Today, most games and software distributed on the Internet as disk image files with the ISO extension. This is very convenient, because in order to play some new product, you do not need to run to the store and stand in line for the coveted box. But now what to do with the downloaded image? Although it can be written to a disc using any burning program, with the help of special programs it is possible to make Windows think that we have inserted a regular media.
In one of the previous articles, we already wrote about applications that can create a disk image. Today we will talk about utilities that allow you to mount virtual drive bypassing optical storage media. Consider the most reliable and best-proven options for how to mount a disk image on a computer running the Windows operating system.
If you're a happy user of Windows 8, 8.1, or 10, there's little to no need to think about third party solutions, because everything works by regular means. It so happened that during the development of Windows 8, a gradual rejection of optical media fell and an increasing number of manufacturers computer technology refused to install laser drives. It's good that the developers Microsoft saw the trend in time and introduced the ability to run and mount a disk image in ISO format. Considering that the vast majority of files on the Internet are in this format, you will almost never need any other program. What do you need to do to open an ISO file through Windows Explorer?
- Open the folder where the file is stored.
- Click right click mouse and select "Connect" or simply double-click on the file. In the first case, a virtual media will be displayed in Explorer, to view the contents of which you need to open it like a regular folder, in the second, you will immediately go to viewing the contents.
- If you no longer need this virtual drive, right-click on it and select "Eject".
Press the "Extract" button
The only drawback of this solution is that it only supports one ISO format, so if you want to mount an image with a different extension, you will have to choose one of the following products in our review.
The undoubted leader in the development of software for working with virtual disks. Among the main advantages over competitors is the presence free version, however, with some restrictions, but which is enough for home use, the minimum consumption system resources computer, as well as support for almost all currently existing formats. In addition, the program menu interface is very clear and friendly, so even an inexperienced user can figure it out. How to use the utility?
- Go to the official website of the developer and download setup file. When installing, select free license, which will have a number of limitations, for example, only four drives can be mounted, and not all features will be available. In addition, you will be forced to view various information from partners.
- At the next stage, the program will offer to scan the computer for saved files with the ISO extension. Once completed, all of them will be displayed in the main window, and in order to mount a virtual drive, you will not need to search for it all over your computer. Everything will be at hand.
- In the general list, find the image you are interested in, right-click on it and select "Mount", after which it will immediately be displayed in Windows Explorer as a regular drive. The only difference is that instead of optical media, it will use a virtual one. Also, all active disks will be displayed in the bottom line of the main menu of the program.
Click "Mount"
- In the future, you can click on the "Quick Mount" button in the lower left corner of the window, after which the Explorer window will open, in which you can select the image you are interested in.
- To disable virtual media, right-click on the active drive icon in the program menu and select "Unmount". You can even disconnect all drives with one click by clicking the "Unmount all drives" button.
UltraISO
A very powerful program that allows you to work with image files. Its capabilities allow the product to be used in a professional environment. Indeed, the functionality of the program is truly huge. In addition to creating images, you can burn them, creating menus of any complexity, edit images without even unpacking them, compress them to save space on your hard drive, convert from one format to another, and much more. Experts recommend using this particular program to create a bootable USB flash drive when installing the Windows operating system on a computer.
If we return to the main topic of the material, the most interesting feature for us is mounting virtual drives into the system. Unfortunately, the program does not have a free version, and the trial is so limited that it is almost impossible to use it. Fortunately, the ability to run a disk image is not a limitation, so if you don’t need anything else besides this function, feel free to download the trial version. How to mount a disk image in the system using it?
- Install the program, at the first launch select " Trial period” for free use, or “Buy Now” to purchase it.
- To add new drive, press Menu - Open, through the explorer window, find desired file ISO, confirm your selection with the "Open" button.
- In the main menu, click Tools - Mount to virtual drive, or press the F6 button.
- In the small window that opens, click the "Mount" button and wait a few seconds, then in Windows Explorer check the content virtual disk.
- If you want to disable it, in the Virtual Drive Explorer, right-click, find the UltraISO item in the menu, hover your mouse over it and select "Unmount".
