# I need a virtual floppy program... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 3, 2000, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-virtual-floppy-program/31913 "2000-09-03T23:35:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CandyBoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@CandyBoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandyBoi)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2000, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-virtual-floppy-program/31913/1 "2000-09-03T23:35:24Z")
I have this old sound card, and I want to use it via pure dos, so i go to get the drivers for it. Heres the thing though, it requires me to copy each uncompressed archive of the zip to a floopy, but I dont have any floopys to copy them to…soo…I need a program that can tell this install program that the files its going for in on a disk and not in my hardrive, so I can work it. Its a aztech sound galaxy 16 if you guys need a point of refernce. ---
**Author:** ![Demo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demo/32/8472_2.png) [@Demo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demo)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2000, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-virtual-floppy-program/31913/2 "2000-09-03T23:41:07Z")
Ugghh, I don’t know of a way to emulate a floppy that’s easy, but usually you can trick the progs into using the files straight from the HD. Easier in windows. Can you install it from windows then use it in DOS? ---
**Author:** ![Kupek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90db22/32.png) [@Kupek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kupek)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2000, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-virtual-floppy-program/31913/3 "2000-09-04T00:20:07Z")
If by you “dont have any floppys” you mean you have a floppy drive but not the disks, just go out and buy disks. ---
**Author:** ![CandyBoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@CandyBoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandyBoi)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2000, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-virtual-floppy-program/31913/4 "2000-09-04T00:29:52Z")
I havent any money for disks… ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2000, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-virtual-floppy-program/31913/5 "2000-09-04T02:06:22Z")
man, floppies cost close to nothing these days. I have loads of them I don’t use. I’m sure you can find a few for nothing or close to nothing. Don’t you have any friends? ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2000, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-virtual-floppy-program/31913/6 "2000-09-04T02:25:29Z")
Can you still get AOL on floppies? If you can, just go online and request a few copies of AOL. I’ve done that to get CDs (don’t ask) before. I still can’t imagine not being able to afford floppy disks, though. ---
**Author:** ![CandyBoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@CandyBoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandyBoi)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2000, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-virtual-floppy-program/31913/7 "2000-09-04T02:36:52Z")
yeah im a broke high schooler, so sue me. You know, I could save use my lunch money, but then I wont have anything to buy that those 6 grams of crack ive been looking at, and cause im a student, i doubt they will give it to me on credit…ahha and yes i have friends, but i dont know anyone else who has disks, i dont know alot of computer geeks around here, i do where i used to live, but thats there and this is here…but…im sure ill find something ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2000, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-virtual-floppy-program/31913/8 "2000-09-04T03:54:27Z")
I think the DOS “assign” statement should take care of this. If your hard drive is “C” and you want to fool an installation program which is looking for files on “A”, then first do the command “assign a=c”. Your C: drive will still work as normal, but the OS will redirect any attempts to read from A: to the C: drive. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2000, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-virtual-floppy-program/31913/9 "2000-09-04T04:40:56Z")
Oh, that’s easy! Just double-click Disk Copy and create an empty 1.44 MB diskimage , telling Disk Copy to mount it once created, and format it for DOS. Copy the unzipped archive files to the mounted disk image. Then unmount it and drag it onto your “A:” drive window in Virtual PC and your PC environment will treat it as if it were a physical floppy inserted into your A drive. ---
**Author:** ![JoeyBlades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a87d85/32.png) [@JoeyBlades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeyBlades)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2000, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-virtual-floppy-program/31913/10 "2000-09-04T14:32:39Z")
Hunter: You’re a pistol… but something tells me your humor is lost on these poor souls… I don’t know about the DOS assign statement that CurtC mentioned, but if it doesn’t work here are a couple of other solutions: Find PGPDisk. This program will create a secure virtual disk and you can choose what drive it maps to. PGPDisk is a part of the old PGP package (version 6, I think). It should be easily locatable via a search. OR There’s a RamDisk program floating around, I’m sure you can find it by searching for “Windows” and “Ram Disk”. You’ll have to change the .ini file to get the disk to map to the A drive. Both are free programs. Either should work, though I’ve found the RamDisk program to be rather unstable, so I’d recommend PGPDisk first.