• Late News about Microsoft Vista

• Automatic installation of v1.10 or v1.11*
• Manual installation of v1.10 or v1.11*
• Installation of v1.13 or v1.14
  • Create an OED2.DAT Image File for OED v1.1x
• Macintosh Native v1.0d
• Macintosh OS X: Emulation of OED v1.1x (and v3.x) for Windows
• v1.1x under Linux
• v1.1x on any platform, using VNC
• Configuration: “Finding” the Data File OED2.DAT under v1.1x
• Structure of OED.INI under v1.1x
• v3.x
• Installation of v3.0
• Current OED version 3.1
• v3.x under Macintosh OSX and Linux   NEW

• v1.1x
• v3.0
• v3.1.1   NEW

• Macros: Spell check one word or View OED definition within Word Processors
  • Micro$oft Word   NEW

Disclaimer

This XyWWWeb page is emphatically unaffiliated with Oxford University Press [OUP], the owner and publisher of The Oxford English Dictionary [OED], The Oxford English Dictionary (Second Edition) on Compact Disc, and other products and their associated trademarks. Be SURE to read your OUP license carefully before implementing any technique described on this web page. Under no circumstance do I advise or encourage you to do anything that violates any terms of the license(s) that you received with your OUP product(s). The OED is a scholarly monument sui generis, with perhaps no peer in the English (or any other) language, and we honor the great lexicographers who created it by not abusing their work or OUP’s copyright. This webpage is exclusively concerned with enabling hard disk usage by legitimate owners of the OED, and resolving specific software bugs. If you’re looking for bootleg files, you won’t find them here. Procedures described on this page are, or may seem, complex and technical. The discussion assumes that you understand and are skilled in the use of DOS. Please don’t Email me to ask about basic DOS terms & procedures — go instead to Google and do some research. Struggle! If you do not understand a discussion or procedure thoroughly, do not attempt to implement the proposal or solution! THERE ARE NO WARRANTIES WHATSOEVER; YOU ASSUME ALL RISKS. Those risks are real. The techniques, concepts, and softwares offered on this page may not be accurately or adequately documented, they may not work with your setup or operating system, they may not be bug-free or readily reversible, they may not be easy to use — without excluding anything else that they may not be. You alone are responsible for the consequences of any actions you undertake. These are simply ideas thrown into the world for reflection and deliberation. If you know your skill level, then consider yourself warned; if you don’t know your skill level, then leave now. I am neither affiliated with nor responsible for the content of any external web page or site hyperlinked here.

Editions (Hard and Soft):
The “OED Second Edition” (“OED2”) is the currently-marketed edition of the OED. The Third Edition is still years away.

The First Edition comprised the basic First Edition dictionary (1884-1928), the Supplement of 1933, and the four final Supplement volumes (1972-1986). The Second Edition, published in 1989, integrates the First Edition material, and adds 5000 new entries plus “extensive revisions and additional citations”. v3.x of the Second Edition data CD adds the three Additions Series volumes (1993-1997) and several thousand entries produced by ongoing OED research (negligible contributions, IMO).

First Edition CD-ROM was published by Oxford University Press [OUP], International Computaprint Corp.,
  Bowker, and Tri Star Publishing (Fort Washington, Pennsylvania) as The Oxford English Dictionary
  Computer File: the Original Oxford English Dictionary on Compact Disc in December 1987 and phased
  out in December 1992.  DOS only, marketed in the U.S.A.  2 CDs and a 5¼ inch floppy.  Did not
  include any material post-1933.  44 million words.  ISBN 0944674003  [I’ve never seen it.]

Second Edition CD-ROM versions:
1992 - v1  1 CD, 1 diskette <==the version primarily discussed here
			    59 million words
			    User’s Guide by Donna Lee Berg (ISBN of Guide only 0199617260):
			      Spiral binding, comprehensive instructions and examples, 118 pages
			    ISBN complete package Windows 0198612605, Macintosh 0199617279
	Software Releases (all v1 releases, both PC and Mac, use the same dictionary data CD):
	1992: v1.00	<== hard disk installation PERMITTED
                            Buggy. Uses different fonts than later v1.1x versions. DDE interprocess
                            communication NOT enabled. Replace with v1.10+ (e.g. v1.10 or v1.14,
                            below, which are freely available)
	1994: v1.10	<== hard disk installation PERMITTED
                            Single-user version of the OED for Windows
                            Windows v1.10 software is available at abandonware sites, e.g. here
	1995: v1.11*	<== hard disk installation PERMITTED
                            “Windows Network Version” of April 1995, for site-licensed users;
                            works equally well in single-user mode;
                            manual installation (no SETUP file)
                            An OUP brochure described this version's features.
                            N.B. The asterisk “*” in v1.11* is OUP’s idea
	1996: v1.13	<== hard disk installation normally NOT ALLOWED
	1998: v1.14	<== hard disk installation normally NOT ALLOWED
                      	    Windows v1.14 software is still freely available from OUP:
                              http://www.oup.co.uk/zip/ep/oed1_14.zip
			    Macintosh v1.0d software was (until 2007) also freely available:
			      http://www.oup.co.uk/sit/oedmac.sea
1999 - v2  2 CDs	<== hard disk installation normally NOT ALLOWED;
			    requires CD to be in drive at all times
			    ISBN 0192687883
			    Patch for Windows 2000/XP (Patch for Windows ME)
			    (I don’t own this version — not tested)
2002 - v3  2 CDs	    User Manual: Booklet, 59 pages
	Software Releases:
	2002: v3.0	<== hard disk installation PERMITTED with 70-90 day
			    revalidation (i.e. insert CD in drive)
			    Full Version: ISBN 0195218884
			    Upgrade (v2 ==> v3) Version: ISBN 0195218892
	2004-2005: v3.1	<== hard disk installation PERMITTED with 70-90 day revalidation
			    Full European Version (“Release 1”) 21 October 2004: ISBN 0198610165
			    Full USA Version (“Release 1”) January 2005: ISBN 0195222172
			    Upgrade (“Release 2”) August 2005: ISBN 0195222164
			    According to OUP’s vague announcement, v3.1 “incorporates software
			    improvements together with copy protection and still retains the clear
			    interface and easy-to-use functionality of the Oxford English
			    Dictionary (Second Edition) on CD-ROM version 3.0 … [plus]
			    almost 2,000 new words and phrases from the OED’s ongoing
			    research programme, as well as the full text of the OED Second
			    Edition, published in 1989, the Oxford English Dictionary Addition
			    Series (Volumes 1-3), published in 1993 and 1997, the Bibliography
			    to the Second Edition, and other ancillary material”.
	2007: v3.1.1	<== hard disk installation PERMITTED (70-90 day revalidation
			    requirement ELIMINATED!) 
			    v3.1.1 is available now, for disks dated “2004” (new “2004,2005,2007”
			    disks will be supplied) or “2004,2005” (via a software patch), by
			    contacting OUP Tech Support. New buyers receive remastered disks
			    labeled “2004,2005,2007”.
			    The primary purpose of v3.1.1 is to enable operation under Vista

Third Edition (circa 2018? different publication dates are mooted)

Late News about Microsoft Vista:

First v1.1x reports: Success with v1.10 under the 32-bit “Vista Business” edition, run with Administrator privileges in “Windows XP Compatibility” mode, and launched by v3.1.8 of OEDXP.EXE.
(Attempts to launch the OED with the normal OED.EXE executable, or to launch outside XP Compatibility mode, both failed with classic 0006:E8BA crashes [GPFs].)
Another Vista Business user followed these guidelines, but still GPFed because he didn’t have a printer installed. After installing the “Generic / Text” driver, OED v1.10 worked.

Pressings of OED v3.1 that display a “2004,2005” (not “2004”) date on the disks work with Vista, and with 64-bit versions of WinXP, if a software patch is downloaded from an OUP website, unZIPped, and applied before a fresh installation of OED v3.1 is run for the first time. We have confirmation from both OUP and several users that the patch may also be applied in Windows 2000 and 32-bit WinXP (and perhaps in earlier Windows operating systems as well). Moreover, this patch eliminates the 70-90 day revalidation requirement of v3.1! For details, see Current OED version 3.1, below.