Alcohol 52%
Another product from a world famous developer. Unlike its older brother Alcohol 120%, it only allows you to mount virtual disks from image files. The paid version allows you to run 6 drives, while the free trial version allows you to run only 2. But this is enough for most home computer users. However, be prepared to view a certain amount of ads for other developer products, which is also not so easy to close, because you need to wait a few seconds before the program launch button becomes active. However, the software has a very simple and uncluttered menu. You only need to follow a few steps:
- Run the program, in the main window click File - Open and select the desired image stored on your hard drive.
- In the main window, right-click on the file and select the "Mount to device" function.
Click "Mount to Device"
- Open the virtual drive in File Explorer.
- To disable it, return to the utility menu, right-click on the file in the window and select "Unmount Image".
Instead of a conclusion, or How to quickly use a virtual disk and disable it
The methods we have listed involve running the drive emulation program itself. If it doesn't bother you, use this method. However, everything can be greatly simplified. Some software automatically picks up system file associations during installation and you can open any image as a regular file by double-clicking it. In particular, this possibility is provided Daemon Tools Lite. When using other products, when you try to run a disk image, the main program window will be automatically launched, in which you will need to perform the appropriate manipulations. Most lucky Windows user starting from version 8 - you do not need to install anything, because you can open the ISO file through the standard Explorer. If you, using the drive, want to disable it, regardless of the software used, right-click on the virtual drive in Explorer and select "Eject".
How often do you open ISO files on your computer? Tell us in the comments what programs you use before.
Hello everyone! As promised in the last article, today I will write how to mount an image in daemon tools lite. I will also show you how to create a disk image using daemon tools lite. Now you can easily install downloaded games, programs and make disk images.
If the daemon tools lite program is not yet installed on your computer, then you can read how to do it, I wrote about it .
How to mount an image in daemon tools lite
Often downloaded games or programs are a disk image of various formats such as iso, mdf and others. By mounting the image in the daemon tools lite program, you can easily start installing the downloaded software. How to do this now I will explain.
1. After you open the daemon tools lite program for the first time, a virtual drive is automatically created.
2. If the virtual drive has not been created or you want to add a few more. You must click on the "Add virtual DT drive" button. (In the free lite version, you can add up to four of them) 
3. When the virtual drive is created, you need to add the image. To do this, click the "Add image" button. 
4. A window has opened in front of us in which we need to find the disk image on the computer and click open.
You can also open an image by double-clicking on it. 
5. Now in the field "Catalog of images" we see the newly added image. Double-click on it, after which the disk image will be mounted. 
6. In the "Autorun" window that opens, click "Run AUTORUN.EXE". The program or downloaded game is ready for installation! 
7. In order to unmount the image, right-click on the virtual drive and select "unmount". 
How to create a disk image in daemon tools lite
1. The first thing to do is to insert a disk into the drive on your computer.
"Image" is one of the most common terms among Internet users. By this word, people understand the archive with automatic start, simulating a licensed optical disc with a game or application. Thanks to special programs, such applications do not require physical media, are easy to use and meet all user requirements. But let's talk about everything in more detail.
Programs
How to mount the game image? The first thing you will hear in response is that you will need a program for editing. The fact is that “images” have a specific extension “ISO”, thanks to which the program starts autorun from a virtual disk. Of course, classic WinRar can recognize it, but the only result you will achieve is to see the contents of the package.
To mount the "image" you will need to install on your Personal Computer program DAEMON Tools or Alcohol 120%. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages, so you have to make your own choice. Of course, there are other programs that can help you launch the image, but the products listed above are the most popular. If you are a fan of licensed software, then be sure to consider the DEAMON Tools Lite option, as it is distributed in trial mode completely free of charge.
How to mount the game image?
After you download the image from any site or torrent tracker, you will need to open the game folder. Do not neglect the security of your computer and check the contents of the archive (image) for viruses by running an antivirus, as unscrupulous assemblers do not always vouch for the system's performance after starting their assembly.
