Casio calculator emulators

From Calcupedia, the free calculator encyclopedia

Over the years, Casio has made emulators of their scientific calculators. On their software page, there are downloads of calculator emulator subscriptions (for Windows) that have a 90-day trial period.

Contents
  1. Emulator subscriptions
    1. What is currently known
    2. Bypassing activation
      1. Using a sandbox
      2. Modifying the emulator EXE
        1. Pre-patched versions
        2. DIY patching
  2. USB key emulators
  3. Version numbers
  4. ClassPad ClassWiz emulators
  5. Lost and unreleased emulators
  6. Downloads
  7. Notes

Emulator subscriptions

What is currently known

If you have started a trial period, downloading another evaluation emulator would actually use the same trial period. For example, if you have opened an evaluation Casio fx-570/991EX emulator and used it for a day, downloading and opening a [[Casio fx-580VN X]] evaluation emulator will show that you have 89 days left before a license is required. Uninstalling will not affect anything. This is because the trial license actually uses the same application name and version, therefore it is treated as one single application.

Casio uses SafeNet Sentinel technology as the license system. You can see this by going to C:\ProgramData (ProgramData is a system folder), where you will see a folder titled SafeNet Sentinel. The official guide to set up a network server made by Casio also tells you to download “Sentinel RMS License Manager”. Not much is known about this SafeNet Sentinel technology, other than the fact that it definitely was secure for the average user.

Deleting the C:\ProgramData\SafeNet Sentinel folder will immediately invalidate the trial period. If the trial period gets invalidated, on startup, this will appear:
A problem was detected with the license.
Use the procedure displayed on the next screen that appears to recover the license.

You are then prompted to download a file named lscgcln.txt and send it to Casio’s customer support team. After a few days, the support team would give you a recovery.lic file that you would use to re-activate the software.1

Bypassing activation

Using a sandbox

The easiest way to bypass activation is by using a sandbox like Windows Sandbox or Sandboxie. This way, you will never run out of trial time.

The basic steps to do this with Windows Sandbox are:

  1. Enable Windows Sandbox.
  2. Open Windows Sandbox, which will create a sandbox environment. Now install the emulator in the sandbox.
  3. When you’re done, close the sandbox. Keep in mind that everything will be deleted.

This method is easy to perform, but is very slow, and very frustrating because you have to set up the sandbox every time. Some have worked around this by preparing a folder with all the required software and simply copying it to the sandbox, however it is still very frustrating. This method is only recommended if you are perfectly okay with setting up a sandbox multiple times, or if you need to mass-install a lot of emulators and don’t need them much.

Modifying the emulator EXE

The harder but more efficient way to bypass activation is to patch the emulator’s executable to run the main emulator code no matter what. This way, you do not need a sandbox environment.

Pre-patched versions

If you search hard enough, you can find pre-patched/cracked versions of these emulators. However, these cracks usually don’t use the latest version.

The only known cracked version of these emulators to exist is the cracked version of the Casio fx-580VN X emulator (version 02.00.0000.0000), which you can easily find by searching for fx-580vn x emulator crack. The websites are obviously in Vietnamese, since the fx-580VN X model is common among the Vietnamese. The Vietnamese are also usually very generous and don’t lead you to viruses.
The crack can be downloaded here. If your country bans piracy, do not download this crack if you haven’t legally purchased a license.
If you cannot read the Vietnamese install instructions, installing it is pretty straightforward: simply install the evaluation version using the provided installer, then copy Crack\fx-580VN X Emulator.exe to the emulator’s install directory. The “cracked” CLASSWIZ_P20.dll is just a bitmap swap, so you don’t have to copy it over.

DIY patching

Since it’s very hard to find cracked versions of these emulators, you probably need to patch the EXE yourself.

This guide below uses Ghidra, an open-source reverse-engineering tool developed by the National Security Agency of the United States, to patch an emulator EXE to bypass activation.
DISCLAIMER: Casio’s emulators are proprietary software. If your country bans piracy, please do not follow the guide below if you haven’t legally purchased a license. The guide below is for educational and informational purposes only.

