# WoW Won't load in CD-ROM? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 8, 2008, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-wont-load-in-cd-rom/466936 "2008-10-08T01:57:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-wont-load-in-cd-rom/466936/1 "2008-10-08T01:57:06Z")
Hey Y’all I just bought the battle chest, but can’t get the two cd’s to load, even going to MY COMPUTER and double-clicking. I ran a scan, and everything’s working fine. I DO have the trial version still loaded (didn’t wanna uninstall because I am at level 10) could THAT be the problem? I have the NVIDEA GE FORCE 5500 and a SAMSUNG CD-R/RW SW-252S and a HL-DT-ST CDRW/DVD GCC4482 drive and plenty of RAM. It’s a DELL Dimension 3000 with Windows XP. Thanks, Y’all Q ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-wont-load-in-cd-rom/466936/2 "2008-10-08T02:13:11Z")
Just checking - you are talking about World of Warcraft and not just “Warcraft”, right? If so, try going to your account at the official WoW site and ‘registering’ your purchase, see if that helps? You log in with the same name and password as the game. I think the trial installation is more or less the full installation (minus the expansion), just ‘crippled’ so you can’t level past 10, etc. It will ask for the serial number which should be found on the CD. If that doesn’t help, try putting the first CD in, then finding it in My Computer and clicking on a file labeled something like “install” or “autorun”, to run that. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-wont-load-in-cd-rom/466936/3 "2008-10-08T03:00:35Z")
Yes, World, **Ferret Herder**. And thanks, I will try that! Q ---
**Author:** ![Fly\_Pusher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Fly\_Pusher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fly_Pusher)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-wont-load-in-cd-rom/466936/4 "2008-10-08T13:34:15Z")
This sounds dumb, but make sure you use your DVD-ROM drive since the discs should be in DVD format. Other than that, like **Ferret Herder** said, if you already have the trial installed, you should only need to update your account, and maybe install the expansion. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-wont-load-in-cd-rom/466936/5 "2008-10-08T14:49:30Z")
> [@Fly\_Pusher](#): > > This sounds dumb, but make sure you use your DVD-ROM drive since the discs should be in DVD format. > > Other than that, like **Ferret Herder** said, if you already have the trial installed, you should only need to update your account, and maybe install the expansion. I don’t think the WoW discs in the Battle Chest are in DVD format. Only the Collector’s Edition. It was a big deal when they announced that the new expansion that comes out next month will be available only on DVD. ---
**Author:** ![Peg\_Leg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/90db22/32.png) [@Peg\_Leg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peg_Leg)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-wont-load-in-cd-rom/466936/6 "2008-10-08T15:22:57Z")
> [@winterhawk11](#): > > I don’t think the WoW discs in the Battle Chest are in DVD format. Only the Collector’s Edition. It was a big deal when they announced that the new expansion that comes out next month will be available only on DVD. Amazon has it listed as being in DVD format. If that’s the case, that’d be why the CD-ROM drive is not detecting a disc. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-wont-load-in-cd-rom/466936/7 "2008-10-08T15:32:57Z")
> [@winterhawk11](#): > > I don’t think the WoW discs in the Battle Chest are in DVD format. Only the Collector’s Edition. It was a big deal when they announced that the new expansion that comes out next month will be available only on DVD. … and that it requires you to have the Burning Crusade installed as well… ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-wont-load-in-cd-rom/466936/8 "2008-10-08T15:37:16Z")
> [@winterhawk11](#): > > I don’t think the WoW discs in the Battle Chest are in DVD format. Only the Collector’s Edition. It was a big deal when they announced that the new expansion that comes out next month will be available only on DVD. Suck!! I hadn’t heard that. That’s fine for my laptop, but my desktop (on which I play WoW more often) only has a CD-drive. I assume that once I make the purchase I’ll be able to download WotLK from the website - right? Even so, that’s, like eight hours of downloading :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-wont-load-in-cd-rom/466936/9 "2008-10-08T15:37:37Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > … and that it requires you to have the Burning Crusade installed as well… That kind of makes sense, though. BC opens up the ability to level to 70 as well as the areas in which you’d do that, and since the expansion opens up the 71-80 leveling capacity and appropriate areas, you’d be at a crippling disadvantage if you didn’t have BC. **Quasi** , it sounds like you should try the other drive if the registration doesn’t work. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-wont-load-in-cd-rom/466936/10 "2008-10-08T15:40:47Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > I DO have the trial version still loaded (didn’t wanna uninstall because I am at level 10) could THAT be the problem? I doubt that it’s the problem, but it won’t hurt anything to uninstall and reinstall – all of your character’s data is stored on the servers, not on your computer. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-wont-load-in-cd-rom/466936/11 "2008-10-08T15:55:37Z")
