How to install the 1881 and other data sets to hard drive
&
still use cds for
other data sets including British Vital Records 2

Note these CDs may still be used on Windows 10 see below

 

Note – The most common problem with the 1881 census on cd is that users forget to install both resource sets.

Please install both the National Index by placing the disk labelled National Index to 1881 British Census A-B Disc 1 into the cd drive and clicking the Install Resource option: also the Regional sets by placing any cd labelled 1881 British Census "X" Region Disc 1 into the cd drive where "X" is the name of a region i.e. East Anglia Region.
It does not matter which region you choose as long as you insert on labelled Disc 1. This only needs to be done once the action will install all the regions.

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The following may sound complicated but is quite easy really, please read the full instructions including the warning before proceeding, only attempt changes if competent to do so.

You will need about 13 Gigs of free hard drive space for the 1881 Census, a further 3 Gigs if you decide to add the British Vital Records Index 1 or 6.8 Gigs for British Vital Records Index 2.

WARNING : Using Registry Editor (Microsoft ®) incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system.
I cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved.
Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

Please note if you later wish to use further CDs which you have not initially installed you will have to re-install the viewer software, and add the resource file to the list or use the dual set up option described later.

After you re-install the viewer software you would also have to point the settings to the hard drive where the files are kept.
I am assuming your free hard drive is drive D:

Create two folders on drive D: named

LDS
Census

Insert the viewer disk into the CD drive, right click on the icon to open. Copy the file intro32.exe from the INTRO folder to the D:\LDS folder you have just created.
Insert the first CD of the National Index into the drive
Copy BI1881 from the CD to D:\Census
Copy the file title.cd to D:\Census\BI1881

From each of the remaining National Index CDs copy the following files to D:\Census\BI1881
bi1881XX.nfo
NaX_1881

Note X is the disk number and XX the alphabetical range of data on the disk.

Open the first disk of the Regional Indexes copy the entire contents to D:\Census (if asked if you want to overwrite files click "yes to all")
From the remaining Regional disks copy the following files from the BI1881 folder to D:\Census\BI1881
XXX_1881.lcf
XXXdtlaz.nfo
XXXndxXX.nfo

Note XX and XXX will be unique to each disk if asked about overwriting click "no to all"

Note when a region contains more than one disk you will be asked about overwriting the file this time select "no to all".

If you have not installed the viewer software do so now just as if you were going to use the set from CD,

I.E. Install software viewer, reboot, start viewer program, select "Click here to add a resource file to this list"
insert cd1 of the National Index to the 1881 British Census A-B
when that has registered select "Click here to add a resource file to this list"
insert disk 1 1881 British Census East Anglia Region

If you have any other sets that use the viewer software i.e. the Vital Records Index or the Mormon Immigration Index add these now as well.

Having done that you now need to make some changes to Windows Registry.

Using the editor Regedit (Microsoft ®) from the "start menu" (bottom left of screen) select Run type in regedit.exe press return.
Move to the Registry Key - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Family History/Viewer
(Windows 10 may use a different folder such as WOW6432Node)

Select the entry for CD Drive and change the drive letter to read

NETWORK

Select the entry IntroLDS and change it to D:\LDS\Intro32.exe
Move to the Sub Key - 1881 British Census, Select the entry Data Path and change it to read D:\Census\BI1881\
Move to the Sub Key - 1881 British Census - National Index, Select the entry Data Path and change it to read D:\Census\BI1881\
Close the Registry Editor and run the viewer you should now access the 1881 data on your hard drive.

If you wish to add the British Vital Records Index version 1 records to your hard drive create a folder

D:\VITAL

Copy the contents of the marriage index CD to the D:\VITAL folder
Copy the files bir98XX.lcf , birndxXX.nfo and birdtlXX.nfo from the VRI_BI98 folder of each of the birth index CDs to the D:\VITAL\VRI_BI98 folder

The following files should be on your hard drive;
bir98XX.lcf - birndxXX.nfo - birdtlXX.nfo - mar98XX.lcf - marndxXX.nfo - mardtlXXX.nfo
plus Batch.nfo - Gedcom.nfo and Header.nfo

Note XX will change with each CD.

Change the data path in the registry as you have done for the Census set

I.E.

D:\VITAL\vri_bi98

If you wish to add the British Vital Records Index version 2 records to your hard drive create a folder

D:\Vital

Copy the contents of the first Births and Christening CD to the D:\Vital folder
Copy the files birndxXX.nfo and birdtlXX.nfo from the VRI_Bi00 folder of each of the remaining 12 Births and Christening CDs to the D:\VITAL\VRI_Bi00 folder

Copy the contents of the first marriage index CD to the D:\Vital folder
Copy the files mardtlX.nfo and marndxX.nfo from the other 2 marriage discs to the D:\VITAL\VRI_Bi00 folder

Change the data path in the registry to if your hard drive is drive D

D:\Vital\vri_bi00\

If you wish to add the Western Europe Vital Records Index records to your hard drive create a folder

D:\Europe

Place a regional CD in the drive, open the CD and copy the folder Vri_XX00 to the D:\Europe folder, copy the file TITLE.CD to the regional folder Vri_XX00
Where a region has multiple CDs copy the first CD as above then copy the following files from the subsequent CDs to the regional folder
BIR00xx.LCF, BIRNDXxx.NFO and BIRDTLxx.NFO from the Vri_XX00 folder of each of remaining CDs to the D:\Europe \Vri_XX00 folder

In addition the marriage files MAR00xx.LCF, MARDTLxx.NFO and MARNDXxx.NFO must be copied over from the cds when there are multiple cds for a region.