Please read the following before doing the guide below:

  • This guide is only recommended if you need to install 1 or 2 emulators so you can use them as long as you want, because this guide takes, at minimum, around 20 minutes to do. A majority of that time is spent waiting for auto-analyzation to finish, and the auto-analyzation time can change depending on your computer’s speed.
  • The guide applies to the latest ClassWiz (EX) emulator version (02.01.0030.0000) and the latest fx-ES PLUS re-release emulator version (05.00.0020.0000) as of writing this article.
  • The guide uses the fx-580VN X emulator (version 02.01.0020.0000) as an example. Every emulator EXE is different but has the same code recompiled (if the version is the same), so FUN_xxxxxxxx function names may be slightly different for you, but everything else should stay the same.
  • While the guide uses Ghidra, you can use any reverse-engineering tool to patch the EXE and bypass the activation process.
  1. Navigate to where the emulator you want to patch is installed. Create a backup of ActivationFx.dll, then copy its path (on Windows: click on the original (not the backup) ActivationFx.dll, right-click and select Copy as path.)
  2. Download Ghidra.
  3. Open Ghidra and create a new project (name it whatever you want).
  4. In the newly created project, press I to bring up an Import File window. In the File name field, paste the path to ActivationFx.dll that you copied from earlier. Click on Select File To Import, then click OK. Wait for the file to import.
  5. Double-click on the file you just imported to open the file with the Code Browser.
  6. Click Yes when you are prompted to analyze the file. Then in the window that appears click Analyze. Wait for the auto-analyzation to finish. You can look at the bottom right of the Code Browser, and if you see no progress bar, auto-analyzation is done, and you can move on.
  7. After auto-analyzation is done, in the Symbol Tree tab, click on Functions > AcvFx_ > AcvFx_IsActivationDialog2.
  8. Look at the Decompile tab. You should see some C code. Click on the very first line in the function. Press Ctrl+Shift+G, close the window that pops up, and wait for Ghidra to construct an assembler.
  9. When done, you’ll see two fields. Make sure the first field is MOV and the second field is EAX, 0x1. Press Enter.
  10. Under the instruction you patched is a hex byte. Select it and Ctrl+Shift+G again. Now make sure the first field is RET and the second field is 0xc. Press Enter.
  11. Press O to bring up the Export Program dialog. Select the output as PE or Original File, and set the output filename to the path to ActivationFx.dll. You can repeat step 1 to grab the path again (don’t create a backup this time, unless you haven’t).
  12. Press OK. In the dialog box that appears click Overwrite. Make sure you have saved a backup of ActivationFx.dll!
  13. Wait for Ghidra to export the DLL. When it’s done, a big dialog box will appear. Press Escape to close it. You can now close Ghidra, and delete Ghidra and the project you just made if you want.
  14. Profit!

Now, when starting the patched emulator, no activation dialogs will appear, even if the trial period has expired or has been invalidated. However, note that if you leave it for too long, an error dialog will appear, and the emulator will close after you close the error dialog.

USB key emulators

The USB key emulators (emulators with a “Ver.USB” suffix in their name) use a technology known as EasyGuard, made by SAYA Inc. Unlike SafeNet Sentinel, this technology actually has some documentation. However, the encoding algorithm has not been reverse-engineered yet.

USB key emulators, as the name suggests, must be placed into an official Casio USB key to run. However, these emulators are extremely easy to crack, since there is only one call to the checking function in EasyGuard’s DLL (EasyGuardEX.dll) in the emulator EXE. Removing the call will bypass the protection entirely.

Version numbers

Casio usually uses different version numbers, in their emulators and in the emulator box/listing page. Here are some version number formats that Casio uses in their emulators:

  • Emulators from the fx-ES PLUS Emulator pack use the version number formats X.X.X.X Y and X.XX.X.X (ex. 3.0.0.0 B for version 3.0 B emulators and 4.00.0.0 for version 4.0 emulators). The fx-82SOLAR II Emulator and the USB key emulators also use the latter format.
  • Modern emulators such as the ClassWiz (EX) emulators and fx-ES PLUS re-release emulators use the version number format XX.XX.XXXX.XXXX (ex. 02.01.0030.0000 for ClassWiz emulator version 2.01.0030).

