10 Free Software to Mount CD or DVD ISO Image File as Virtual Drives
Author: Raymond12 Mar
The latest ESET v4 comes with SysRescue which is a Live CD to. However when I wanted to create SysRescue Live CD, I was asked to download and install Windows Automated Installation Kit first. The size of the file is shockingly huge at 1.34GB! After finished downloading, I thought it was a setup file where I could run and install the required WAIK. Then I found out that it was an ISO file. No big deal because I normally use PowerArchiver to extract the ISO file so I can access the files without burning it to a disc. It took merely 2 seconds to extract and there is only 1 README.TXT file in the extracted folder. In the text file it says “This disc contains a “UDF” file system and requires an operating system that supports the ISO-13346 “UDF” file system specification.”
Looks like PowerArchiver doesn’t support extracting ISO-13346 (UDF) images. I’ve even tried using Universal Extractor to extract the ISO-13346 UDF image but failed. I certainly don’t want to burn that ISO to a disc so the next solution to access the files in the ISO image is to use Virtual CD/DVD-ROM emulator to mount the image file to a drive letter.
Here are 10 free virtual CD/DVD emulator that you can use to mount images. Some are very simple and small that are just meant for mounting image files but some has more features such as allowing you to create images from a CD/DVD.
The list below are arranged based on the file size (from small to big) of the installer. Reason is I am looking for a simple software to mount the Windows Automated Installation Kit ISO image.
1. Microsoft Virtual CDRom Control Panel
- There is no official page for this tool and you can’t even search for it in Microsoft website. What I like about this tool is it doesn’t require installation and the whole package is very small in size. The only drawback is it can only run in XP.
2. WinCDEmu
- Mounting an ISO image file using WinCDEmu is really easy. Just install and all you need to do is to double click on the ISO image file to automatically mount it to a drive letter. If you want to unmount, just right click on the drive and select Eject.
3. ISODisk
- Very straight forward interface for you to mount an image file. However this tool is unable to mount ISO-13346 (UDF) images. It can create ISO images from disc though…
4. MagicDisc
- MagicDisc is created by the same developer of the popular MagicISO. It can mount a wide range of CD/DVD image formats and can also create CD/DVD image from disc. Supports from Windows 98 to Windows 7!
5. Virtual CloneDrive
- Supports XP and Vista. Mounting a CD/DVD image is as easy as double clicking the file.
6. Pismo File Mount
- This tool works a little different by mounting the image file like a network mapped drive.
7. Phantom CD
- Phantom CD supports XP and Vista 32-bit. This software installer is quite huge in size compared to the above and it can only mount 1 drive letter plus cannot create image from disc.
8. DAEMON Tools Lite Commercial
- The “Commercial” keyword for the title of the software is a little confusing. Usually commercial means shareware but for this one, it is a freeware. Be careful during installation because it will ask to install Browser Toolbar and also set DAEMON Tools default Search Provider. It can create image from disc. Supports XP and Vista.
9. Gizmo Drive
- This is the only free virtual disc emulator that can create image from both disc and folder. Support both 32 and 64 bit of XP, Vista, 2003, 2008, and Windows 7.
10. Alcohol 52%
- Can create image from disc. You have to go to Virtual Drive option to set the number of virtual drives before mounting an image because by default it is set to 0.
I have Windows XP, so I only needed to use Microsoft Virtual CDRom Control Panel to mount the WAIK. Extract winxpvirtualcdcontrolpanel_21.exe to a new folder and run VcdControlTool.exe. Click Driver Control button, click Install Driverand select VCdRom.sys that is located at the same folder as VcdControlTool.exe. Click Start and click OK. Click Add Drive button. Finally click Mount button and look for the ISO image. Click OK and I now see a new Z drive letter in My Computer.
If you’re looking for more features, try Gizmo Drive and Alcohol 52%.
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22 Responses for "10 Free Software to Mount CD or DVD ISO Image File as Virtual Drives"
another one, very good and with source code is ImDisk Virtual Disk Driver: http://www.ltr-data.se/opencode.html#ImDisk . The community is active. It\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’s not really a program but a driver. Works on XP/Vista.
I’ve not been able to run MagicISO in Windows7! For me only POWERISO worked!
dang i needed this but incase some doesnt work u guys should also try daemon tools
Is there any free portable application to mount!
