I had this same problem, but I bare good news!
I took the exe file from another LotR2 download and overwrit the exe file of this one and solved this CD not in drive problem. No need to even to mount an image or file of any sort, or even mess with any directory stuff. Launched and played the game just fine on it's own.
Besides one thing!
When I launched the game there was no music and limited sound effects! I don't know about you guys but the music was one of the many reasons I loved this game so I went on a mission to fix this problem. And fix the problem I did!
This fix solves not only solves the CD not in drive problem but also adds full music and sound effects to the game! And best of all I compressed it into a .rar file and uploaded it to megaupload for you all that have this problem!
Now to apply the fix follow these steps:
1) Download and install SquirtTheCat's installer of Lords of the Realm 2 named lords_of_the_realm_2_install_20080706test5.msi at
http://www.squirtthecat.com/games/lords ... index.html
2) After installing SquirtTheCat's version download my LotR2.rar file at
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4DWUYTY2
3) Open and extract the LotR2.rar file to the exact place you installed SquirtTheCat's version of Lords of the Realm 2. You will be asked to replace files or not, do so.
4) Open your Lords of the Realm folder and search for the exe file named LORDS2
5) Right click the LORDS2 file and select Properties and go to the Compatibility tab
6) Check the "Run this program in compatibility mode for" box and select Windows 95
7) Check the "Run in 256 colors" box and apply the changes
8) Launch Lords of the Realm 2 and enjoy
My thanks go out to SquirtTheCat for this Vista/XP installer as well, Thanks for keeping a great game updated and preserved for us old school gamers.
/props
P.S. If anyone wants to play online at all I would like to test the online capabilitys.