ClassPad ClassWiz emulators

On October 20, 2022, Casio released ClassPad version 4, which added a ClassWiz emulator feature. These emulators are not investigated thoroughly, however they definitely use the same ROM from the emulator subscription versions. EX and CW model emulators are included, alongside some extra EX models that didn’t have an emulator subscription available.

Of course, the ClassWiz emulator feature is paid, however you can easily unlock the feature (and all VIP features) by installing Tampermonkey, then installing this userscript.

Lost and unreleased emulators

Some of Casio’s emulators/emulator packs are currently lost or kept private for probably forever. These are some currently and/or used to be lost or unreleased Casio emulators:

  • fx-ES Emulator (ES model emulator pack):
    • Partially found.
    • Contains emulators for 4 models: fx-82ES, fx-83ES, fx-300ES, and fx-82AU. Only a leaked fx-82ES emulator (1.00 Sample) is available on the internet, while version 1.1 emulators are completely lost.
    • Casio no longer sells this pack, and it wasn’t archived by most. No ISO images and almost no emulators from the pack have resurfaced on the internet. Instead, you can only find some images of the version 1.1 box and CD, as well as some manuals showing what the emulator looks like and how it would’ve been installed and uninstalled.
    • A Malaysian website was found to be selling the product. sheep.happy on Discord tried to buy it, however he ended up recieving an fx-ES PLUS Emulator pack instead. After contacting customer support, the truth ended up being that the fx-ES Emulator was not in stock.
  • FC-200V Emulator (financial calculator emulator):
    • Found on 10/14/2023 by sheep.happy on Discord
    • These emulators are also part of Casio’s paid products, and they met the same fate just like with the fx-ES Emulator pack. These emulators are largely unpopular partly because it’s for finance rather than something you’d use in math class, and probably only a very small number of people actually bought them. Previously, no copies of the emulators were found. The only evidence of them existing are some YouTube videos showcasing the emulators.
    • A Malaysian website was found to be selling this pack. sheep.happy on Discord bought it and uploaded the files needed to run the emulators.
  • fx-ES PLUS Emulator (ES PLUS model emulator pack):
    • Partially found.
    • This pack also met the same fate as the fx-ES Emulator pack, however we do have a full (cracked) version 4.0 pack, as well as some cracked version 3 emulators.
  • RC fx-570VN PLUS Emulator (fx-570VN PLUS emulator that requires specific MAC addresses):
    • Found on 10/03/2023 by sheep.happy on Discord
    • This is a modified version of the fx-570VN PLUS Emulator that requires a specific MAC address to run. There are a lot of mods of this version, the most popular being a modded version of a mod by QLam Xmaster. The original version had a “Sample” mark at the bottom, and has been lost for some time. It was then found by sheep.happy on Discord.
  • ClassWiz Emulator Subscription (EX model emulator collection):
    • Partially found.
    • 6 versions are known to exist:
      • 01.00.0000.0000 (possibly unreleased)2
      • 02.00.0000.0000 (v2.00)
      • 02.00.0010.0000 (v2.00.0010)
      • 02.01.0000.0000 (v2.01.0000)
      • 02.01.0020.0000 (v2.01.0020)
      • 02.01.0030.0000 (v2.01.0030) (latest version as of 2023)
    • When Casio releases new emulator versions, they replace the old versions with the new ones, and these are not well archived, so the old versions are very easily lost.
  • fx-ES PLUS Emulator Subscription (ES PLUS re-release model emulator collection):
    • Partially found.
    • 3 versions are known to exist:
      • 05.00.0000.0000 (v5.00)
      • 05.00.0010.0000 (v5.00.0010)
      • 05.00.0020.0000 (v5.00.0020) (latest version as of 2023)
    • Same situation as the ClassWiz evaluation emulators.

Downloads

This section will (and aims to) contain downloads for all official Casio emulators. Note that this section does not include programmable and graphing calculators.

