Ford Service Manual on DVD = Grrrrrrrr

TrickTruck · Jan 17, 2014

Last year I bought a service manual from my stealer. $180 for a damn CD!

I am an engineer, have a rack full of computers, but don't really use CD/DVD anymore for work so I just don't buy them anymore when I do upgrades (all my machines are 'built' not 'bought' and they are in a constant state of upgrade, the CAD station gets the new stuff and everything else is a hand-me-down from it.)

So anyway, even the worst behaving software can be copied to the server and run from an ISO.

Not FORD. OMG, tried 3 different mounters and the damn Ford software can detect this and refuse to run.

OK, fine, grab the laptop, that has a blue ray drive in it. Install it on that and we get runtime errors.

Jeez, no support info so I call my stealer where I bought the stupid thing. They are clueless and give me Ford's cust service #.
They cannot connect me with anyone who has a clue about supporting this $180 software.
After much hemming and hawing they agreed to send me a paper manual.

Pretty much what I wanted to begin with - stealer said it wasn't available.

Grrrrrr, all I wanted was to look up the spec on a torque for the track rod.:fustrate:

Anyone else pay $180 for a Ford coaster?

dsberman94 · Jan 17, 2014

Send your $180 disc here I'll turn it into a coaster or a frisbee. Whichever you wish. Lol

TrickTruck · Jan 17, 2014

Are you close to anyone in Ford development? If you are, we can break it into sharp little pieces and shove it....
lol

TrickTruck · Jan 17, 2014

Ah ha, beat the bastards.

Note, the below is not about distributing copyrighted software, it's only for those of you who have paid for the Ford Service Manuals and want to be able to run them off your disk. This is legal under the fair use act. No deletion of this thread is necessary.

OK, let's begin.

First you need some software. It's called Alcohol 120% Free Edition. There is a paid version for $55, but the free one should work for you fine too.
Here's the LINK
note: this link may not work forever, you may have to google it.
Install Alcohol. This will require a reboot.

Now open Alcohol and insert your ORIGINAL Ford Service Manual CD.
Click the Image Making Wizard
Switch to the 'reading options' tab and give it a location. Also, change Datatype (lower left corner) to "SecuROM New".
Start. This will create an image.

Next you need to choose a drive letter which will be permanently tied to the Ford Software. In my case I:\
Open up Computer Management (under control panel, admin tools).
Change the drive letter of your CD/DVD drive to the above letter.

Install the Ford Service Manuals from the CD (make sure you are under the new drive letter.) Also, very important is that the software is poorly written and if you change the default location the program won't run.
MUST BE C:\tso
Finish the install and test it. If the program runs, close the program and move on.

Go back into Computer Management and change your CD/DVD drive letter back to the original.

Now go back to Alcohol. Right click in bottom pane over the Virtual DVD/CD-ROM drive letter and select Changing the Drive Letter. Change it to the letter you picked above.
Now right click over the main pane and select Add Images. Navigate to where you put the image file and select the file.
Give it a few seconds and the the file name (12SCO by default) will show up. Right click it and select Mount on Device.

Go to your start menu, navigate to the Ford Motor Company and run the Service Information.
Program should run normally without the disk.

Enjoy.

Note: you cannot install from the image, it'll barf telling you to use the original disk, not a backup.