Getting Chessmaster 9000 to Work in Windows 10

I wonder if there's a chance that your install disk is bad? Is there a chance that your disks are the same distribution as mine? (2-CD jewel case from Ubisoft). If so, maybe we could compare hash signatures.

If you're using the 4TB external hard drive as a backup drive (that is, it has files on it that you need), then that drive wouldn't work. You'd need a hard drive with a SATA connection that you could wipe clean. (Your 4TB ext HD probably has a USB connection, which also wouldn't work.)

Here's how the process would have to go with the Windows Media Creation Tool (WMCT). You'd go to the Microsoft web site and download the WMCT ISO file for your setup (Win 10 Home 64-bit English). Then, you'd have to use a USB flash drive burning utility (like Rufus) to burn the ISO file onto the flash drive as a bootable drive.

Once you have your bootable flash drive with WMCT on it, you'd have to pull out your good Windows hard drive and install the blank spare hard drive. Then you'd have to turn on the PC and have it boot off of the bootable WMCT flash drive. (Each PC has a different procedure for booting to a bootable flash drive. You just have to learn the procedure for your PC.) Then you'd just follow the install instructions for a fresh Windows install.

P.S. - You said you already installed the WMCT. What did you install it to? Or did you just copy the ISO file to some location?

The disks certainly are pristine. I bought them from Amazon some years back altho I never did get them to workl Anther thing I tried was setting dsiplay compatibility to 800x600 resolution which was recommended by the program. Hmmmmmmm...... I checked amazon and for NEW set the price has jumped to like $70.00!!!!! Not willing to spend that for a remote chance of it working. I would if I was guaranteed that it would work.... There are used ones for sale for like $6.00 dunno if I wanna risk a used one tho-  hmmmmmmmmmmm..............

Well, one thing you could try would be to download and install dvdisaster. The developer now only makes new versions for Linux, but I think the "dvdisaster-0.79.1-setup.exe" file should install on Windows. Once installed, do a "scan" on the CDs, and it should tell you whether they're good or not.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/dvdisaster/files/dvdisaster/0.79.1/

OMGoodness! the devil is in the details!! I just looked at th eback of my cd case and it is the UK version!!! I just ordered a used  set from Amazon. will keep posted! (hanging my head in shame regards) -

Oopsie! I know there's a difference between USA and UK DVDs, but is there a difference between USA and UK CDs? idk

All I do know is that they have different patches for the two formats. Oh wait - They have different USA and UK patches for CM 10, but I'm not sure about CM 9000. Hmm...

There ARE multiple CD formats, but no region encoding such as DVDs have so a CD (as such) should be fine.  Region encoding is just a market control thing not a technical matter.  The patches may be for different spellings, localised data formats, or something like that.

I once purchased an Earthseige 2 cd in while I was in England. It refused to work on my American Machine. Once I purchased the American version things worked great.

That reminds me of the whole PAL or NTSC format, and how there were more games for the Commodore 64 on PAL back in the day.

NO JOY!! I received the new discs (U.S version this time) which looked pristine. I initiate the install procedure which initially seems to work, the splash screen appears. I clik Install. CD rom spins then NADA, zilch nothing. Ran all compatibility modes and administrator authorizations and av was disabled. Interestingly the Ubisoft online play network setup.exe runs fine and installs from the disc. I will use the CD's for target practice in A. M. ()(*&^%@^%!!!!!!!!!!!

My only question at this point is - Will you use the CDs as static targets or as clay pigeons? No, wait, don't do that - you'd probably regret it, lol.

Only you can decide at what point you want to give up. There are more things you can try, but they get progressively harder to test.

1) The CDs appear to be good, but I'd scan them with dvdisaster to be 100% sure. (Well, the fact that you got the same symptoms with two different sets of CDs sort of points to the disks being good, but still...)

2) We're assuming that the "Home" vs. "Pro" isn't the cause, but you never know until you test it. I don't know if I'd be able to make a Home install to test it, but I won't have any time for a few days at best.