ImDisk Virtual Disk Driver is the best
thanks john_lennon
Microsoft Virtual CDRom Control Panel is small and works nicely but it can not make a physical drive like Nero Image or StarBurn. I use StarBurn GAOTD and it works perfectly
Power Achiever 2009 (professional) can also mount an ISO file and it makes the mounted drive physical.
Nice review and good choices of software, I would like to mention mabalivecd
http://mobalivecd-en.mobatek.net/
MobaLiveCD is a freeware that will run your Linux LiveCD on Windows thanks to the excellent emulator called “Qemu”.
I always use Daemon Tools for mounting disk images, I think its the best small utility.
Great programs Raymond ,I use allways Power ISO its very good too .
Thx man
Virtual CloneDrive for me!
Thanks raymond for the best is magicdisc..
How do I uninstall, WinCDEmu? I is not listed in Add/Remove.
I tried Gizmo drive and it rocks!Thanks for the link
gizmo drive been excellent thanks raymond cc
i’m using Alchohol 120% and MagicISO. It works great! I use 2 softwares becuase MagicISO can’t mount some files (like MDS) so I use Alchohol 120% (And the other way around)
Thanks Raymond for the info…
Alcohol 120 is the best in terms of overall features. Daemon Tools is the best in mounting images and virtual drives. It just lacks writing capability which Alcohol 120 has. My problem is both good programs can’t be installed in my Windows 7 system as of the moment. I think they both installs SPTD layer or something which Windows 7 Beta won’t allow for now. UltraISO works on Windows 7 and I’m using it. You should try it. You can open image files with it without mounting it to virtual drives. You also can edit the image file’s contents and save it. I’m just scouting for other programs of the like for now. Just passing by.. hehe..
I personally use Virtual Clone Drive, it’s really light weight, size and resources wise, plus it has a sheep on it! but for making my ISO’s and such I use IMGburn.
Everyone has their preference for a basic ISO handler. Mind is PowerISO, which is commercial, but which can be easily found for free on the torrent sites. It’s best-of-breed (yes, even better than MagicISO); and it will now handle MagicISO native files…
…that is, unless they’re compressed. Occasionally, one will encounter an ISO file that was created and then, further, compressed using MagicISO. PowerISO can’t handle that, so that’s where the little free MagicDisc utility (mentioned above) comes in.
MagicDisck can uncompress any file compressed by its parent MagicISO product. Once its uncompressed, then PowerISO (or, really, most any freeware or commercial ISO handler) can take it from there.
So, then, my point is, one should use whatever primary ISO handler that one wants to use. Most of them (including PowerISO) will mount any ISO as a virtual drive. However, because of the MagicISO compression thing, the smartest thing one can do is download and use that free little MagicDisc and let it sit in the system tray. Because it will mound multiple virtual drives, you can just let it be what you use for that purpose. But its REAL value will kick in whenever (if ever) you encounter a MagicISO-compressed ISO that you wish to use with something like PowerISO or ImgBurner or some other much more sophisticated and feature-rich ISO handler.
All of the choices in the primary article are nice and interesting, but with that free little MagicDisc utility running in one’s system tray, one need only add whatever is one’s choice of primary, feature-rich, freeware or commercial ISO handler software, and one will have all one needs… ever.
NOTE: Rememeber that when I say “all one needs” and “ever,” I’m referring strictly to ISO handling, not DVD or CD ripping or decoding or anything else. There are fine utilities for those things. This article just covers CD/DVD virtual drive mounting and the free utilities that will get it done. My point with this posting is to suggest that there’s only one choice from the above because of the vexing problem of how to handle ISO files (of whatever format) which are further compressed by MagicISO. Only the MagicDisc utility, above, will do that, so since one is likely to encounter MagicISO-compressed files in one’s downloading experience, one might as well just get the one tool from the above list that will not only mount virtual drives, but will also handle the vexing MagicISO-related decompression problem. From there, use whatever ISO handler you like.
Or so it is my advice, for whatever that’s worth.
that’s really amazing thx very much
WinMount is an image tool, supports mounting ISO ISZ BIN MDS/MDF NRG IMG CCD CUE to virtual DVD-ROM （www.winmount.com/mount_dvd.html）, supports mounting FLAC, APE, WV, WAVE to virtual CD-ROM, supports mounting VHD, VDI, VMDK, WMT, Microsoft WIM, and folder as a HDD virtual disk.
WinMount can be used in xp, win7, vista, 2003
About using Microsoft Virtual CDRom Control Panel:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/916902
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