What you will do if you got software in a disc image format? Disc image is a file which contains the complete content and structure of a CD or DVD in a single file. They come with an extension of .iso, .nrg, .mdf etc. Actually, we need to write them to a CD/DVD depending on the file size and then access it. Still, few people do not know that they don’t need to write them to a physical disc. You can mount those disc images as a virtual drive and access the content in it. VMware Player and VirtualBox can do this. They are free.
Though they are free, they are somewhat huge in file size when it comes to download on a slow Internet connection. They are around 35 to 45 MB in size. So, I was searching whether there is any tiny application available to do the same. I came to know about this tiny application developed by Microsoft, Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel. It is just 23KB (twenty three KB only) in size and does what I needed. Using it you can mount the disc images to a virtual drive, which will be seen along with your partitions in explorer. An unused drive letter will be assigned to it. It supports .udf, .cdfs, .jo, .iso, and .rock files.
Download the Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel V2.1. Unzip it and you will get three files – VCdControlTool.exe, VCdRom.sys, and an instruction text file. Execute VCdControlTool.exe and click “DriverControl.”
Then, click on “Install Diver” and it will ask for the driver. Point it to the “VCdRom.sys.” Then, click “Start” and then “OK.” We have done with the driver part.
Now click “Add Drive” and it will add a virtual drive with an unused drive letter. In my case, it is “Z.” Now click “Mount” and select the disc image to mount. Once you are selected and clicked “OK.” You are ready with your virtual drive containing the image disc. Access the content as you burned it to a CD and put in CD/DVD Drive.
Hi!
Thanks for the easy to understand instructions regarding mounting a virtual CD/DVD with Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel. I did not have a DVD at hand and it worked nicely.
Best regards Kalle
I am glad to know that my article was of help. Thanks for letting me know.
This is very up-to-date information. I think I’ll share it on Twitter.
Hi when I got to the last step, I clicked mount, then found my file and pressed open for that, and then when i pressed ok on the special mount options window it says mount failed.
Any ideas?
Are you sure that it is a supported file? It only supports .udf, .cdfs, .jo, .iso, and .rock extensions.
Hello naveen this seems very user friendly, but when i click on driver control i get “Cannot open SCM Access Denied” Then goes to the browser, i go into my folder click on “VCdrom.sys” file and get “Handle is invalid” and in the little install driver box it says Virtual CD rom not installed. Help?
Having the same problem as Hibab here. 🙁 Clicking on Driver Control brings up the message “Cannot Open SCM: Access is denied”, and pointing to the .sys files brings up “The handle is invalid.”
You might be running your operating system other than administrator. You should log in as Administrator or right click on the program and select “Run as..” from the list and select Administrator. This should solve your problem. Get back to me if you are still facing problem.
I know it has been awhile since anyone has posted here, but still hoping there may be help.
I am able to install the driver, but when I click start I get an error message saying, “This driver has been blocked from loading.”. I am running VCd Control as the administrator.
Anyone else experience this? Thank you in advance.
I am also getting the same error “driver has been blocked from loading error”. I am doing it on Vista Business OS. This is happening even after selecting “Run as Administrator”
In windows 7, after “Install Driver” steps it gives “The handle is invalid” error. Can you pls clarify?
Thanks! Works great so far and is exactly what I was looking for.
@Poov
If you are experiencing problems with the softwares, you can try the Virtual Clone drive software.
I also faced same issues and then found this new software on internet and wrote about the steps i followed here:
http://am22tech.com/s/22/Blogs/post/2010/11/07/Install-software-from-ISO-image-file-without-burning-a-CD-or-DVD.aspx
I hope it helps you.
Hi,
After going thru the procedure you have mentioned I was able to mount my ISO file to ‘z’ drive. But after I mount an ISO file I was not able to see the ‘z’ drive. Please help.
Hi, just thought I would mention to anyone getting “Handle is invalid” or “Access is denied” errors – running the program as Admin solved this for me (just right click and hit “Run as…”). However I should point out that the file was for some reason invisible in the directory, and I had to type the name in manually. So if you can’t find the file, just try typing its name in anyway, which worked for me as long as you’re in the right folder.
will this work if im intalling Zorin OS 6??
You need a virtualization software rather than a mounting software. Check here: https://www.virtualbox.org/
Awesome Naveen, It works marvelously !!! Thank you so much
nice software. size is also very low (16kb). works fine for me on windows xp sp3. thanx.