In 2009, I wrote about a tool to mount ISO files without burning to CD/DVD using the Microsoft’s free tool called Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel. That post was very popular during that time. Unfortunately, that tiny little software needed few more steps than just click and install, which lot of people were failing.Also, it did not work for few due to some reasons.
A virtual CD drive will help you to mount the CD images directly without burning them onto a CD or DVD. It creates a virtual CD-ROM drive and assigns a drive letter. You can mount a disc image in that location and can access the data it contains. Yesterday, I needed it and found an alternative to it called Virtual CloneDrive. It supports all Microsoft OSes from Win 2000 to Win 8. It is a free 1.5-MB tool. Just install it and you are done. No more complicated driver installations.
Once you installed Virtual CloneDrive, it shows up as an icon in the tray. Right click on the icon and it shows the assigned drive letter. Hover your mouse onto it and it shows “Mount” option. Click on it and you can select the image to mount. Once you select a disc image, go to the Explorer and select that drive letter and you can see the contents of the disc.