Please contact me if you have additional Vista information to report.

Despite differences in the various OED Second Edition softwares, each individual version is installable, and operable, on almost all Windows 32-bit operating systems: 9x (95, 98, ME) and NT (NT4, 2000, XP, Server — Vista, unfortunately, seems to work only with OED v1.1x and v3.1.1).

N.B.: Many users encounter difficulties with OED v1.1x under WinXP and Vista, but it does work — and very well, too. This website provides detailed information that tries to solve all known XP/Vista problems. Over many years, and as recently as December 2007, we’ve received reports from dozens of users that OUP tech support has told them that OED v1.1x won’t work on the latest Microsoft operating systems, and therefore they must upgrade. This is simply untrue. Occasionally it takes some work and a modicum of skill, but you can get v1.1x to run.

Second Edition/Version 1 softwares for x86 processors are 16-bit programs, so they will also run under Windows v3.x and NT v3.5x. Moreover, Windows v3.x can be emulated by other operating systems, so OED version 1 can be installed under e.g. Win-OS/2, or Linux with Wine (which supports Win32 programs also). Note, however, that 16-bit programs probably will not work with 64-bit versions of Microsoft Vista.

There are no Windows Registry entries, so you can install Version 1 manually if you want (uninstall simply involves deleting the OED files, in their single dedicated subdirectory).

Often you can buy the OED on Ebay, BookFinder, Abebooks, Alibris, BookFinder4U, etc. Or you might find the CD in a library near you. English members of 144 libraries that subscribe to a two-year agreement between OUP and the Museums, Libraries, and Archives Council (MLA) can access the OED (and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford Reference Online, Grove Music Online, and Grove Art Online) from any computer at any time, and within the library – see details here. If you want to buy the disk, be wary of imposters like “Concise”, “Compact”, “Mini”, “Shorter”, “Pop-Up”, etc CD versions of Oxford “English Dictionaries” masquerading as the actual OED. If you want OED version 3.1, don’t buy the “Upgrade” unless you already own OED version 2 or version 3.0. Instead you want the “Full” version with (very important!) discs labeled “2004,2005” or “2004,2005,2007” (not “2004”) — you may buy it direct from OUP (UK/Europe, USA, or World). Online stores like eLearnAid and DictionaryOutlet.com offer much better prices than OUP — look for 25% discounts (Froogle).

All versions of the OED Second Edition software can, in fact, be installed on a hard disk, notwithstanding the restrictions built into the plain vanilla software of some versions, as detailed above. There are four basic approaches to hard disk installation:

Additionally, OED will run off of the hard drive directly, if you set up Wine so that a local directory emulates a CD-ROM:

  [Drive D]
  "Path" = "/oed"
  "Type" = "cdrom"
  "Label" = "OED"
  "Filesystem" = "win95"
  "Device" = "auto"

See also two more descriptions (the second is very detailed) of successful v1.1x installations on SuSE 8.1, and Kanotix [Debian], platforms using Wine; as well as recipes for Kanotix (basically Debian Sid) and Wine 0.0.20050524-1 (among the “comments”), and Ubuntu v6.06 using Wine v0.9.31 (very straightforward).

v1.1x on any platform, using VNC

An entirely different strategy for both non-Windows and Windows platforms is “remote computing” across a Local Area Network (LAN) under Virtual Network Computing (VNC). This works extremely well, at near-zero cost. For example: Acquire a legacy Windows box, e.g. a notebook (it does not need to be powerful — late ’90s boxes are available virtually for free), attach it to your LAN, install Windows (preferably 2000 or XP) at a static private IP address like 192.168.1.xxx, dedicate the entire computer to a hard-disk installation of the OED, install a VNC server, e.g. UltraVNC (SourceForge freeware) with it’s souped-up “video hook” driver for frequent screen refreshes and low CPU cycles, point ports 5800 and 5900 on your router at this VNC server (if necessary), and finally stash the notebook in a closet. Then install a VNC client for your real computer’s platform (e.g. Chicken of the VNC or VNCViewer, both for OS X, or the TightVNC Viewer for Java). Or just use your browser (UltraVNC and other servers push client-side Java viewer applets that enable remote control without any viewer application installed! but not quite as pretty as a real VNC client, plus browsers consume more resources). You may have to log in, on first use, to the Windows machine that hosts the OED, but thereafter you can just let your VNC client (and the OED) run forever. Voilà! You’re consulting the OED (perhaps sharing it with other clients on the LAN, using a mixture of platforms), at very high speed and looking great, under any operating system. Seeing is believing.

Configuration: “Finding” the Data File OED2.DAT under v1.1x
By default, OED v1.1x looks for OED2.DAT on the first removable drive; if not found there, an error is declared (e.g. “Cannot read from drive F:” where F: is your first, or only, CD drive). Launch suspends.

This is a watershed moment for many users. They never surmount this hurdle. They’ve already placed the OED data file on (for example) drive N: (or any drive lettered lower than our hypothetical CD drive F:) — which may be, variously, a second CD|DVD drive, or a local or remote hard disk. It would have been less problematic to put the OED on a drive lettered higher than F: (e.g. D: or E:). But they still have options:

In formal terms, OED.EXE recognizes two general mechanisms to override the default behavior and “find” the dictionary data on a different drive than the first removable device, whether it be a CD or a hard drive volume. The most reliable pointer for v1.10 and v1.11* is the OED variable. In order of priority, OED.EXE v1.10|v1.11* will:

1) Consult the environment variable OED.  “SET OED=d:”, either (local)
   in an individual DOS session (e.g. “SET OED=N:”), or (global) in the
   System Environment, thus affecting all sessions.
2) Search local disks for a hard disk or CD labeled “OED2”.  Command
   at DOS “LABEL N:OED2”.  Because the original data CD was LABELed “OED2”, the
   hard disk where OED is relocated should also be LABELed “OED2”.  Hard disks
   should all be lettered higher than (i.e. above or before) the first CD drive on your machine.

v1.14 reverses the above priority; it cares more about the LABEL on the “CD” (real or virtual) than the OED variable.

The “Filename=N:\” spec in the “[data]” stanza of OED.INI is NOT consulted; it simply assists word processing macros, which obtain DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange) interprocess communication parameters from OED.INI. In other words, OED.INI is not required.

If you’re using the actual CD-ROM disk as your dictionary (not a copy on a hard disk), you probably don’t need either of these mechanisms, because OED.EXE will find the CD as long as it is in the first CD drive. (OED v1.10 and v1.11* will usually find OED2.DAT, either on hard disk or CD, if it is in any local root directory. No assistance from either of these mechanisms is usually required, but if OED generates a “Cannot read from drive d:” error, then set the OED environment variable [Method 1) above].)

Structure of OED.INI under v1.1x
OED.INI should be located in the DOS Path, normally in %WINDIR% or %SYSTEMROOT% (e.g. C:\WINDOWS or C:\WINNT). OED.INI is created by SETUP.EXE, but if you bypass SETUP and manually install the necessary OED files and fonts (which is perfectly acceptable), then you may want to create OED.INI by hand. Again, OED.INI is not required unless you are also using word processing macros.

With any OED v1.x version, employ the OED.INI format required by v1.14 of the software — this affords additional flexibility. Paste the lines below into file OED.INI, changing only the “Filename=” and the “PathName=” specs to point at your OED EXEcutable installation, and the “Wait=” value to represent the duration of OED initialization on your computer. Note that the “Wait=” duration is machine-dependent: longer for slow machines (5-9 seconds), shorter for fast machines (3-6 seconds). It should roughly correspond to the number of seconds that the blue Oxford shield is displayed when OED.EXE is not cached in machine memory, e.g. when you run it for the first time in a session (on subsequent launches it will start much faster):

  [data]
  Filename=E:\

  [Macro]
  ExeName=OED.EXE
  PathName=E:\OED
  ServiceName=OED
  AppName=Oxford English Dictionary (Second Edition)
  Wait=4

Note that OEDXP.EXE does not require OED.INI at all, unless OEDXP is used in conjunction with (called by) a word processing macro. OEDXP has its own runtime arguments, which replace those in OED.INI. OED.INI is only required by this website’s M$Word, OpenOffice, and WordPerfect word processing macros — otherwise it is not needed.

v3.x

v3.x consumes about 1900MB disk space (roughly triple the 635MB required by OED v1) when run from a hard disk. In its v3.x software series, OUP is trying to reproduce, on local computers, the look-and-feel of the Network OS that it uses in its online OED service. The browser-like interface is very courant, but the cost in efficiency, memory, and disk space is steep. v3.0 and v3.1 (but not v3.1.1) need to be “revalidated” every 70-90 days by inserting the original data CD in the drive, which is a total PITA [discomfort in the hindquarters].

