NSW BDM Discs

The NSW BDM CDs are installed under XP the same way as they are under earlier versions of Windows. 1. Insert the CD into the CD ROM drive. 2. Use Windows Explorer to locate the INSTALL.EXE file 3. Double click this file to run it. 4. Answer the installation questions when prompted. Note the drive letter of your hard drive is usually C and the CD ROM is usually D in a one non-partioned hard drive setup. 3. You start each disk by running the relevant .exe file for the particular CD, ie NSWPI.EXE starts the Pioneers Index CD. I would suggect creating shortcuts to these .exe files.

That's all there is to installing the NSW BDM disks on the hard drive.

Now if you actually meant something entirely different, like how do you set up the NSW BDM indexes so that they run from the hard drive and not from the CD then that's an entirely different question.

I have written in this place previously on a method and in my experience you need the modified KAWAREF.EXE file that I obtained from the seller of my CDs. Note I am not a supplier of that file.

The following is part of what I posted on 22 Jun 2001:

The following provides an overview of the installation of the CDs using the KAware2 software.

When these CDs are installed the installation routine asks: What letter is used for the hard disk drive? and What letter is used for the CD-ROM drive? The responses are typically C and D and a directory named Kawaren is created on the hard drive containing files. Note in the case of the TAS CD the directory is named Kaware however the files can be moved to the Karawen directory as used by the other CDs so as to enable a common Kawaref.exe file to be used.

Taking the NSW Federation Cd as an example the files created in the Kawaren directory are as follows: Kawaref.exe Kawaref.hlp Manual Printman.bat Nswfed.cfg Nswfed.exe

The first 4 files are common to each KAware2 installation and the last two vary, depending on the CD. For example the last two files are named Wapi.cfg and Wapi.exe for the WA Pioneers CD.

It is the Nswfed.exe or Wapi.exe etc file that is used to run each particular CD, this being the file that any start menu or desktop shortcut points to, and the drive letter of the CD-ROM drive, as answered during installation, is recorded in the config file, ie the Nswfed.cfg or Wapi.cfg etc.

The actual BDM data (or rests & marriages only in the case of the NSW Between the Wars CD) in contained in directories on the CD named Births, rests, & Marriages (for the NSW Federation Cd), or Wapib, Wapid & Wapim (for the WA Pioneers CD) for example.

To run these KAware2 indexes from a hard drive instead of the CDs three steps are required, as follows:

1. Copy from the CD to the your hard drive the 3 data directories together with all the files contained in each directory (noting that there are only 2 data directories on the NSW Between the Wars CD). 2. Open the relevant config file (eg Nswfed.cfg) using Windows Notepad and replace the existing CD-ROM drive letter with the drive letter of the hard drive that you copied the data directories and files to and save the file. For example in a single hard drive and single CD-ROM drive computer you would be typically changing D to C. 3. Obtain a copy of the file named Kawaref.exe from the supplier of your CD that has been modified to allow for a hard drive installation of the data directories (this being akin to a network installation). I obtained mine from Informit some years ago. They were available from their Web site but the last time I looked it was available for download without contacting them. The modified Kawaref.exe files were available for Windows NT and Novel network installations and I have found that the NT version worked for Windows 95 and 98. Without the modified Kawaref.exe file the KAware2 software will not run using hard drive installed data files.