Burning CDs in Windows XP with WSH
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I see questions all the time from users who are trying to find a way to burn CDs in WSH. In Windows XP, there is no real direct way of doing this using scripting, but that certainly doesn’t mean it’s impossible! At times like this, you have to be creative and develop your own workaround.
Whenever I begin to approach a problem like this, I try to think of the most direct solution first. Since scripting provides access to system APIs, I generally research those first. Generally, the documentation will tell you if there is a scriptable interface that provides access.
Research will show that CD burning is a built-in feature in Windows XP. The Windows operating system provides programmatic access to this feature through the Disc Imaging API, known as IMAPI. The IMAPI control is a COM-enabled object, so programs written in VisualBasic, .NET, and the like can easily take advantage of Windows XP’s CD burning capabilities.
Unfortunately, the IMAPI object does not provide a suitable scripting interface. This essentially means that you will not be able to use the IMAPI control directly from your scripts. The next step toward a solution would be to find a third party application that will provide access to this feature for us.
At this point, you have some flexibility. Windows XP Support Tools provides CDBurn.exe. Many programs, such as Roxio and Nero, also provide scriptable controls you could implement. These all make acceptable solutions; however, I tend to shy away from solutions that require installation of additional software since this limits the compatibility of a script.
Since I’ve decided not to use a third-party component, I finally look to automation. Windows XP provides the CD Writing Wizard for burning files to a CD. With this method, files can be copied to a virtual directory where they are staged for burning. The wizard then takes you through the process of burning the CD.
Next: Behind the CD Writing Wizard >>
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