Installation of v3.0 [probably applies to v2 also]

v3.0 requires the presence of Macromedia’s C-Dilla (a.k.a. “SafeCast 2”) copy protection scheme (SafeCast v2.40.11). C-Dilla has been accused of many things (e.g. being spyware, which is dubious), but it seems to install itself in the low-level boot sectors of your hard disk, where it has been claimed to interfere with multi-booting other operating systems (and interfering with OS/2’s Logical Volume Manager). I know of no way to eliminate the need for C-Dilla to be present when running OED v3.0. If you uninstall C-Dilla and then try to run OED v3.0, the OED automatically reinstalls C-Dilla (without asking permission!) before launching. Conversely, if you uninstall OED v3.0, C-Dilla is not uninstalled too (uninstall with Control Panel ==> Add/Remove Programs).

Note too that when v3.0 was first published, you needed to be logged on as Administrator just to run OED v3 under Win2000 or WinXP. This requirement has been dropped. According to OUP, “Local Administrator permissions are no longer required to run the OED as long as the latest version of the authentication process is installed. This can be downloaded from [OUP’s] Authentication Drivers page” (it amounts to an update to C-Dilla). Lots of other potential v3 snags and snafus are documented by OUP here.

Here’s how to overcome the 90 day revalidation requirement for v3.0 only (but not v3.1, which beefs up the copy protection by using CD-Cops)

First, install v3.0 normally — be sure to tell the OED installer that you will be running the dictionary from CD, not hard disk (a Typical, not Full, setup). Get it working using the physical data CD (not emulated!). You must ensure that the OED works normally (the way OUP wants you to use it) before you try to install it to hard disk!

But sometimes v3.0 won’t work. Take a look at OUP’s v3.0 technical issues page. You may see a message similar to this:

Or you may get an error message stating that your license “appears to be broken”. Both are symptoms of an incompatible printer fault similar to that which can afflict v1.1x — an astonishing lapse in software engineering that has persisted for nearly a decade! Finally, OUP issued new authentication drivers (revisions to C-Dilla) that solve the problem for v2 and v3.0 (but are not applicable to v1) (authentication drivers for Windows ME and v2.0 only). Read the installation instructions before installing the new drivers. These fixes further retard (double or triple) v3.0’s tortoise-like load time, and seem to choke my whole computer (read a pertinent Amazon review entitled CDROM v3.0: Five star content - ZERO star software — many of these 50+ reviews are interesting); but you can print to your “incompatible printer” directly from the OED after it finally starts running.

Note too that OUP has released a rather large bug-fix for v3.0, in two flavors: a Full Version for first-time buyers (and for those who upgraded from v1), and a v2-to-v3.0 Upgrade Version. UnZIP into a temporary directory, run CDSETUP.EXE, and click on “Install”.

Second, download and install BlindWrite Suite evaluation version 4.x (you can uninstall it as soon as you’re done — but BlindRead and BlindWrite are fine products, and a license only costs USD|EUR 39.99). Make an image of the dictionary CD. The result will be three files, located together in the same hard disk directory, e.g. E:\IMAGES:

 E:\IMAGES\OED_CD_3.BWI  789,592,272  <== the data image
 E:\IMAGES\OED_CD_3.BWS   32,228,256  <== the CD subcodes and disk parameter descriptors — possibly(?) optional
 E:\IMAGES\OED_CD_3.BWT          630  <== the TOC (Table_Of_Contents) file

 E:\IMAGES\OED_CD_3.B5T  789,592,272  <== the data image

Third, remove the original physical dictionary CD from your real CD drive. Download and install the Daemon Tools software CD emulator. Right-click on the Daemon Tools icon in the SysTray, and mount hard disk file OED_CD_3.BWT (or .B5T) created by BlindRead. Hover your mouse cursor over the “Virtual CD/DVD-ROM” tab, and note the new removable driveletter assigned by Windows to the Daemon Tools “CD drive” (it will say something like “Device 0 [N:] E:\OED\OED_CD_3.BWT|B5T ” — which means, in this example, that your new emulated CD drive is N:).

Fourth, edit (e.g. with Notepad) the “[FILE_PATHS]” stanza of OED.INI (in d:\WINDOWS or d:\WINNT) as follows:

[FILE_PATHS]
CD_PATH=N:\  <== change this driveletter to the Daemon Tools virtual “CD drive”
INSTALL_PATH=E:\OEDV3\  <== leave this spec (whatever it is) alone!

When quarterly revalidation time rolls around (the software demands that you insert the CD, but gives you a 20-day countdown warning), don’t insert anything — just push the “Finish” button. The software construes your image file to be the actual data CD, and revalidates for another 90 days. So you no longer need your CDs, because you’re fully installed on your hard drive.

Current OED version 3.1x

v3.1 is the only OED that you can purchase new from OUP today. v3.1 was initially released in 2004. In the words of one user, v3.1 added “about 9 new words [to v3.0] as window dressing, ironclad CD-Cops v1.65 copy protection (instead of C-Dilla a.k.a. ‘SafeCast 2’, which is no longer part of the product), and little else” [actually, OUP claims 2000 “new words and phrases”, although I suspect that most are probably modern jargon, i.e. not words that you ordinarily look up in the OED]. The v3.1 discs were reissued in 2005 as “Release 2”, reportedly to add a single word that had been inadvertently omitted from the 2004 discs. You can tell which discs you own, because the year of issue is stamped on the discs themselves. The most onerous aspect of these releases is the 70-90 day revalidation requirement, inherited from v3.0. CD-Cops completely frustrated revalidation from a CD emulator — you had to carry the data disc with you if you planned to travel for long. (Note that you can force revalidation, to obtain a fresh 90-day “lease”, by holding down Ctrl-Shift while clicking on the OED shortcut icon.)

Then, in early 2007, OUP issued a software patch called “v3.1.1”, which confers two big benefits: it eliminates the 70-90 day revalidation requirement under “Windows 98SE, ME, NT4, 2000, and XP”; and it enables v3.1 under both 32- and 64-bit versions of Vista and 64-bit versions of XP. Owners of Release 2 v3.1 discs dated “2004,2005” (not “2004”) with key numbers FT39P-9UFX-L92Q or URAP9-Z2M9-R6EH only (these two keys seem to apply to most, maybe even all, of these discs) may download the v3.1.1 patch (read the instructions before applying the patch, and authenticate with your key number translated to lower case and no hyphens, i.e. ft39p9ufxl92q or urap9z2m9r6eh); otherwise obtain v3.1.1 by contacting OUP Tech Support. Owners of v3.1 discs dated “2004” are (or were) invited to return them to OUP Tech Support, in exchange for “Full” Version 2005 discs, to which the patch can then be applied (after uninstalling the 2004 version, and performing a “Full”, not “Typical”, reinstallation), or for newly remastered 2007 discs. Briefly, in March 2007, the UK v3.1 tech support website said: “If your OED v3.1 CDs do not show the date 2005, then you can exchange them for the OED v3.1 Release II free of charge, on receipt of the old ones. Please send CDs to ... Technical Support with your name and address and the reason why you are sending them.” You may need to reinstall from scratch: instructions that accompanied one early set of disks required that this patch be applied before first use, and before entering the authentication code (supplied in a letter from OUP — you must contact OUP directly to obtain the code unless your key number, a.k.a. authentication/validation code, is one of the two numbers mentioned above); however, the current online instructions suggest that the OED may already be installed and running, and therefore reinstallation should be unnecessary (indeed, a newer version of the patch has been posted). All this complication seemed to arise as an interim emergency measure under the pressure of frustrated Vista users. Now available: Newly remastered disks of v3.1.1 dated 2007 that incorporate these changes and obviate the need to apply any patch. v3.1.1 also upgrades CD-Cops to v1.71.

