By doing some cleaning in the folders of your computer you found an ISO image. The file has long been forgotten in the meanders of your PC, but now that you’ve found it, you’re tremendously curious to find out what’s inside it.
You tried to open it, but no program currently in your possession seems to be able to succeed in your business: how to solve it? Well, it’s very simple. For the files in question you have to download a program that can mount the ISO images. In a nutshell, everything you need is a software that can simulate the presence of the source disk on your PC. Using such programs is really useful, from the moment you emulate the disc’s presence, you will not need to actually burn the image.
Well, now that you understand the potential of these software I bet I would need some advice about it, is not that right? All right, I’ll settle for you right away. Sit comfortably in front of your PC or Mac; In this tutorial, you will find a step by step explanation of how to mount an ISO image using some free programs. As usual, before starting, I wish you a good read!
Built-in Windows 8 and later
With the arrival of Windows 8 (and later versions), Microsoft introduced a native feature that allows you to mount ISO images without the need for third-party software. Did not you know? Do not worry, I’ll explain in detail how to mount an ISO image with this built-in tool that is dedicated exclusively to computers with the operating system made by Redmond Colossus.
First, right-click on the ISO image icon you want to mount. You will see that, in the context menu, a voice appears with the word Monta . By right-clicking on it, Windows will automatically mount the ISO image. Then you will open an exploration window, and you will see the contents of the mounted ISO. That’s all; as you have seen, is simpler than expected.
If you do not have Windows 8 or the latest version of Windows 10, it’s not a problem. Even if you have to do without this integrated feature, you can mount an ISO image in just the same way by downloading a third-party program. Continue reading this guide, in the following lines I will propose some free programs to mount ISO.
WinCDEmu
If you want to rely on a completely Italian and immediate program to use to mount ISO, I suggest you contact WinCDEmu. This is an open-source program for CD / DVD / BD installation completely free; you will see that following my instructions you will learn how to use it in a blink of an eye.
As soon as you open the home page of the site, you’ll see a green button with Download script on the right of the screen . Then click on it; you will be redirected to the Download section of the site to allow you to download the latest available version.
Now click on the green Download button to download the installation file, called WinCDEmu-XXexe . The file you are downloading is small, so you should not spend much time downloading it. After you’ve finished downloading, click on it. If the UAC (User Account Control) window appears, click YES .
Finally, on the installation screen, to install this software you simply need to press the Install button , then press on Install and then on Ok
To mount your ISO image, you just need to right-click on ISO and then right-click on Select a Drive and mount the image from the context menu.
You will see a small window in which you will have to select the letter to be assigned to the virtual drive (usually the one already mentioned is more than good) and press the OK button . By now reaching the Computer / This PC folder , you can see that a new disk drive has appeared with the letter you selected and indicated earlier.
Right-click on the disk drive icon, and then click Open , open your ISO so that you can see the content, or Eject to disassemble the ISO from the virtual disk drive.
WinCDEmu is a great software that allows you to also use a portable version; the latter does not require any software installation, and it is equally recommended. Please note that using this latest portable version, you will be required to install the virtual driver required for the program to run.
After you download the EXE file, click it, and then press YES , YES . Next, to mount the ISO image in the window that will appear, click Mount image to browse the folders of your computer and select the ISO you want to mount.
Once selected, click on it and then on the Open button . Automatically you will see a window with ISO content. Instead, click Unmount ALL to disassemble the ISO image.
Daemon Tools Lite
Daemon Tools Lite is a very popular free software that allows you to mount ISO images at an incredible speed. Do not you believe it? Continue reading this guide and you will see that mounting ISO with this program will be a disarming simplicity.
First, go to your official site to download the program. Once you open the Web page, from the top menu, click the Lite button . In the new screen, click Download . Wait a few seconds for the automatic download to start and download the installation file called DTLiteInstaller.exe .
Now that you’ve downloaded the installation file, double-click the left button on it and click the YES button in case you see the UAC (User Account Control) screen.
The installation procedure requires that you have to select the Free Licensebutton . You will then begin downloading the add-ons needed to complete the installation. Now click Install and then Next . Verify that there is a checkmark on the Free License entry , then click Next , Next Next , Install , Install, and then click Term . If you want to open your browser, just close it by pressing the X button on the top right.
Once the installation is complete, open the program with its icon on the desktop. You will see a tutorial that you can easily close by pressing the Salta tutorialbutton . At the next screen, click on Salta again . Now you’re ready to mount your ISO images. To do this, you have two options, which I will illustrate below.
As a first option, you can mount an ISO by clicking on the icon at the bottom left of the program with the “Install Quickly” script . You will open an exploration window through which you will search and select your ISO image. Select it and then click the Open button .
Alternatively, as all files with the .ISO extension are associated with the program, open the folder where your ISO image is allocated and double-click the left button on it to automatically mount it.
To disassemble the image you also have two alternatives here: reaching the Computer / This PC folder and right-clicking on the virtual drive that mounts the ISO, click Unmount on the context menu; or open Daemon Tools Lite and right-click on the blue disk icon at the bottom left and click Unmount .
Integrated macOS functionality
If you own a Mac, you do not need a third-party program to mount an ISO image. Apple’s computer operating system already has a software utility for this purpose, whose name is DiskImageMounter . What you need to do is simply double-click on the ISO icon you want to mount. Automatically your Mac will mount the ISO image and will display a window displaying the contents.
Sometimes it may happen that downloading applications or other software to open digital archives, such as The Unarchiver , may result in the association of ISO files with DiskImageMounter. It would not be a problem in itself, because with these applications you can still see the content of your ISO image. However, if you just want to mount an ISO image, you will need to restore the association with DiskImageMounter. Do not you know how to do it? I tell you immediately how to proceed.
Right-click on the ISO image and from the context menu, click the Get Information button . In this window that will be displayed, click and expand Open with . Select the DiskImageMounter drop-down menu now . Click the Edit All button to bring up a window. It will ask you to agree to apply this change to all files with this extension. Then click Continue to restore the association with the integrated macOS utility.
Other programs to mount ISO
There are so many programs to mount ISO. I’ve listed you in the earlier paragraphs of the simpler and most popular programs. I suggest following other ISO mount programs below, which may still be yours.
- Virtual CloneDrive ( Windows ): This is a free program for fast and easy ISO image editing. Virtual CloneDrive will replace the built-in Windows ( mount ) contextual menu feature with its own ( Open ). The peculiarity of this program is to be able to quickly set up the amount of virtual units used to open your ISO images so that you can open more than one simultaneously.
- PowerISO ( Windows / Mac ): It is a paid program that has many features, including the ability to burn ISO images. You can download an evaluation version to test the program. Since the program contains, during installation, the ability to add third party software. I recommend disabling all those boxes that require the installation of programs other than PowerISO, if not needed.
- DVDFab Virtual Drive ( Windows ): It is a completely free program that deals with only ISO image editing. Like other software I’ve talked to about you. DVDFab Virtual Drive is fast and intuitive in both installing and editing your ISO files.