Emulator downloads
Name Download Notes
fx-82ES for Windows Download (1.00 Sample)
FC Emulator Download (1.0.0.0)
fx-ES PLUS Emulator Download (4.00.0.0) If prompted for an installation key, you can just input an invalid one and click Next.
RC fx-570VN PLUS Emulator (3.02.1.0) (modded QLam Xmaster mod, Vietnamese UI) If you cannot read Vietnamese: scroll down, solve the reCAPTCHA, then click on the button right below that says TẢI XUỐNG.
RC fx-570VN PLUS Emulator (3.02.1.0) (QLam Xmaster mod, English UI)
RC fx-570VN PLUS Emulator (3.02.1.0) (QLam Xmaster mod, Vietnamese UI)
RC fx-570VN PLUS Emulator (3.02.1.0) (original version)
fx-ES PLUS Emulator (Trial) Download (3.0.0.0 B) Requires Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 (x86)
fx-82/85/350EX Emulator Download (02.01.0030.0000)
fx-570/991EX Emulator Download (02.01.0030.0000)
fx-82/350CN X Emulator Download (02.01.0030.0000)
fx-991CN X Emulator Download (02.01.0030.0000)
fx-530AZ Emulator Download (02.01.0030.0000) No longer downloadable from Casio's website.
fx-92B Spéciale Collège Emulator Download (02.01.0030.0000)
fx-87DE X Emulator Download (02.01.0030.0000)
fx-991DE X Emulator Download (02.01.0030.0000)
fx-82AR X Emulator Download (02.01.0030.0000)
fx-95AR X Emulator Download (02.01.0030.0000)
fx-570/991AR X Emulator Download (02.01.0030.0000)
fx-82/85/350SP X/X II Emulator Download (02.01.0030.0000)
fx-570/991SP X/X II Emulator Download (02.01.0030.0000)
fx-82/350LA X Emulator Download (02.01.0030.0000)
fx-570/991LA X Emulator Download (02.01.0030.0000)
fx-82/85/350CE X Emulator Download (02.01.0030.0000)
fx-991CE X Emulator Download (02.01.0030.0000)
fx-92+ Spéciale Collège Emulator Ver.USB Download (1.0.0.0) Requires an official Casio USB key.
fx-92+ Spéciale Collège Emulator Download (02.01.0030.0000)
fx-97SG X Emulator Download (02.01.0030.0000)
fx-580VN X Emulator Download (02.01.0030.0000)
Download (02.01.0020.0000)
Download (02.00.0000.0000)
fx-83/85GT X Emulator Download (02.01.0030.0000)
fx-82/85DE X Emulator Download (02.01.0030.0000)
fx-991RS X Emulator Download (02.01.0030.0000)
fx-82/85/350ES PLUS 2nd edition Emulator Download (05.00.0020.0000)
fx-570/991ES PLUS 2nd edition Emulator Download (05.00.0020.0000)
fx-300ES PLUS 2nd edition Emulator Download (05.00.0020.0000)
fx-115ES PLUS 2nd edition Emulator Download (05.00.0020.0000)
fx-991ES PLUS C 2nd edition Emulator Download (05.00.0020.0000)
fx-82ZA PLUS II Emulator Download (05.00.0020.0000)
fx-991ZA PLUS II Emulator Download (05.00.0020.0000)
fx-82/350LA PLUS 2nd edition Emulator Download (05.00.0020.0000)
fx-570/991LA PLUS 2nd edition Emulator Download (05.00.0020.0000)
fx-87DE PLUS 2nd edition Emulator Download (05.00.0020.0000)
fx-991ID PLUS 2nd edition Emulator Download (05.00.0020.0000)
fx-570VN PLUS 2nd edition Emulator Download (05.00.0020.0000)
fx-82AU PLUS II 2nd edition Emulator Download (05.00.0020.0000)
Download (05.00.0010.0000)
fx-100AU PLUS 2nd edition Emulator Download (05.00.0020.0000)
Download (05.00.0010.0000)
fx-82SOLAR II Emulator Download (1.00.0.0) Requires an installation key.
fx-92 Collège Emulator Ver.USB Download (1.0.0.0) Requires an official Casio USB key.

Notes

  1. Information taken from Casio’s license recovery page. ↩

  2. Known to exist from this image. ↩