Altogether, this represents a rebirth of trust & openness at OUP: v3.1.1 is the first version of the OED since v1.11* (anno 1995) that can be freely installed on a hard disk without further hindrance. It works as advertised. Kudos to OUP, for restoring sanity to their marketing. OUP appears to be endeavoring to repair a battered reputation, to be reaching out generously to its customers at real cost in time, trouble, and money.

The net result is software that works without annoyance. It isn't particularly fast, and the interface is clumsy. But it's the OED nonetheless — you can buy it today and install it on your hard disk.

v3.1.1 uses 22 dedicated True Type fonts:

 aribioup.ttf   66,520  1996/9/20  Arial OUP Bold Italic
 ariboup.ttf    61,332  1996/9/20  Arial OUP Bold
 arioup.ttf     64,548  1996/9/20  Arial OUP
 aritoup.ttf    60,672  1996/9/20  Arial OUP Italic
 hadas.ttf      45,028  1993/4/16  Monotype Hadassah
 pi6oup.ttf     19,724  1996/9/20  Pi6OUP MT
 pi7oup.ttf     28,756  1996/9/20  Pi7OUP MT
 pi8oup.ttf     28,868  1996/9/20  Pi8OUP MT
 pi9oup.ttf      3,840  1993/4/15  Pi9OUP MT
 Pitenoup_.ttf  17,348  2001/4/26  PiTenOUP MT
 PLAABI__.TTF   80,016  2001/8/15  Plantin for OUP Alt Bold Italic
 PLAAB___.TTF   75,308  2001/3/15  Plantin for OUP Alt Bold
 PLAAI___.TTF   81,036  2001/3/15  Plantin for OUP Alt Italic
 PLAA____.TTF   74,552  2001/3/15  Plantin for OUP Alt
 planboup.ttf   63,900  1996/9/20  Plantin OUP Bold
 planioup.ttf   68,096  1996/9/20  Plantin OUP Italic
 planoup.ttf    65,288  1996/9/20  Plantin OUP
 planzoup.ttf   70,032  1996/9/20  Plantin OUP Bold Italic
 plcoup97.ttf   27,192  1997/7/28  Plantin for OUP 97 Small Caps
 porgrk.ttf     54,672  1996/9/20  Porson Greek OUP One
 porgrk2.ttf    11,228  1996/9/20  Porson Greek OUP Two
 tnrphon.ttf    29,024  1996/9/20  Times New Roman Phonetic
     Total:  1,096,980 bytes

v3.x under Macintosh OSX and Linux

This alt.english.usage message states that “two of my customers have told me that [they] were able to get OED version 3.0 to run on a Mac using Microsoft’s Virtual PC product. In fact they both told me they got it to work without any special settings and the installation was easy.”

An OSX user writes (11/2006): “I just installed v3.0 onto a MacBook Pro (via Daemon Tools [with] Safedisk emulation checked, after applying Safedisc2Cleaner v1.20 to the SCRfrsh.exe infection) running Windows XP on Parallels Desktop. It works well. A Windows ‘print to pdf’ program delivers results to my OSX desktop via the OED ‘Print’ command.”

Another OSX user writes (4/2007): “I installed v3.1 [Release 2 dated 2005] in Parallels Desktop on machines configured with Windows XP and Windows Vista, and immediately ran the new [2007 v3.1.1] OUP software patch. I was asked to enter my CD-ROM sticker number, and everything works. This is great. No need for dual boot.”

The same user also experimented with Apple's Boot Camp. He installed OED v3.1 Release 2 (using 2005 disks) under Windows Vista, and then applied the 2007 v3.1.1 software patch. “Everything works, as expected.”

Another OSX user was upgraded for free from v3.0 after complaining to OUP-US Customer Service about authentication problems: “v3.1.1 (2007 disks) works very nicely … on my Apple Powerbook, running Windows XP Professional via BootCamp.”

A Linux user, who for five years(!) has been trying to get various iterations of v3.x to run under SuSE and openSuSE, finally succeeded (2/2008) with OED v3.1.1 and 32-bit openSuSE 10.3. “I just used the technique of exhaustion: if at first it doesn't work, do it again (and again, and again) in a different order, and hope for the best. Eventually, it worked.” To no avail, he had tried “Win4Lin, VMWare, Xen, CrossOverOffice, and Wine, repeating with each new release of SuSE, plus Mandrake/Mandriva and other Linux flavours.” Success came at last with VirtualBox OSE (open-source edition), a free Innotek product installed with openSuSE's built-in YaST installation tool, hosting a WinXP Pro virtual machine.

“It should work — provided VirtualBox is installed correctly. VirtualBox only worked for me when the kernel-source and kernel-syms packages had been pre-installed with YaST before VirtualBox. (kernel-source and kernel-syms are not VirtualBox packages. YaST can find and install them, provided the appropriate repositories have been enabled. These can be found and enabled by following these instructions and doing what Jem Matzan says in the paragraphs ‘Adding sources to YaST’ and ‘Adding repo addresses’ – making sure that the openSuSE build service for VirtualBox repository is checked and added to the list. Accept and when prompted trust and import the key. Then it should all go OK.)

When installing the WinXP Virtual Machine, I accepted all the defaults offered by VirtualBox. WinXP runs happily in 192MB allocated base memory.

“This is a ‘Full’ OED install, running without the Data CD in the drive. Speed is excellent (after the usual slow start). Typefaces are perfectly readable (though not perfect). When installing [OED v3.1.1 in the WinXP VM], first mount CD/DVD ROM from the ‘Devices’ menu in the Virtual Machine, then installation should proceed normally. When prompted for the Data Disc, remove the installation disc, unmount CD/DVD from the ‘Devices’ menu in the Virtual Machine, then insert the data disc and remount CD/DVD ROM. Do the same when prompted for the discs by CD-Cops.”

N.B.: Do NOT network the OED on the WAN (Internet)! It is a fair assumption that you will be in violation of your OUP license. Your license may not even permit you to network a home LAN — you are hereby warned and advised to read your license.

In all that follows, we tacitly assume that your LAN operates behind the security of a hardware router, to insulate you from Internet intruders, so that you can more safely open your private network to UNC file sharing (generally enabled on M$ computers by installing|activating the TCP/IP “File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks” [NetBIOS] component, or the old NetBEUI protocol).

v1.1x:

There is no need for the special “Windows Network Version” 1.11* of the OED (notwithstanding the insert in the [handsome] OED v1 presentation case that offers a “NETWORKING VERSION AVAILABLE ON REQUEST”) — in fact, all v1.1x versions of OED.EXE can be easily networked under Win32. The OED itself, both DATa and EXEcutables, should be installed on a host machine, e.g. OED.EXE in subdirectory E:\OED, with OED2.DAT installed in the root directory of (for simplicity) the same drive (e.g. E:\). Make sure that “Sharing” of the OED drive (or specific drive:\[subdirectories]) on the Host (the server) is enabled for “Everybody”. On each local machine that will access the OED host, install the OED fonts in the operating system’s .\FONTS subdirectory (e.g. C:\WINDOWS\FONTS or C:\WINNT\FONTS) — the 18 or 20 small font files (less than 1 megabyte, about 830Kb, total) are the only element of OED that must be installed locally on every client machine. Then, on each local machine, remap the OED host installation to an unused local driveletter e.g. L: (but not X: Y: or Z: — these drives fail due to a bug!). Issue the following commands on each local (client) machine, using e.g. a BATch file, to launch the OED:

@ECHO OFF
::	Check whether OED host already mapped to L:, otherwise map it!
if not exist L:\OED2.DAT NET USE L: \\host_IPaddress\E [password]
::	In Win9x, don’t use "if not exist …"; instead:
::NET USE L: \\host_IPaddress\E [password] /YES
::
::	Mapping Examples:
::	… NET USE L: \\OEDSERVER\E meagain
::	… NET USE L: \\192.168.1.1\E
::	… NET USE L: \\209.28.144.70\E host_password
::
::	Set environment variable “OED”, otherwise OED.EXE won’t find dictionary file OED2.DAT
set OED=L:
::	Launch OED
L:
cd \OED
start /wait OED.EXE
::	Optional: Delete the local driveletter
::NET USE L: /DELETE
exit

v3.0:

Assuming that you’ve followed the procedures outlined above for basic v3.0 installation on a host [server] machine, the only program that you need to install manually on each local [client] machine is Daemon Tools. Copy OED.INI from the host machine to the local %WINDIR% or %SYSTEMROOT%, e.g. \WINDOWS [or \WINNT]. C-Dilla also will be automatically installed locally by OED v3.0 when it runs for the first time. But that’s a net storage space saving on each client of nearly 2GB! OED v3.0 does not need to be running or even mounted on the host.