Note xx will change with each CD.

Change the data path in the registry in each of the regions you have added to your hard drive, as you have done for the Census set

I.E. The data path for the Alpine Region would read -

 F:\Europe\vrialp00\

If you do not have adequate disk space or wish to run the regional disks from the CDs this is possible by making the registry Key point to the CD drive rather than the hard drive. This also allows other data sets to remain on CD such as the British Vital Records, the Mormon Immigration Records and the North American VRI amongst others.

If you wish to use other sets of data direct from the CDs rather than adding to the drive simply insert the drive letter in the path above.

I.E. if the CD is drive "F" add the following for the Mormon Immigration Disks to run from CD.

F:\Morm_00\

It is also possible to run the 1881 for a combination of either two CD drives or a CD drive and a hard drive

You simple have to add the correct path
For example inserting the following to the path for the
County Sets

G:\BI1881\

would allow the county sets to remain on CD drive "G" whilst the National Index was on hard drive.

To enable you to use one CD drive for the National Index and another CD drive for the regional disks follow the instructions below. (Note this involves changing the registry)

I am assuming your free hard drive is drive D:
Create a folders on drive D: named LDS (as above)
Insert the viewer disk into the CD drive, right click on the icon to open. Copy the file intro32.exe from the INTRO folder to the D:\LDS folder you have just created.
Using the editor Regedit from the "start menu" (bottom left of screen) select Run type in regedit.exe press return move to the Registry Key -
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Family History/Viewer
Select the entry for CD Drive and change the drive letter to read
"NETWORK"
Select the entry IntroLDS and change it to D:\LDS\Intro32.exe
Move to the Sub Key - 1881 British Census, Select the entry Data Path and change it to read
F:\BI1881\
Move to the Sub Key - 1881 British Census - National Index, Select the entry Data Path and change it to read
G:\BI1881\
Close the Registry Editor and run the viewer you should now access the 1881 National Index on the CD drive named G: and the Regional Disks on the CD drive named F:

Note there is a drawback to this in that you must remember to insert the correct National Index CD in the drive before searching,
i.e.
if you wish to search for the surname BERRY insert the CD disk one A-B
if you wish to search for SMITH insert the CD 7 S-T other wise you will get an error message.

 

Neil Wagstaff has come up with a useful alternative approach that enables you to swap easily between accessing data from the hard drive and accessing data from cds, this is also useful to enable updating the version 4 viewer to version 4.02 (which comes on disk 1 of the BIVRI 2).

If you wish to do both then follow these instructions BEFORE making any changes (VERY IMPORTANT) :

When you get to the Family History folder, highlight it and the under the Registry tab, select Export registry File (sub folder will be checked).
Save it to the desktop as Family-cd.reg

Make the changes to the registry as in the instructions above to enable access to the data on the hard drive and again save the Family History folder to the desktop as Family-hd.reg

Anytime you want to use the viewer with CDs then just double click on the Family-cd icon on the desk top before opening the viewer. Clicking on the Family.hd will swap the viewer back to hard disk reads. (all this does is write the saved information to the registry).

If you should want to add another of the LDS sets then just double-click on the Family-cd icon, add the set and the re-save the Family History folder to the desktop as Family-cd.reg and then make the changes to each entry that is on the hard disk (even those done previously) and save the Family History folder as Family-hd.reg again.

To update from viewer version 4.00 to version 4.02 click on the Family-cd.reg icon to start the viewer using the cd option place disk 1 of the British Isles Vital Records Index in the cd drive.

Click <Click here to add a Resource File to this list> the update will automatically be loaded.
If the update does not automatically run, open Disk 1 open the UPDATE folder and run - update.exe

Installation Problems

Solutions to known problems when using the viewer with Windows XP

Windows 7

Viewer version 4.02 should run in compatibility mode on Windows 7 Home Premium computers both 32 bit and 64 bit.

If the compatibility software does not select Windows XP select manually from the list.

If you have Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate see below.

Folio Views (the viewer software) can be run on Windows 7 but only in Windows Virtual PC.
Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate all allow the free download of Windows XP Virtual PC
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/

Windows 10

The resource file viewer version 4.02* will run in Windows 10 on both 32bit & 64bit operating systems.

