Using ISOs with Windows Vista

One of the key pieces of functionality that I think is missing from Windows Vista is the ability to mount an ISO image.  Being able to write that image back to media would be useful too.

In the past, I have used VCD Control, a tool that is available to MSDN Subscribers as a mean to be able to mount an ISO image to a virtual drive without having to burn it to a CD.

Recently, especially after my upgrade to Windows Vista I discovered that VCD Control has become less than stable.  The virtual CD driver loads, but I can’t always add a drive letter, let alone mount an image.

Given the situation I did a little search and came across a tool from SlySoft called “Virtual CloneDrive“.  The best part is it is a free app.  That’s the beauty of this; it’s a functional application and the price is right.  I wished it worked out like that more.

Virtual CloneDrive works and behaves just like a physical CD/DVD drive, however it exists only virtually. Image files generated with CloneDVD or CloneCD can be mounted onto a virtual drive from your hard-disk or from a network drive and used in the same manner as inserting them into a normal CD/DVD drive.

The virtual drive shows up as a drive letter represented with a sheep as it’s icon.  You right click on the drive, and the context menu gives you the option to mount, unmount, or select a recently mounted ISO file.

Virtual CloneDrive supports up to 8 virtual drives at the same time.  In addition to ISO files, It also has support for BIN and CCD files.

You can download SlySoft Virtual CloneDrive here.