Creating Copy Protected Cd's

Creating Copy Protected cd

I often get mail from people who ask how they can protect their own cd's from being copied. It's not easy to create a copy protected cd and the protection can be broken, but i'll show you a simple and effective way to protect your cd's.

You'll need CDRWin to do this. You can download that here and you can find the registration info here.

I used the following equipment:

CDRWin 3.7c (or higher)(Registred)
A Plextor PX-R412C burner
An AOpen 50x

I do not guarantee this method will work for everyone on every cd, but it protected my cd pretty good.

In this example I used the following Cd: Ultimate Soccer Manager 99 . This PC game has only 1 Data track. And we will going to add a dummy track to the copy which means the cd has an Illegal TOC and therefore is not very simple to copy. For more info on the Illegal TOC protection, click here.

Note: I am Dutch and so is my Windows Desktop, so on the screenshots you will see the Dutch version of Windows. CDRWin is in English though, so you'll understand everything.


We start off with loading up CDRWin and choosing Extract Disc/Tracks/Sectors and selecting the source reader and entering a name for our image file. Leave all settings alone and click Start. The image and the Cuesheet will now be created.

After the image is completed go to Record Disc and load up the CueSheet. Check the Total Disc Time and write it down. If you can't find it, check the screenshot. In my case the Total Disc Time is: 38:17:44

Now open Notepad or any other Text editor and load up the CueSheet in it. It should look something like the screenshot on your right.

Now we're going to add the Dummy track to the Cuesheet. Add the dummy track at the end of the Cuesheet using your text editor and set it to the Total Disc Time minus 2 Seconds! My Total Disc Time was 38:17:44, so that'll be 38:15:44

Now open up CDRWin again and go to Record Disc and click Disc Layout. You'll notice that the starting time of Track 2 (The Dummy Track) is NOT 38:15:44, but it's 38:17:44. And this is exactly the start-time for the Lead Out.

Exit the Disc Layout screen and now you can record the disc by clicking Start Recording. When you'll get the questins that your cd is in violation with the CDROM specification (Like the screenshot), just continue.

When the cd was finished and I loaded it in Extract Disc/Tracks/Sectors you saw the 2nd (Dummy) Track on the cd and when I wanted to create an image file I got an error and couldn't continue.

Of course, this protection isn't perfect. I couldn't copy the cd using CdRwin and/or Nero, using the Plextor PX-R412C as a source reader or the Aopen as a source reader. It couldn't be done. But if you got the proper hardware (A good SCSI recorder, like a Plextor) you can copy the cd when you use the Recorder as the Source Reader.

I protected here a Data cd with only 1 Data track, but of course this protection can also be used with Mixed-Mode and Audio cd's. (When protected mixed mode cd's, substract 4 seconds, instead of 2 seconds!)

If you wish to improve this protection, so the cd can't be copied at all anymore add a 2nd data track which is a different Mode. For example, my Cd (Ultimate Soccer Manager 99) uses 1 Data track. If I add a dummy track with a different mode the Cuesheet will look like this:

FILE "C:\MIJN DOCUMENTEN\TEMP\USM99.BIN" BINARY
TRACK 01 MODE1/2352
INDEX 01 00:00:00
TRACK 02 MODE2/2352
INDEX 01 38:15:44

This is a little more difficult though. I advise the first way, 'cause it will protect your cd most of the time...

If you got any questions or remarks about this page mail them to |TheDuke| at info@cdfreaks.com