A sample STARTOED.BATch file may clarify these procedures:

@ECHO OFF
::	Mount the OED v3.0 image file
D:
cd \DAEMONTOOLS
::	Dismount currently mounted image file, if any
DAEMON.EXE -unmount 0
::	Mount OED data
DAEMON.EXE -safedisc on -mount 0,"\\OEDSERVER\E\IMAGES\OED_CD_3.BWT [or .B5T]"
::
::	Check whether OED host already mapped to L:, otherwise map it!
if not exist L:\OEDV3\bin\* NET USE L: \\host_IPaddress\E\IMAGES [password]
::	Mapping Examples:
::	… NET USE L: \\OEDSERVER\E\IMAGES meagain
::	… NET USE L: \\192.168.1.1\E\IMAGES
::	… NET USE L: \\209.28.144.70\E\IMAGES host_password
::
::	Launch OED
L:
cd \OEDV3\bin
start OEDCD_V3.EXE
exit

v3.1.1:

You need to verify and insert the data CD on this initial use only; thereafter the OED will run hands-off, and validation will survive hard reboots. The OED does not need to be running on the host. In sum, you save almost 2Gb of hard disk space on your local LAN machine(s).

A simple BATfile for use in Shortcuts might look something like this (leave the Properties’ “Start in:” box empty, lest L:\OEDV311\Bin not yet exist — i.e. let the START command’s “/Dpath” argument perform the CHDIR maneuver):

@echo off
if not exist L:\OEDV311\Bin\oedcd_v3.exe NET USE L: \\HOSTMACHINENAME\E /USER:Administrator password /PERSISTENT:YES
if not errorlevel 1 start /DL:\OEDV311\Bin L:\OEDV311\Bin\oedcd_v3.exe
exit

Micro$oft Word: (OED.BAS Revision 11/27/05 to work with OEDXP.EXE)

OUP supplies a decent macro for Word v6+ with v1.14. Given a correctly formed INI file, the v1.14 macro works with v1.10 or v1.11* too. I make numerous changes to the macro script [view the source code]:

The macro operates on a selected word, substring, or phrase in M$Word; it looks the word up in the OED. It’s a smart macro: if nothing is selected it grabs the word under the text cursor (not the mouse cursor). If there are multiple instances of a word in the OED, it cross references them first (under DDE) or else stuffs the selected text into the appropriate list box and takes appropriate action depending on the type of list box (under OEDXP). Tested in Word97, Word2000, Word2002 SP2 (under Win2K SP4, and XP Pro SP1 and SP2).

Download WORDMACR.ZIP, and unZIP all three constituent files (OED.BAS, OEDButtonImage.BMP, and OED.INI.sample) in the OED directory. WORDMACR.ZIP includes a tiny M$Word Toolbar icon (employed below) for the OED, plus a sample OED.INI file.

• If, due to GPF errors, you are using STARTOED.BAT (described anon) instead of OED.EXE to launch the OED, then be sure to replace the OED.INI line that reads “ExeName=OED.EXE” with “ExeName=STARTOED.BAT”

• If you are using OEDXP.EXE v3.1.8 instead of OED.EXE to launch the OED and you have replaced the OED.INI line that normally reads “ExeName=OED.EXE” with “ExeName=OEDXP.EXE”, then don’t add any of OEDXP’s arguments to this “Exename=” parameter (OED.BAS derives them from OED.INI’s “Filename=” and “PathName=” parameters instead). You don’t need the “Wait=” parameter of OED.INI (it is ignored and may be deleted from OED.INI, assuming you previously added it), because OEDXP now determines internally when the OED has finished initializing (instead of waiting a user-specified number of seconds), and any temporarily disabled features of your operating system (e.g. printer drivers that cause GPFs) are thereafter re-enabled (this new v3.1.3+ feature renders OEDXP’s old “/S#” switch obsolete too).

  		Typical OED.INI parameters
  	Filename=C:\
  		Specify a non-standard Path to OED2.DAT (only legal with OEDXP)
  	Filename=C:\Program Files
  	ExeName=OEDXP.EXE
  	PathName=C:\OED
  		To specify a non-standard Path to OEDXP.EXE
  	PathName=C:\OXFORD\OEDV110
  		The following two parameters are fixed strings — they never change
  	ServiceName=OED
  	AppName=Oxford English Dictionary (Second Edition)

If you are installing this OED macro for the first time, then:

• Register the macro OED.BAS with M$Word: Alt-F11 (open VB Editor) ==> Ctrl-R (open Projects) ==> expand Normal ==> expand Modules (if there aren’t any Modules yet, then just highlight Normal) ==> make sure Modules (or Normal) is still highlighted (selected) ==> File ==> Import File OED.BAS ==> Open ==> Ctrl-S to “Save Normal”. Close VB Editor (Alt- F4).

If you are refreshing the code of an already-installed OED macro, then:

• Open the new OED.BAS in a Notepad window, select the entire text except for the first line (which says “Attribute VB_Name = "OED"”), copy (Ctrl-C) your selection to the Windows Clipboard, close Notepad. Open M$Word, Alt-F11 (open VB Editor) ==> Ctrl-R (open Projects) ==> expand Normal ==> expand Modules ==> click on “OED” ==> select the entire text of the old macro (Ctrl-A) ==> paste (Ctrl-V) to replace the old macro with the new one ==> Ctrl-S to “Save Normal” ==> Alt-F4 to close VB Editor. Any of the following tweaks, if already installed, should be preserved — no need to install them again (occasionally, an assigned keystroke gets “lost” and needs to be reassigned — seems to be an endemic M$Word bug).

Word Tweaks & Options:

Assign macro to a M$Word keystroke: Tools ==> Customize… ==> Keyboard ==> Categories: ==> Macro ==> select “OEDV1” in “Macros:” listbox ==> “Press new shortcut key” (make sure it is “[unassigned]”!) ==> Assign.

Add macro to M$Word Toolbar: Tools ==> Customize… ==> Commands ==> Categories ==> Macros ==> select “OEDV1” in the “Commands” box ==> drag it with LMB [LeftMouseButton] to the Action Toolbar position you like ==> RMB on the text “Normal.OEDV1.OED” in Toolbar ==> set checkmark to “Default Style” ==> and then… (don’t close the “Tools ==> Customize…” window yet!)

Replace the default icon in the M$Word Toolbar with an “OED Button Image” (tiny version of the OED splash screen): launch your basic Windows Imaging tool (Micro$oft Paint maybe, MSPAINT.EXE), open OEDButtonImage.BMP (extract from WORDMACR.ZIP) ==> Edit ==> “Select All” (Ctrl-A) ==> Copy the button image (Ctrl-C) ==> close image editor. Now, with “Tools ==> Customize…” still open, RMB on the new OED button in Toolbar ==> “Paste Button Image” ==> Close.

