Abstract: To protect against software piracy, a storage media has a cryptographically protected area that stores software to be installed onto a target device, such as a computer. The storage media may include a non-secure area holding boot files and an installation program. The installation program may gather target device-specific data for use by a certifying authority in generating a key that allows access to the secure area of the storage media only during the installation process. In this manner, a user never has access to the raw installation files, limiting the ability to copy and distribute those files for installation on non-authorized computers. The certifying authority may also prepare target device-specific data applied to the software before installation to create a custom software image that will only execute on the target device and that can be verified by the host OS prior to execution, allowing integrity confirmation.