The trial version \*is \*the full version of the game. It’s server-side that the restrictions are in place. You shouldn’t need to install anything (except Burning Crusade if you have that); just upgrade your subscription in your account. If you’re having trouble getting it to work still, I think you can still download the game from various places, including Blizzard’s site, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-wont-load-in-cd-rom/466936/12 "2008-10-08T16:00:15Z")
Uhm, you guys know you can get a DVD-ROM (OEM) for like $5, and a retail packed one for like $15, right? ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-wont-load-in-cd-rom/466936/13 "2008-10-08T22:26:17Z")
Okay, the first is the WoW with the female elf on the disc, and I got it loaded, but somewhere along the loading came this message box asking if I wanted to unblock the WoW downloader, and I said yes unblock it, so I am thinking that even though I didn’t **think** it was accepting the disc, it really was, and maybe it took it all night? NOW I am downloading Burning Crusade, and the download message is going back and forth from 40 hours to 21 hours to download 5.21 Gigs. Does that sound right to y’all? BTW, thanks for everyone’s help, it is much appreciated by this techno-imbecile! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-wont-load-in-cd-rom/466936/14 "2008-10-08T22:41:37Z")
The WoW downloader is the Blizzard bittorrent client–you will need that unblocked to get patch data (well, not entirely true, you can usually find it on filefront for direct download). So yeah, it was reading the disc right. 21-40 hours? This is why I like using discs… ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-wont-load-in-cd-rom/466936/15 "2008-10-09T00:34:07Z")
That’s probably about right. Admittedly, sometimes their estimates are wildly off, plus current players may still be downloading a new patch so their servers may be a little clogged. Just let it run. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-wont-load-in-cd-rom/466936/16 "2008-10-09T01:09:36Z")
Just got off the phone with Blizzard and the guy told me that what I am downloading (Blizzard Background Downloader) is a patch, and I am not downloading the game at all. I cannoty get my DVD player to play a movie either, although it was playing them fine a month ago, and a system check reveals that both drives are fine. The WoW DVD is in the D Drive… So I guess the WoW initial DVD didn’t load either then, and since I did not uninstall the trial, that must be what I am still playing on… Any ideas? Thanks Q ---
**Author:** ![mutantmoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@mutantmoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mutantmoose)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-wont-load-in-cd-rom/466936/17 "2008-10-09T01:25:24Z")
You can tell if it’s the trial version because it won’t let you do various functions - send mail, use the auction house, whisper to people who aren’t your friends. Try to do one of these - if it lets you then you’re not using the trial version. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-wont-load-in-cd-rom/466936/18 "2008-10-09T01:31:30Z")
I think I may have titled this thread wrong. It SHOULD have read “won’t play in my DVD-ROM” which is a Samsung CD-R/RW SW-2525 and when I look at the front of it, its SAYS “DVD-ROM” in the left-hand corner. Is it possible that Windows XP no longer recognizes this thing? Moose, I will try and see. Thanks gents and ladies. Q ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-wont-load-in-cd-rom/466936/19 "2008-10-09T01:54:17Z")
Possibly, since you jsut said upthread that you can’t use that specific drive to play movies. Given that, I would lay the blame on the drive and not on the game. What did you install between that point and now other than the WOW stuff? ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-wont-load-in-cd-rom/466936/20 "2008-10-09T01:54:20Z")
There is no “trial version” of the game the way most single-player games work. There are trial _accounts_, but you’re still using the same game everyone is using. If you start the trial, then upgrade your account to the full version, you won’t have to do anything differently to make the game run. (Really, the only thing you’re actually buying is your account code. That’s why they can give you the game for free.) You have to have the latest version of the game, though, so if there’s a recent patch available, it has to be installed before it will run. I guess I’m kinda confused what it is you’re trying to do and why you need your DVD-ROM drive at all. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-wont-load-in-cd-rom/466936.md?page=2)