Lastly, create a v1.14-level OED.INI like this with a “Wait=” variable+value added to the “[Macro]” stanza. Locate OED.INI in %WINDIR% or %SYSTEMROOT%, e.g. C:\WINDOWS [or C:\WINNT]. OED.INI supplies (for the use of DDE) the “Application” name, the filename+file location, the “Topic”, and the rough duration (in full seconds) from launch until the blue splash screen with the Oxford shield disappears and you see the Lookup screen (this represents what we’ve been calling “initialization time”).

Important Note for v1.13|v1.14 Users:
v1.13 and v1.14 tamper sneakily with OED.INI when it launches. They change the line “ExeName=STARTOED.BAT[or OEDXP.EXE, etc]” to “ExeName=OED.EXE” during initialization. This results in word processing macros that fail to launch OED (incur GPF in OED.EXE). The simple solution is to set OED.INI to Read-Only status — command from DOS:

  ATTRIB +R C:\WINDOWS[or WINNT]\OED.INI

Star Office or OpenOffice.org:

Get DDE macro here or here (Thanks to the author, Andrew Brown). This macro needs some manual adjustment for your drive:\path\filename.

WordPerfect for DOS v6.x:

Download WPDS6OED.ZIP, which contains a WordPerfect macro OED.WPM that operates much like the macro for M$Word. Locate this macro in WP’s “Macros Personal Path” folder (Shift-F1, 5-Location of Files, 2-Macros/Keyboard, 1-Personal Path). Additional Requirements: a correctly formed, v1.14-level OED.INI file with a “Wait=” variable+value added to the “[Macro]” stanza; a copy of OEDLOOKP.EXE (an older executable, now superseded by OEDXP.EXE, but still used by this WP-DOS macro — read OEDLOOKP.TXT in the ZIPfile for full information [323] ), located in the same directory as OED.EXE; and two general-purpose utilities, KMD.EXE and GoWP.EXE, located in the DOS Path (optimally in the \WINDOWS\system[32] directory).

Two “User Variables” must be configured in macro OED.WPM, indicating the directory in which OED.EXE and OEDLOOKP.EXE are to be found, and also a behavioral choice (see the macro for details). If you intend to use OED.WPM frequently, assign it to a keystroke in the WP keyboard file: Shift-F1, 5-Keyboard Layout.

Either Block (select) a word or string, or simply position your cursor upon any word, and execute OED.WPM (Alt-F10), for instantaneous lookup.

Macros for v5.1 for DOS or WP for Windows can be adapted readily from this v6 template; the source code is here. I will build a v5.1 macro if there is interest.

XyWrite for Windows:

Dynamic Data Exchange [DDE] is the native interprocess (argument-passing) communication method of OED v1.1x. XyWin is the only XyWrite|NotaBene version to fully implement DDE. With the XyWWWeb.U2 programming package installed, DeFine the lookup word, then command:

  ddeoed<Helpkey>

  nn=NOJM2,.,d,d,e,o,e,d,Q2

XyWrite v4+ or NotaBene for Windows:

Requires the XyWWWeb.U2 programming package. XyShell (a U2 add-on which uses ObjectRexx) is optional (OED lookups work perfectly without XyShell).

Assign routine “oed[dos]” in U2 to a key in your KBD file:

  nn=NOJM2,.,o,e,d,d,o,s,Q2  <== without XyShell
  nn=NOJM2,.,o,e,d,Q2        <== with XyShell

  OED=E:\OED

  EXE_or_VBS=E  <== use OEDXP.EXE executable
	or
  EXE_or_VBS=V  <== use OED.VBS Visual Basic script

1) DeFine word(s) to lookup in text
    OR
2) Type lookup word(s) on CMline (nothing DeFined!)
    OR
3) Place cursor on a word in Text (nothing DeFined!)

Hit your dedicated OED Lookup key, as configured above

Manual (CMline) Syntax:
  oeddos [lookup_word(s)]<Helpkey>  <== Win32 without XyShell
  oed [lookup_word(s)]<Helpkey>     <== Win32 with XyShell

Use OEDXP.EXE executable: (last code revision 21 February 2006)

OEDXP.EXE is more than a mere macro adjunct; it is a general-purpose utility that passes a “Lookup Word” argument from a DOS command line to OED v1.1x. If OED.EXE is not running, OEDXP starts the dictionary, then pauses briefly to let the OED load, then passes the specified Lookup Word to OED.

OEDXP.EXE will work with any application — e.g. XyWrite, NB, or other word processors — which can select a word and pass it to a DOS command. Unlike its predecessor OEDLOOKP.EXE or OUP-authored word processor macros (which all used Dynamic Data Exchange [DDE] to convey a Lookup word to the OED), this new OEDXP.EXEcutable manipulates the OED screen directly through native Windows services and APIs. It is faster, smarter, more flexible — and it works around a swarm of potential bugs.

Requirements:

See the OEDXP Command Summary, below.

Use Visual Basic Scripting:

Requirements:

' OED.VBS for XyWrite|NotaBene & Windows Scripting v5.x+ [VBS]
' R.J.Holmgren  11/10/01 LastRev.7/3/04
' Syntax:
' [d:\path\]{c|w}script.exe //nologo [d:\path\]oed.vbs LookUp_Word[s]

dim arg,OED,WshShell,word
set arg=Wscript.Arguments
for a=0 to arg.Count-1
  word=word&" "&trim(arg(a))
  next
word=lcase(trim(word))
if len(word)>0 then
  if len(word)>60 then word=mid(word,1,59)
  set WshShell=Wscript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
  OED=Wscript.ScriptFullName
  OED=left(OED,InStrRev(OED,"\",-1,1))&"OED.EXE"
  WshShell.Run OED,1
' Adjust the Sleep duration, in milliseconds, to your machine speed:
  Wscript.Sleep (900)
  WshShell.SendKeys Chr(94)&"w"
  WshShell.SendKeys word
  WshShell.SendKeys Chr(94)&"l"
  WshShell.SendKeys "{ENTER}"
else
  WScript.Echo "Look-up word not supplied"
  WScript.Quit(1)
  end if
WScript.Quit(0)

Auto-Lookup: something nice from OED v3.x that can be adapted to v1
The only (optional) feature of v3.x that I like is that v3.x can monitor the clipboard incessantly, and when a new word appears on it, OED v3.x can automatically look that word up. If you turn this feature on (via “Options ==> Auto-search from clipboard”), v3.x launches a little freestanding program called AutoLookup.exe (with its required DblClickHook.dll). AutoLookup is misnamed; it doesn’t actually do any looking-up, but simply Copies any double-clicked (selected) word to the system clipboard, where v3.x (if running in aforementioned “auto-search from clipboard” mode) senses the new arrival and looks it up. AutoLookup is a very simple program (= Ctrl-C keystroke), and appears to be a third-party creation (no Copyright holder identified). Two points:

Although v1.1x uses DDE instead of the clipboard to pipe a lookup query into the OED engine, elementary programming can splice the abovementioned concepts together to produce auto-lookups of clipboard text in OED v1. If you don’t have AutoLookup.exe, use Ctrl-C to put words on the clipboard after double-clicking them (one extra keystroke only).