3) It could still be either messed up Windows settings or hardware incompatibility. A fresh Windows install might point to which one, but doing a fresh install would require an extra hard drive or doing a disk image of your working hard drive. And I'm not a fan of using your working drive as a guinea pig to learn how to do image backups. I would practice making images on a test setup before actually trying it on your working drive. The worst thing that could happen would be for you to make a backup image, blow away everything on your working drive, then have the image restore not work for some reason. The extra hard drive would be the safer way to go, but you'd have to decide if it's worth the extra cash.

I had just reset my PC (keep my files option).  Microsoft states that CM 9000 is an 'incompatible program. I have a 4 terabyte storage device which could easily handle my files.  I am suffering battle fatigue yet I HATE letting something beat me. I am going to cool down for a few days. When I reset my Pc I lost my MS WORD even tho I had passwords etc. that for some reason were wrong or whatever. Somehow I got it back. Looking at the way Microsoft has reconfigured misc. security features via updates I presume it is getting quite annoying to decipher what does what.

If you went the spare hard drive (HD) route, your 4TB external HD wouldn't work. You'd need to get an internal HD or SSD with a SATA connector so that you could just pull out your good HD and slap the new blank one in for testing. You could maybe get a real cheapie PNY or AData 120 GB SSD from Best Buy or Amazon for maybe $25 or $30. Something better quality like a 250 GB Samsung SSD might run $50 (maybe $40 on sale). Don't forget you'd need a flash drive for the bootable Windows Media Creation Tool.

Regarding the MS Word, is that something you're married to? Do you *have* to have it for work? If it's just for typing personal letters and stuff, you could install the free LibreOffice and not have to deal with MS Word passwords. Just a thought...

I just had a thought. Has your CD/DVD drive worked since the 20H2 update? I don't mean just spinning, but actually transferring data? Do you have other CDs that you can try to see if the CD drive works? Maybe the update broke the drivers for the CD/DVD drive.

Yeah. Cd Drive installed Chess base products easily.

Even Chessmaster Grandmaster.

Well, I just tried updating my Win7 Home laptop to Win10 Home 20H2 so that I could try to install CM9000 on it. Previously, it would always let you install Windows locally, without setting up a Microsoft account. Now, at least for Windows 10 Home, that's apparently not allowed. The most lenient that they'll allow is to create a Microsoft account, then later delete the account. This is my "line in the sand". I will not create a Microsoft account. I'd heard rumors that Microsoft was planning on making this change, but I was hoping that it would never actually be done.

I've gone to Linux anyway, but I was sort of hanging onto Windows just a little bit. If my Windows 10 Pro "play-toy" PC continues to update and work without requiring a Microsoft account, then I'll probably continue playing with it for testing and stuff. But the minute it requires a Microsoft account, I'll be off Windows for good.

So, I guess I won't be able to make the "Pro vs. Home" test. Sorry about that.

Yeah. Same issue here. Microsoft continues to bug me to make account to further their World Domination plans. I do not think Home vs Pro is the issue. Perhaps missing DLLs? SOme weird 'Permissions' needed? Perhaps the "New and Improved' ( <---- sarcasm) security measures   Microsoft has implemented? Whatever. Tx for the help! I MAY try and do a complete clean install. (sans retaining my files) yet. When I have rested.

Yeah, I don't expect the "Home vs. Pro" to be the issue, so maybe not a big loss. It's just that I like to test all possibilities. Eh, sometimes you can't.

My money's on a fresh install, but it's a shame that you even have to consider that option. Take your time and make sure you have everything backed up - but I guess I don't have to tell you that. :-)

One thing to remember - Even if the fresh install doesn't fix the CM9000 problem, at least you'll have a nice, new Windows install. Yaaay...

Have I previously mentioned that I hate Microsoft with a burning passion? :-) I think they make most of their money off of their Azure cloud services. That's where everything "Microsoft" is heading, and they're shoving everything related to Windows towards the cloud. Windows patches and updates are a joke, and it's now clear that the user is the beta tester. Windows is just a vehicle to sell you more subscriptions and services, that's it.

Well, I'll stop my rant now. I guess I'll be living in the Linux world with its 1% to 2% share of the desktop market, and I can enjoy watching Microsoft and Apple battle it out.

Precisely. Well stated. SO then. Is Linux worth it? WIll it run all my programs for chess?