerable strain on system resources. The optimum setting is generally around 70% to 80%.

 In the "Editor" box, you can define the compression level used (if any) when creating virtual CDs with the Virtual CD Editor.

	When creating a virtual CD on a network drive, as opposed to a local path, the use of data compression can result in a much slower write process.


Audio Defaults Page
 – Audio Defaults Page

The settings for audio tracks that you configure here are applied automatically when working in the Easy Copy Mode, and presented as defaults that you can overwrite in the Image Writer when working in the Expert Copy Mode.

The Read sub-channel data from audio CDs option is for use with audio CDs, CD-Text and CD-Extra CDs. This setting is not required, however, in most cases.


Network Page
 – Network Page

Before you can work with the 'Network View', you need to set up a Global configuration path. This is where Virtual CD stores the configuration files required for working with virtual CDs in the network. All workstations that use the same configuration path have the following in common:

•	They show the virtual CDs that are stored on the network.

•	They have the same tree structure in the Network view.

•	You can insert and eject virtual CDs on the workstation remotely (as administrator, using the central management program).

	If you want to use the central management functions for virtual CDs stored on the network, we recommend using UNC path designations, so that the drive names are independent of the individual workstations used.

You can configure any workstation to work exclusively with virtual CDs stored on the network. To do this, select the Block usage of locally stored CDs option. This blocks access to virtual CDs that are stored or displayed on the local machine.

Display local and network virtual CDs  lets you define how the available virtual CDs are displayed on each station:

•	together in the 'Virtual CDs/DVDs' folder:  Virtual CD creates one view showing all of the available virtual CDs.

•	separately (divided into 'local' and 'network'): Virtual CD creates a view of two additional folders, 'Network' and 'Local', and sorts the virtual CDs based on your settings for each virtual CD.

	Virtual CDs can be divided into 'Network' and 'Local' views only if you have entered a valid global configuration path and have not disabled the use of locally stored CDs on the workstation in question.

The last option lets you configure the Virtual CD Option Pack Server.

	The Virtual CD Option Pack Server is an optional module, designed for integration and configuration of Virtual CD in networks. This configuration option is available here only if you have installed the Virtual CD Option Pack server.


Driver Page
 – Driver Page

Like physical CD drives, the virtual drives created by Virtual CD are identified in the system by three items of information: Manufacturer, product name and version of the drive. Virtual CD lets you change this information if necessary. Reset restores the factory defaults in these fields.

	As a rule, it is not necessary to change these values. Please keep in mind that an error in entering data here can lead to errors in all programs that work with CD drives.

With the Force Hibernate/Sleep mode option selected, Virtual CD provides optimal support for the mode in question. If this option is not activated, the VCD driver might prevent the machine from switching to the 'hibernate' or 'sleep' mode.

	If you select this option, the system might eject some or all active virtual CDs, as some operating systems do not allow a sleep mode when files stored on shared resources are open.


Modifying Compression Defaults
 – Modifying Compression Defaults

This dialog opens when you choose a CD type from the Compression Defaults dialog page. Which elements are shown here depends on the setting you choose from the select list:

Use standard defaults

Compression level

	To deactivate compression defaults for a given CD type, select None.
Compression when ratio is equal to or less than:


Configuring the Virtual CD Option Pack Server
 – Configuring the Virtual CD Option Pack Server

If you have a Virtual CD Option Pack server installed in your network, there are two methods available for configuring your Virtual CD program:

•	Virtual CD to be configured locally: The configuration settings you define using a given network workstation are applied for all workstations.

•	Virtual CD uses a Virtual CD Option Pack Server: In this case, you can define multiple sets of configuration settings centrally, and have different settings applied to the various workstations in your network that use Virtual CD. When you select this option, you need to enter the name of the NT server on which the Virtual CD Option Pack Server is installed. You also need to enter the port used for communication with the Option Pack Server.

Virtual CD licensed by the Virtual CD Option Pack Server specified above: Select this option to have Virtual CD licenses managed and distributed from a central location.

	Please refer to the documentation on the Virtual CD Option Pack Server for details on the required configuration settings and their effects.


Entering a Password
 – Entering a Password

Enter the password, and then enter it a second time to make sure it is typed correctly.


Password Prompt
 – Password Prompt

Enter the required password and click on "OK" to continue.