The following is written in (free) WSH (Windows Scripting Host), because the language is installed on almost all modern M$ boxes (or get the latest versions: Win95 OSR2, Win98 WinME and WinNT 4.0, Win2000 and WinXP, plus Documentation). You need one additional component (also freeware): AutoItX3.dll. Put AutoItX3.dll (an Active X control that can read the clipboard) in the system directory %WINDIR%|%SYSTEMROOT%\system[32], and register it with your system, i.e. command from DOS:

  REGSVR32 AutoItX3.dll

' OEDCLIP.VBS for Windows Scripting v5.x+ [VBS]
' Fetch word from Clipboard, pass lookup query to OED v1
' Requires AutoItX3.dll (freeware) from www.hiddensoft.com
' Optionally uses AutoLookup.exe (+ DblClickHook.dll) from OED v3.x
' R.J.Holmgren  6/18/03 LastRev.7/3/04
' Syntax:
' [d:\path\]{c|w}script.exe //nologo [d:\path\]oedclip.vbs

dim OED,WshShell,text,word,x
set WshShell=Wscript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
text=Wscript.ScriptFullName
OED=left(text,InStrRev(text,"\",-1,1))&"OED.EXE"
set AutoIt=CreateObject("AutoItX3.Control")
text=AutoIt.ClipGet()
do
  word=text
  do until word<>text
    Wscript.Sleep (1000)
    word=AutoIt.ClipGet()
    loop
  text=word
  word=lcase(trim(word))
  if len(word)>0 then
    if len(word)>59 then word=left(word,59)
    x=InStr(1,word," ",1)
    if x>1 then word=left(word,x-1)
    WshShell.Run OED,1
    Wscript.Sleep (600)
    WshShell.SendKeys Chr(94)&"w"
    WshShell.SendKeys word
    WshShell.SendKeys Chr(94)&"l"
    WshShell.SendKeys "{ENTER}"
  else
    WScript.Echo "Look-up word not supplied"
    end if
  loop
WScript.Quit(0)

  OED="N:\OED\OED.EXE"

  [d:\path\]cscript.exe //nologo [d:\path\]oedclip.vbs

  @ECHO OFF
  rem Script assumes that AutoItX3.dll has already been registered with REGSVR32
  d:				<== Adjust “d:”
  CD \OED			<== Adjust “\path”
  rem START AUTOLOOKUP.EXE	<== Delete “rem” if you have this file
  START /MIN D:\WINDOWS[or WINNT]\SYSTEM32\CSCRIPT.EXE //nologo D:\OED\OEDCLIP.VBS	<== Adjust both “d:\paths\”
  ECHO .
  ECHO Ctrl-C stops OEDClip cscript
  ECHO .

Kill the Splash Screen
Tired of seeing that big blue Oxford shield flash by when you launch? Replace OED_LOGO.BMP with this opaque gray screen (Splash_Gray_BMP.zip), which works with screen resolutions up to 1680x1200 pixels. Backup|REName your original OED_LOGO.BMP before UnZIPing this package!

Lost Your OED Fonts?
Download all twenty (20) of the OED2 v1.10 or v1.11* fonts from the University of Nottingham. Extract only the TTFs (True Type fonts) from this self-executing ZIPfile, and discard the BAT, EXE, INI, and TXT files. Even if you don’t use the OED, these are handsome TT fonts, with some hard-to-find characters, e.g. the Middle English yogh. (The Windows v1.14 software ZIP downloadable from OUP contains different fonts, so can’t use this font package.)

Micro$oft Word: (OEDV3ON.BAS 12/27/07 and OEDV3.BAS 7/8/08)

Download two sophisticated v3.x macros for Microsoft Word for Windows NT+ (NT, 2000, XP, and up). The procedure for installing either or both of these v3 macros into Word is identical to the procedure for v1.1x. The two flavors operate quite differently, and you should read both descriptions before deciding which one to use (if any). They are both works-in-progress, and comment is welcome.

The native method of passing a word look-up to OED v3.x is via the System Clipboard. This approach is fraught with problems. Every word or string placed on the Clipboard, for whatever purpose, by whichever application, is passed to the OED. You can't move words around in your document, or multitask in intensive Cut-and-Paste apps, without performing an OED look-up (albeit often in background, where you're blissfully unaware that it's happening — although on the other hand, what else is new in Windows? an immense amount of stuff is happening all the time in background). Probably for this very reason, the native method does not switch focus to the OED when you double-click a word (even though that has triggered a look-up) — you must manually click or Alt-Tab to switch focus to the OED and view the result.

Advantages:
Both of these macros automatically launch the OED if it is not already running – they wait the precise amount of time required by this bloated v3 leviathan to initialize, and then they look-up the word, hands-off (sit back and be patient!). Neither macro can be used to close the OED – you must stop OED manually. Both macros automatically switch focus to the OED, and because Word is the adjacent Z-order app, a simple Alt-Tab takes you back to your Word document. On termination, both restore your preexisting OED “Auto-search from clipboard” default if your personal setting (your preference, established in the OED's “Options” tab) is the opposite of the setting required by the macro (ON for macro 1, OFF for macro 2) – a tiny VBS program runs in background to perform this service. If your default is the opposite of the macro requirement, then to restore your preferred behavior, you must manually stop the OED, wait up to 15 seconds for your preferred “AUTO_SEARCH=ON/OFF” setting (in OED.INI) to be restored, and then relaunch OED. Both macros can readily be altered to omit their look-up confirmation dialogs if you find them annoying (the confirmation dialogs allow you to change a word like “expungible”, which is not found in the OED, to the root word “expunge”, or to look-up any random word, whether or not it appears in your text).

1) OEDV3ON.BAS:
This macro uses the built-in “Auto-search from clipboard” feature, but tries to temper its craziness. It assumes that you only want Clipboard look-ups while running Microsoft Word, i.e. that you have unchecked (turned OFF, and then Saved!) the “Auto-search from clipboard” checkbox on the OED “Options” tab. It turns Clipboard look-ups ON when you open the OED for the first time using this macro, and it subsequently turns Clipboard look-ups OFF when you close this instance of the OED. If you launch and use the OED outside of Microsoft Word, or you launch OED manually while Word is running, the Clipboard will (probably, if you're wise) be OFF. In short, Clipboard lookups will only be active if you start up the OED by launching this macro while running Word. The negative side of this arrangement is that, while this OED instance is running, the OED will look up every item that enters the Clipboard, whether you use the macro or not.

2) OEDV3.BAS:   Recommended
This alternative macro pokes data into the OED in a less intrusive manner. It does not use the Clipboard — indeed, it requires that Clipboard Copying be turned OFF by default in the OED, and it will not work correctly if the OED is already running with Clipboard Copying ON. Instead, it pokes look-up words into the OED using SendKeys (emulated keyboard) commands. The downsides are that (a) you must use the macro to perform a look-up (OED will not respond to Copy commands), and (b) it may not work in Vista (untested – I have seen reports that SendKeys doesn't work correctly in Vista). In every other respect, it is the preferred macro. Allowing the OED to react to every Copy command you issue, globally across your computer à la macro 1), is insane unless you only word process.

General Protection Faults: Printer Driver Incompatibilities (and Fixes)

OED v1.1x will not run unless a printer driver is installed. You don't need to have an actual hardware printer attached to your machine, but at minimum you do need to install a printer driver and then assign it as your “default printer”. The Fax printer driver usually does not satisfy this requirement. The “Generic / Text” printer driver (installation described below) is the best candidate in this no-printer situation, because it does not trigger a GPF, and because it is innocuous (it simply “prints” any data to a text file — no printing-to-paper occurs). N.B.: The above applies only to machines that have no installed printer!

Printer drivers authored by Hewlett Packard (and other manufacturers, such as Lexmark, Samsung, etc) are often incompatible with OED v1 (and with v2-v3, though for different reasons — see solution above). If one of these is set as the current “default” printer (driver), OED.EXE crashes (General Protection Fault) when it starts to load. You’ll see two successive error messages:

General Protection Faults (GPFs) are reported at a variety of addresses, e.g. 0006:E8BA, 0007:6114, and others. Under XP, I have also seen fatal “memory could not be written” errors, reported just like the “Application Error” message displayed by v3. These are increasingly common problems which, for many owners, seem to bring use of v1.1x to an insurmountable dead end. But, in fact, fixes are several and simple. (N.B.: The backward “Compatibility” settings available in XP and Win2000 “Properties” are NOT the solution — although that is often the first potential fix that afflicted users explore.)

Equivalent printer drivers authored by Micro$oft (e.g. those that are “built-in” to an M$ operating system) do not manifest printer incompatibility. If an equivalent M$ driver exists, or you’re willing to use a backlevel driver (e.g. for an earlier model LaserJet), you can delete the current H-P (or whatever) driver and install a Micro$oft replacement.

Unfortunately, an “equivalent” M$ driver is often unavailable (e.g. for newly marketed printers), or the M$ driver may not support all features of the printer. In that event, the solution — a more satisfactory solution than the above for modern printers — is to swap default printer drivers for a few seconds while OED.EXE initializes, temporarily assigning “default” status to a driver that is compatible with the OED, and then (in background) to restore the original default driver as soon as the OED is up and running.

