# Finding and Changing Region Codes

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-and-changing-region-codes/415255>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 11, 2007, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-and-changing-region-codes/415255 "2007-08-11T14:05:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-and-changing-region-codes/415255/1 "2007-08-11T14:05:46Z")

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Suppose I’m making a legal backup copy of a DVD and get a message that the Region Codes of the DVD and the writer don’t match.

How do I

1. learn the Region Code of my writer (which is in Drive D, if that matters)

2. learn the Region Code of the DVD

3. change the writer’s Region Code to match the DVD

Once I do #3, should I later go back and restore the writer’s original Region Code?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-and-changing-region-codes/415255/2 "2007-08-11T18:01:02Z")

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bimp

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**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-and-changing-region-codes/415255/3 "2007-08-11T19:49:28Z")

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Try [AnyDVD](http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvd.html).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-and-changing-region-codes/415255/4 "2007-08-11T20:20:12Z")

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Thank you, **Reply** , but I was looking to do it for free.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-and-changing-region-codes/415255/5 "2007-08-11T20:33:11Z")

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You can change it the official way by going to the Device Manager (Control Panel -\> System -\> Device Manager), looking for your CD-ROM drive, and then going through the tabs. One of them should have a region code option, but you’ll only be able to change it 5 times or so.

Then you have to change it for the software as well… look through the program’s configuration options.

Or you can do it the [unofficial way](http://www.gromkov.com/faq/faq2004-0063.html) and potentially make it region-free permanently. Just be warned that you run the (slight) risk of breaking something when you fiddle around like that.