If there is a problem right click on the program icon and scroll down to the last item of the menu Properties, right click on this option..
Select Compatibility and select Windows Vista (Service Pack 2).
Click Apply then OK

* Ensure you update to 4.02 as the databases will not load under viewer 4.00

To update from viewer version 4.00 to version 4.02 click on the Family-cd.reg icon to start the viewer using the cd option place disk 1 of the British Isles Vital Records Index in the cd drive.

Click <Click here to add a Resource File to this list> the update will automatically be loaded.
If the update does not automatically run, open Disk 1 open the UPDATE folder and run - update.exe

Data sets compatible with the viewer software :

1881 British Census and National Index
British Vital Records
British Vital Records Second Edition The new 2nd edition (Contains 13 million records, compared to the previous edition's five million.)

North American Vital Records
Mormon Immigration Disk
Western Europe Vital Records
Middle America - Mexico Vital Records
American 1880 Census

Mini history of the cut down versions of Folio Views software that accompanies the various data sets.
Note the full version of Folio Views software is available to purchase for Macintosh computers and computers using Widows operating system.

Viewer 1

This viewer software came with the original British Vital Records set and the North American Vital Records set
A basic viewer, which allows searches to be made on the Census CDs by name, birth county/town, Census county/town and ages

Viewer 2

This viewer software came with the original 1881 British Census and National Index comments as above.

Viewer 3

This viewer software came with the original Mormon Immigration Disk and the Western Europe Vital Records set.
This allows the additional Neighbors Advanced Query to search for specific words on the dataset, it also allows for a number of other options when used with the Western Europe Vital Records Index.

Viewer 4

This viewer software came with the original Middle America - Mexico Vital Records set and I think the American 1880 Census and British Vital Records 2nd Edition, there is a patch on the British Vital Records 2nd Edition that installs when you install the first disk this updates the viewer to 4.02

As Viewer 3, apart form allowing an additional field for color the Neighbors Advanced Query search seems far more refined and precise.

Viewer 4 is available from the usual Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints distribution centres as a separate disk.

The Australian Vital Records Index uses its own individual version of Folio Views, as does the three county set of the 1851 British Census (Devon, Norfolk, and Warwick only)

Peter J Tyldesley sent the following information -

It's possible to do the same with Australian Vital Records 1788-1905, even though it uses a separate viewer:

1. Create a folder wherever you like on your hard disk, eg:
C:\LDS
2. Create a sub-folder called "AVR", so that you then have:
C:\LDS\AVR
3. Copy the .nfo file you will find in the "AVR" sub-folder of each CD to this sub-folder on your hard disk
4. Run the setup program from the first CD.
5. Locate the "avr.ini" file - by default it will be here:
C:\Program Files\LDS_CD\AVR1788\Avr.ini
6. Open avr.ini using Notepad, and you should find that the last lines are:
[
CD Drive]
Drive=X:\
Where "X" is the drive letter of your CD drive.
7. Simply substitute the path to the folder containing the "AVR" sub-folder for the letter of your CD drive.
In the case above, this will give you:
[
CD Drive]
Drive=C:\LDS\
Note the closing backslash ("\") - this is VITAL.
8. Close Notepad, saving the amended avr.ini.

The four info files require approximately 2GB of hard disk space in total:
AVR_AD.NFO 518,324,224
AVR_EK.NFO 484,708,352
AVR_LQ.NFO 513,900,544
AVR_RZ.NFO 513,990,656

Normal disclaimers apply - back up all your data, and put your dog into kennels before you start. However, the good thing about this procedure that it requires changes to a local ".ini" file, rather than to the registry as is necessary with the 1881 Census. So, any problems are unlikely to be catastrophic.

 

Some IGI Codes

 

Distribution Centre for UK orders :

LDS Church Distribution Centre
399 Garretts Green Lane
Birmingham B33 0UH

Tel: 0121 785 2200

Direct Line for Family History CD orders
by debit/credit card: 0870 010 20 51


The full range of LDS CDs may be seen and ordered from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints family history website at
LDS Familysearch

This site contains not only the IGI & Ancestral File online but also the full catalogue of films held by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Distribution Centre for Australian orders :

PO Box 2723
Carlingford Court
Carlingford
New South Wales 2118
Australia

 Distribution Centre for New Zealand orders :

PO Box 33-342
Takapuna
Auckland
Telephone: 64-9-488-2350

Disclaimer ; I have no connection with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints other than as a visitor to their family History Centers and a user of their Cds.

 WARNING :
Using Registry Editor (Microsoft ®) incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. I cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved.
Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

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Copyright Guy Etchells © 2002-2015 All rights reserved.

Permission is granted for all free personal and non-commercial uses. It is my intention to make all data contained herein freely available for all private, non-profit and non-commercial uses. Commercial use of any portion contained herein is expressly prohibited.
Database Right, all databases on this website are covered by the 1997 Database Regulations
Guy Etchells is the maker of the database contained within and the owner of the database rights.
First published in 2002.

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