ISO Image

What is an ISO Image

An ISO image (International Organization for Standardization) is an archive file (also known as a disc image) of an optical disc, composed of the data contents of every written sector of an optical disc, including the optical disc file system. ISO images can be created from optical discs, or can be used to recreate optical discs using software from many software vendors. ISO image files typically have a file extension of .iso

Using ISO Images

ISO images cannot be run like normal .exe files. One method is to burn the image to disk and run the execution file from the newly burned disk. If the ISO image is to big to burn then the alternative is to create a virtual drive on your PC. There are number of software applications that can do this.

Microsoft Virtual Control Tool

This works on Windows OS up to XP (February 2011)

Readme for Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel v2.0.1.1

THIS TOOL IS UNSUPPORT BY MICROSOFT PRODUCT SUPPORT SERVICES

System Requirements

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- Windows XP Home or Windows XP Professional

Installation instructions

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1. Copy VCdRom.sys to your %systemroot%\system32\drivers folder. 2. Execute VCdControlTool.exe 3. Click "Driver control" 4. If the "Install Driver" button is available, click it. Navigate to the %systemroot%\system32\drivers folder, select VCdRom.sys, and click Open. 5. Click "Start" 6. Click OK 7. Click "Add Drive" to add a drive to the drive list. Ensure that the drive added is not a local drive. If it is, continue to click "Add Drive" until an unused drive letter is available. 8. Select an unused drive letter from the drive list and click "Mount". 9. Navigate to the image file, select it, and click "OK". UNC naming conventions should not be used, however mapped network drives should be OK.

You may now use the drive letter as if it were a local CD-ROM device. When you are finished you may unmount, stop, and remove the driver from memory using Driver Control

Virtual Clonne Drive

This works on Win7 and earlier OS and is Freeware