Using the protections scanners A-Ray and Protection ID is both simple and very helpful. You can download both from HERE. ClonyXXL is also another popular protection scanner, but as it is outdated and very unlikely to be updated, I will not explain how to use it here.

A-Ray Scanner

A-Ray scanner is my personal favorite, as it does not need the game installed to detect which protection is on it. It is also the simplest to use. When you first launch A-Ray, you will see a screen similar to the one below.


Now, you need to select the drive with the disc you want to scan.


After you’ve done that, you only got to click the button: Scan CD.


If it asks if the game is installed (which is rare and only happens if the protection cannot be found on the disc. ie., the .exe file is compressed), you will need to point it towards the installation folder. Now you’re done! See, simple wasn’t it?

Protection ID

Protection ID isn’t quite as simple, it also requires that the game be installed first. When it loads, it will look like below.


Click scan, and select the installation folder of your game and find the .exe file that is used to run the game.


Protection ID will then display the results.


You’re done!

Nice guide vbguru!

Keep it coming!

(in reply to vbguru_12000)

[Deleted by Admins]

(in reply to emperor)

is there anything similar for Audio Protections?

(in reply to Deleted User)

Obviously Protection ID is of no help due to the required installation thingy. But I'm pretty sure A-Ray will scan audio discs for protections. I've never used it for audio personally, so I'm not positive. If you know for sure that it won't pick up a particular audio protection, let me know. I'll let the makers know and it will then be included in the next version (hopefully).

[edit] Just found out that it should pick up at least CDS200. Probably 100 and 300 as well, but I didn't see them mentioned. [edit]

(in reply to Dolphinius_Rex)

well, where I work, we do CD/DVD replication, and have often wondered if the protection schemes we pay for at the plants we use, are actually imprinted on our discs... since I never have any problem copying any audio CDs, it's hard for me to tell! LOL!

(in reply to vbguru_12000)

I understand that also. CDS and Key2Audio are so easy to copy, I can never really tell if they are protected or not, other than I read it on the package....

(in reply to Dolphinius_Rex)

[Deleted by Admins]

(in reply to MP3Mogul)

Ok, just talked to one of the makers of A-Ray. He said that it currently will only pick up CDS200. There is plans on adding the other protections, but he has no access to them. So as soon as he gets some CDs with it on it, it'll be added.

(in reply to Deleted User)

Good news vbguru

(in reply to vbguru_12000)

quote:

ORIGINAL: vbguru_12000

Ok, just talked to one of the makers of A-Ray. He said that it currently will only pick up CDS200. There is plans on adding the other protections, but he has no access to them. So as soon as he gets some CDs with it on it, it'll be added.

Excellent! Thanks a lot

(in reply to vbguru_12000)

Lets hope he will also add scanning for other CD protections, there are new like Key2AudioXS...

(in reply to Dolphinius_Rex)

I tried to download the protection scanners but the site is in Russian.  Any ideas?

(in reply to vbguru_12000)