This guide is for if you already have an original copy of the game on CD or have already downloaded and installed it from a CD. I can’t vouch for any download sources of B&W2 you can find online, I suggest running any files you download online through VirusTotal (https://www.virustotal.com) before opening them on your computer, especially if you’re on an admin account. This includes any files that are linked to on this guide, I haven’t encountered any issues personally, but you never know.

This part should be the easiest, as long as you have a CD drive. If not, there are plenty of external CD/DVD drives available on Amazon that connect via USB.

1. Run the CD from your CD drive.
   
2. If the menu comes up automatically, click install. If either the menu doesn’t come up or you get an error, follow these next steps.
   
3. Access the CD files from your file explorer, there should be an executable named “autorun.exe” if I remember correctly. Run autorun.exe as administrator.
   
4. Now click install. Wait for installation to complete and the easiest part is done!

If you try to run the game executable, you’ll probably notice that nothing happens. This is because B&W2 has copy right protections that prevent it from running when the disk isn’t accessible. However, even if the disk is accessible the game still won’t run. Windows discontinued the software that allowed for this disk verification which means you’ll have to get rid of it. Luckily, there’s a fan patch that fixes this and it has the bonus of allowing the game to run without needing the disk. This also isn’t illegal because as long as you own a copy of the game, you have the right to modify its files so long as you don’t redistribute it (though no one will care if you do).

Download and install the following patches (in order) to get the game running as described above.

1. V1.1: http://www.bwfiles.com/files/file.php?id=587 (OFFICIAL PATCH)
   
2. V1.2: http://www.bwfiles.com/files/file.php?id=695 (OFFICIAL PATCH)
   
3. V1.3: http://www.bwfiles.com/files/file.php?id=1421 (FAN PATCH)
   
4. BotG: http://www.bwfiles.com/files/file.php?id=1422 (FAN PATCH) – optional

If you continue having issues you can try the following steps. Note: I did not have any issues, so I have not tried these steps.

1. Run the game.
   
2. Run the Task manager (ctrl+shift+escape).
   
3. Under the Processes tab find the game process, should be “white.exe”.
   
4. Right click it then choose Set affinity.
   
5. Uncheck all the boxes except the CPU box.
   
6. Click OK and return to the game.

While in-game, if your cursor (god hand) likes to stutter a lot, this most likely has to do with your mouse. This is because newer mouses, especially gaming mouses, send information to the computer at higher frequencies than when B&W2 was made. This is called the polling rate. Having a high polling rate is usually a good thing but B&W2 is not a fan.

Changing the polling rate on a mouse is not an everyday thing, and I'm not confident you can do it for any mouse. If you have a gaming mouse, you’re probably good. Look up the brand and see if they have any software you can download to modify the mouse settings. For me, I have an LG gaming mouse, so I downloaded “Logitech Gaming Software”. Just make sure you get this kind of software from an official brand site.

Once you have the ability to change your mouse’s polling rate, set it to 125. This should fix any god hand stuttering. If you're having trouble changing your polling rate, another option is to find an older mouse.

Please let me know if you have any issues following this guide, if you stumble across issues not mentioned in this guide, or if you’d like to correct/add anything to the guide. Enjoy playing what is in my opinion, the best god game of all time.