Alternatively, a very simple fix — temporarily disabling the printer spooler — exists for users of Windows NT4, 2000, XP, and Vista (and for 9x|ME, with installation of a special printer driver) if networking [Internet connectivity, or a LAN] is installed: skip to either the “Start OED Solution for Windows NT+” or to the preferred “Start OED Solution for Windows NT+|9x”, below (otherwise, if no networking, apply the following Win9x solution on NT+ machines).

STARTOED.BAT Solution for Windows 9x (95, 98, ME):

Here’s a recipe for an automated workaround (hands-off launching of OED; restores your original printer driver as Default):

If an M$-authored Fax printer driver is already installed (and works!), you may skip the
(indented) steps below (which install a “Generic / Text” driver — a useful thing
to have for non-OED purposes, actually); otherwise…

	Go to Control Panel ==> Printers ==> Add printer
	Add a “Local printer”
	Do NOT check “Automatically detect & install PnP”
	Use Port “FILE”
	Use Manufacturer “Generic”
	Use Printer driver “Generic / Text Only”
	Insert an operating system CD if necessary…
	Continue to Finish installing the Generic / Text driver

Download OED-GPF.ZIP, which collects required (freeware) executables together in a
single ZIPfile: DELAY.EXE, by Douglas Good (originally from DLYWFT10.ZIP, which
has recently disappeared from the Net); and the SDP15 package, a.k.a. “Set Default Printer”,
by Edward Brophy (obtained originally from a Simtel site).

Extract DELAY.EXE, SDP.EXE, and SDP.INI into the same directory as OED.EXE, e.g. d:\OED

Go to a DOS command prompt in d:\OED
  Command:  SDP<EnterKey>
SDP will report the names of all the printer drivers which you have installed.
Make note of a unique substring of two reported printer devices:
  “Generic / Text Only” (a suitable substring is “Generic”)
  your incompatible printer
You’ll use these substrings when calling SDP in the STARTOED.BATch file that you create, below.

Edit SDP.INI to say:
  timeout=0
  no_window=0
(The SDP.INI file in OED-GPF.ZIP is already prepared thus.)

Write a BATch file called STARTOED.BAT, and put it in a directory in the PATH,
e.g. “C:\WINDOWS” or “C:\WINNT\system32”:
  @ECHO OFF
  d:				<== Adjust “d:” drive to that of the OED EXEcutable
  CD "\OED"			<== Adjust “\path” to ditto
  SDP.EXE Generic		<== [or “Fax”]
  START "d:\OED\OED.EXE"	<== Adjust “drive:\path\OED.EXE” to ditto
  DELAY.EXE 6 >NUL		<== Adjustable delay, in whole seconds
  SDP.EXE {sub$tring_of_SDP-reported_devicename_for_incompatible_printer_driver}
  EXIT

STARTOED.BAT[or .CMD]: Start OED Solution for Windows NT+ (NT4, 2000, XP, Vista):

  @ECHO OFF
  d:				<== Adjust “d:” drive to that of the OED EXEcutable
  CD "\OED"			<== Adjust “\path” to ditto
  NET.EXE STOP Fax >NUL 2>&1	<== If fax service is running, only
  NET.EXE STOP Spooler >NUL 2>&1
  START /MIN "d:\OED\OED.EXE"	<== Adjust “drive:\path\OED.EXE” to ditto
  DELAY.EXE 4 >NUL		<== Adjustable delay, in whole seconds
  NET.EXE START Spooler >NUL 2>&1
  NET.EXE START Fax >NUL 2>&1	<== !ONLY! if fax service was running!
  EXIT

You may need to determine and use the exact names of the fax and print spooler services under your operating system: command “NET START |MORE” for a list of running services. If the name contains a space, enclose it in quotes, e.g.:

  NET.EXE STOP "Fax Service" >NUL 2>&1
  NET.EXE STOP "Print Spooler" >NUL 2>&1
  …
  NET.EXE START "Print Spooler" >NUL 2>&1
  NET.EXE START "Fax Service" >NUL 2>&1

Under either of the “STARTOED.BAT strategies” above, make a new Desktop shortcut for STARTOED.BAT. In XP, for example, delete any old Shortcut icon for the OED that you may have on your Desktop (right-click on it, “Delete”). Right-click on an empty area of Desktop, and select “New” ==> “Shortcut”.

	Type the location of the item:	d:\OED\STARTOED.BAT
	Type a name for the shortcut:	Oxford English Dictionary

	Target:		d:\OED\STARTOED.BAT
	Start in:	d:\OED
	Shortcut key:	None [or whatever you want]
	Run:		Minimized

OED launches almost instantaneously, with no on-screen BATfile garbage displayed, just as if you were running OED.EXE directly.

If you have a fast machine, you can reduce (or increase if necessary) the seconds argument passed to DELAY. In principle, all you need to do is DELAY long enough to get past OED.EXE’s initializing printer check, then you can reset the default back to the original, “incompatible” printer driver. 6 seconds on a slooow NT4 machine is probably plenty.

OEDXP.EXE: Start OED Solution for Windows NT+|9x (Vista, Server, XP, 2000, NT4, ME, 9x):
(Revised v3.1.8 – 21 February 2006. Added: OEDXP also looks for OED.EXE in “Program Files\OED”; new optional check for correct Files and Fonts installation; Fixed: crashed if CD drives lack disks during file searches) [2456]

Details: OEDXP performs three functions: it launches the OED v1.1x under Win32 and quietly overcomes all aspects of printer driver incompatibility; it focuses the OED application if it is already running; and/or it performs word lookups (as, formerly, did OEDLOOKP.EXE), which is especially useful when the OED is already running. It automatically finds both the OED data file OED2.DAT [if in any root directory on any drive C: through Z:], and the OED executable [search order: 1) the directory in which OEDXP is located, 2) any subdirectory, immediately below the root, named \OED on drive C: through Z:, or 3) an OED subdirectory of your system’s "Program Files" directory, e.g. in C:\Program Files\OED]; these assumptions can be overridden with runtime switches (command “OEDXP /?” at a DOS prompt or see the command summary below for more info and examples). The switches obviate the need for an OED.INI file (although you still may need an INI file for certain word processing macros). For example, if your data file is in a root directory (where it should be) but your OED executables are in “C:\Oxford\OED” rather than a simple “\OED” subdirectory of the root, you must command:

  OEDXP /E="C:\Oxford\OED"

Version 3 of OEDXP.EXE works with all 32-bit versions of Windows: 95/98/ME/NT4/2000/XP/Server/Vista. Under Win9x|ME, it assumes that you have installed a “Generic / Text Only” printer driver, or another driver that does not incur a GPF (any driver except the default “Generic / Text Only” driver requires the “/P=” switch). Try the “/K” or sKip switch first; it may be that the computer will launch the OED without fussing with the printer (my 95|98 machines all do):

  OEDXP /K

  OEDXP /N

  OEDXP /P="Fax"

OEDXP v3.1.4+ introduces additional intelligence to the engine. If the Look-up Word is not an exact match for the word found by the OED, or if it is not a main heading, OEDXP automatically searches for the root of the word you seek. For example, if your “Word Look-up” is “plant”, the OED finds first “caustic bush, plant, vine” — the main heading is “caustic, a. and n.”. The first occurrence of noun “plant” is actually the seventh entry in the Word List — and OEDXP goes right to it. The rules:

• 1. OEDXP searches up to ten entries below the initial entry, and then ten entries above the initial entry, looking for either a main heading that is a Left-string of the Look-up Word, or a Look-up Word that is a Left-string of the main heading — if no match is located, it returns to the initial entry;
• 2. After (if) OEDXP has found the first real match, it checks whether there are any identical matches among the look-up word that you supplied, the main heading, and the selected word in the dictionary window. If two of these items are identical, then OEDXP assumes that an entry or sub-entry in the dictionary window is a match for your Look-