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My desktop doesn't have a disc drive so I'm planning on copying the files from the DVD to a USB key via a different computer, then copying that to my HDD and installing from there. Before I start these long copies: Is this going to work, or does the installer do any sort of DRM check on the install media?

(I have a HotS disc, but feel free to answer for WoL as well.)

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  • Why doesnt ur desktop have a disc drive? O.o
    – Ender
    Commented Mar 18, 2013 at 14:23
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    Since it requires a one-time online authentication, I'd suspect that the disk itself doesn't need any DRM on it. The fact that you can buy a digital copy lends credence to this.
    – Frank
    Commented Mar 18, 2013 at 14:24
  • @Ender Never bothered, I never use 'em. Just so happens that I have a disc lying around that will save me the download, though.
    – Matthew Read
    Commented Mar 18, 2013 at 14:25
  • You can always install the game on one computer and copy the installed files over to the other computer.
    – Blem
    Commented Mar 18, 2013 at 14:26
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    @iber, the same reason I didn't install Battlefield 3 from Origin. I installed from the disk to save myself a 30GB download.
    – tombull89
    Commented Mar 19, 2013 at 13:29

4 Answers 4

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The game files do not need to be installed on the computer you will be using it on.

You can install the game to the USB from the machine with DVD drive and then copy the game files from the USB over to your computer without DVD drive.

The advantage of this solution, compared to copying the DVD files to the USB and then installing on the computer without DVD drive, is that you can take the USB to a machine with a good internet connection and update the game, because even when installing from DVD you should expect to download a 1-3 Gb patch.

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  • It's faster to just copy the contents of the DVD and install on the pc that is going to use it though.
    – Kevin
    Commented Mar 18, 2013 at 17:53
  • While this might be true, chances are that he needs to update the 1-3GB patch after install, if the person dose not have internet connection to download the full game chances are that the patch will take a bit of time also. If you install the game on the USB you can update the game from another connection on the USB before copying it over saving you a lot of time/bandwith.
    – Blem
    Commented Mar 18, 2013 at 20:46
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I'm not aware of any install problems like this. I did one of the original WoL installs across a network but I haven't tried it with HotS, because HotS was already downloaded on top of all existing updated installs of WoL.

If you already have WoL installed and updated, you shouldn't need to upgrade to HotS.

If you don't have WoL installed, you can also download it from Battle.net

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I think it might be doable, but you can just use the CD key to activate your game on battle.net and download it from there. You'll be downloading a big patch anyway even if you use the on disc files (I used thedisc and still downloaded some files)

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  • The point is to avoid the entire download. But I think Blem has the best point in that regard.
    – Matthew Read
    Commented Mar 18, 2013 at 16:03
  • thing is, there was still a download. I put the disc in and still downloaded a good 4Gb while installing the game. I don't know how big the digital version will download, but there will still be a download.
    – Hugo Trudel
    Commented Mar 19, 2013 at 13:46
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I did absolutely the same with WoL and it works well! You don't need any additional activation (I assume you bought the game and created the battle net account).

If you have any issues please ask, will try to help you with that.

P.S. Also I've copied game a lot of times from one disk to another (in order to avoid reinstallation/redownload) - it works fine.

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