Since I was curious, I did a little digging.
Note that breaking copy protection is a touchy subject. I believe that if you own a disc, you have "Fair Use" rights. For example, you may want to backup a rare original for safekeeping, or you may desire a little more flexibility in using something you legally own. The OP falls into the latter category.
It's possible, maybe likely, that there is copy protection on the disc. The fact that it is necessary to run the program off disc is indicative. SafeDisc, Securom, LaserLock, are a few protection types.
In the above case, a simple copy *probably* will not work. That's why I suggested BlindWrite (not free), and you have options as to ripped format, ISO image for instance. BlindWrite can defeat copy protection and produce a bit-for-bit copy. Now, a BlindWrite copy should be usable, but if it is balky for whatever reason, best to use a virtual drive capable of various emulation types, as in the anticopy schemes above. DaemonTools can do it, and it's free.
In extreme cases, the copy protection may include a "blacklist" preventing the disc from being copied or played if it detects the presence of certain software, DaemonTools and Alcohol120% (similar to BlindWrite), for instance. In that case, you'd have to use a software such as Anti-blaxx to hide the programs from the blacklist.
That's starting to sound like more trouble than it's worth, huh? That's precisely the reason for such measures.
