I get the general idea to create ISOs of the disks and mount them, but is there a step-by-step guide posted somewhere. My searches have come up with fragments of the process, but I was hoping it was written down somewhere.

I think I have it now....we will see.

For the next person who might ask.

Go to
Positive G's Longbow 2 install guide
http://www.speichts.com/games/lb2/

follow the directions in the preamble about NO-CD Installs.

In a nutshell you create the ISOs then you mount them. Be sure to name your ISOs the same name of the real Longbow disks.

Well I thought I had it figured out. I have the ISO mounted, and it let me do a single mission, but when I went to a campaign it asked for a disk.

What is odd is once it did that even having the original disk in does not work. It requires a reboot, so I am guessing it is a Vista issue.

Any ideas?

Hmm, you should have both ISO's mounted, disk 1 and disk 2, what tool are you using? Daemon tools?

+G is correct. The campaign takes place in the Azerbaijan region. CD1 only has the NTC area maps. It needs the second CD to decompress the AZR maps. I generally keep one CD mounted and if I want to switch theaters, I mount the other one. Either CD will allow the game to work.

Recluse

I am using Daemon Tools Lite, and I just found out how to mount 2 drives. i will give that a try.

Something more is going on. I can do a single mission with the original disk in, exit to desktop. Remove the disk and mount an image and try to start the game and I get the "No CD" message. Then immediately put in the original CD and it will still give me the "No CD" message. The only fix is to copy my whole backup (thanks for that tip) Longbow folder to the Janes/Longbow folder. It is like some flag gets set after trying the mounted drive and it will not go back to the original CD.

The good news is I can play the game with the CDs and I can poke around with the ISOs in my spare time. Thanks for all the help.

Have you looked at mine and Shadow's guide?
http://www.helosim.com/flyboy/lb2/inst_lb2_image.html

Also find alternative install methods here:
http://www.helosim.com/flyboy/lb2/install.html

Murphy's Law strikes!! It appears my CD/DVD drive is bad. It will not recognize any disk of any kind, now. A new one is on the way and I hope it was the root of my problems.
Thanks for the assistance. I will report back when I get the new drive.