Copy an installed program without CD - Using The Sims 2

In this situation I am retiring an older computer but want to copy an installed program from my old PC to a new PC. To make matters worse I have lost many of the installation disks, so reinstalling is out of the question. What I will try to do is replicate the old installation on the new machine by copying the necessary files and rebuilding the original program structure. The following methodology could be applied to any software but may have other variables that are not covered in this tutorial. For this tutorial I will be copying EA’s The Sims 2 on Windows XP and showing specific examples of how I accomplished this, keep in mind that you can apply this knowledge to your own programs.

Objective:
To show you how to successfully search for and copy the program data, user data, and registry entries to a second machine and achieve a "clone" installation as if it had been natively installed on the hard drive.

NOTE:
Many games embed a security mechanism that don’t allow you to play the game unless the original media is in the drive; in this case you will either have to override the program's executable file with a "hacked executable", mount an image (iso, mdf, .etc) with a drive emulator, or have the original media. See Step 4 for links.

Step 1:Analyze what needs to be copied
Here we browse our drive for relevant data searching in the usual places like C:\Program Files and My Documents. Most software is usually installed in a folder with easily recognizable names.

In my example The Sims 2 and all of its expansions packs by default install their program data in C:\Program Files\EA GAMES.

The user specific data is stored in C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR USERNAME\My Documents\EA Games.

Step 2:
Gathering and Exporting the Registry Entries
To accurately clone the installation we will need to export the registry data, but first we must find the registry keys, this is not too hard if you know how to search for them. Please note that in my situation I am searching for The Sims 2 and its expansion packs, so my findings will differ from yours depending on what you have installed. But using this methodology and a little common sense you can find relevant data for any program.

To find the registry information open the Windows Registry Editor by going to Start -> Run then typing "regedit". Once the registry editor is open we will search for keywords by clicking Edit -> Find then typing our keyword in, for example type "sims" and click Find.

The search will stop once it finds a value that matches our criteria. Tap to F3 key to continue through the search results. Examine the path of your findings, some of the entries you find may not be necessary for the game to function! (I.E. Start Menu, Menu Order, etc.) If you are still unsure you can always post a question about your finding on our technical support board.

Once you find a key of interest right click it's containing folder and choose "Export", when exporting the registry key give it a meaningful name and save it in an easily accessible location. Do this for every applicable key.

For the Sims 2 and it’s expansion packs here are the relevant keys that must be exported.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\EAGAMES
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Electronic Arts
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\Sims*.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

If you are following along you will find some registry keys related to the desktop shortcuts and the start menu, you may export them as well if you want but I chose to ignore them.

Step 3:
Reassemble the installation on the second machine.
Copy the folders containing the program data and the registry entries over to the second computer by any means available, I just sent them over the LAN. Move the folders containing the program data into the same location they were in on the original computer. (I.E. Program Files and My Documents)

Finally, import the registry keys:
To import the keys you exported you have 3 options. You can right click the entry and click merge, double click the file and click add to registry, or open the registry editor file import. Each method adds the data to your registry hive.

Step 4: Running the Program
Now that we have completely replicated the installation of the original PC we are
confronted with 2 scenarios:

1. The program will run and no further configuration is necessary.
2. The program won't run because of security mechanisms.

As stated earlier most games require the original media to be in the drive when executing the program so if you have lost your original CD you will have to override the programs main executable with a “hacked executable” also known as a No-CD/DVD EXE or Fixed EXE.

One other option available is to mount a mini-image to fool the original executable into thinking the original media is in the drive. The mini-image is just a small ISO type file that has the necessary information to pass the security checks when the program is executed. If you use this method than you will have to install a drive emulator like Daemon Tools, which can be found at http://www.daemon-tools.cc/

For games the mini-images and “hacked executables” can be found at sites like:
http://gameburnworld.com/
http://www.gamecopyworld.com/

For my scenario I will use the “hacked exe” of the latest Sims 2 expansion pack and simply copy it into the C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\GAME NAME\TSBin folder, overriding the original. Once this is done you are ready to go, open up the program and if everything went well you should be playing your original game!

Conclusion:
Throughout this tutorial I covered some primary concepts of installing registry entries,
finding program data, and playing “backed up” programs. While my scenario was a little more complicated than most it proves an important fact that you can transfer an entire programs installation from one computer to another. I expect this tutorial to spark many questions so please feel free to reply.

r00tk1ll | BeyondTheBit