Next, we launch the program. In the case of DAEMON Tools Lite, you will have a small window with the ability to create a virtual drive and add a game or program that is in the image. By clicking on the "Add image" button, you re-specify the path to the selected file and confirm your choice. As a result, a file appears in the program that needs to be mounted by the user.
The final stage is one of the easiest, so you can breathe easy. The "Run" button will automatically mount the image of the selected file. Upon successful launch, you will have a program installation wizard - a familiar assistant when installing any game or application on your computer. Further actions You are familiar firsthand: choosing the path for the folder with the game, confirming license agreement and waiting for the process to complete.
Hello friends! I thought that it would be so useful to write a blog today and came up with :). I will write today about how using the program DAEMON Tools Lite install game from. iso image a. I think this information will be useful to many people. When we buy games in the store, we have no installation problems, we launched the disk, installed it and play.
But we all sin a little :), and download games from the Internet, via torrents, etc. Thus, we save money, and you don’t need to go to the store, but as a rule, all normal games, I’ll introduce large ones, are posted on the Internet in .iso format. Such files are disk images, in our case with the game.
Therefore, in order to install the game downloaded in the format .iso, we need this image, and then install the game itself from the disk. Lots of action, right? You need a blank disc, besides, the game may not fit on the disc, you need to burn and all that. Therefore, all this is solved by one popular program DAEMON Tools Lite.
It is free, and if we talk about it in a few words, then it creates a virtual CD / DVD drive, and mounts our .iso image with the game into it. It turns out as if we inserted a disc with the game into the drive. Well, if you are used to burning everything on regular discs, then read the creation of a menu for dvd and continue to burn downloaded games on CD / DVD discs.
Now I will write in detail how to install DAEMON Tools Lite and use it to install the game from the .iso image.
Installing DAEMON Tools Lite
First we need to install the program, and then with its help we will install the game.
Download DAEMON Tools Lite, for example, from here http://www.softportal.com/get-10-daemon-tools.html.
Run the downloaded installation file with the program.
We cancel the installation of components from Mail.ru, we do not need them and click on “Start Installation”.
We mark or cancel the settings we need and continue the installation.
Choose one of the options of your choice and click "Next".
Click .
We are waiting for the program to install. During the installation process, a window may appear confirming the installation of DAEMON Tools Lite. Click .
Another window may appear. Here click on "Settings" and uncheck three items, we do not need them. Click "Next".
Everything! Click "Finish".
DAEMON Tools Lite is installed. Now we launch it, if it does not start itself, and proceed to install the game from the .iso image.
Installing the game from the .iso image
After clicking on the “Add Image” button, select the .iso image we downloaded with the game, and click “Open”.
DAEMON Tools Lite is a free CD/DVD drive emulation and disk imaging software. With Daemon Tools Lite, you can convert physical optical discs (CD/DVD/Blu-ray) into virtual drives to run the disc image directly from your computer without using a physical drive.
Starting from the version of DAEMON Tools Lite 10, the interface in the program was redesigned in the style of Windows 10, some functionality programs. The general concept of the application has changed: in the free version of the program, only basic functions, connection additional features, now occurs only on a paid basis.
Computer games and many multimedia programs are recorded on physical media- optical CD/DVD/Blu-ray discs. From such an optical disc, a game or program is installed on a computer.
Also, in many cases, in order for a game or program to work, an optical disc with this game must be inserted into the computer drive. Basically, this is done to protect against the use of pirated software.
V this moment, on the Internet you can find a huge number of games or programs saved in various formats disk image. Via special program- virtual drive emulator, the user can use the image with the game by running it directly on the computer in a virtual drive.
DAEMON Tools Lite creates a virtual drive on your computer that can be used like a normal physical drive. Therefore, the disk image can be launched directly from the computer, from the folder in which it is located.
To do this, the disk image will need to be mounted in a virtual drive. Daemon Tools can bypass disk protection: RMPS, SafeDisc, SecuROM, LaserLock.
Thus, the user can use the game disc image directly from the computer using the emulator optical drives, Daemon Tools Lite software.
The manufacturer of the DAEMON Tools program has different versions of the program for emulating disk drives and for working with disk images. For normal use, the free version of the program, Daemon Tools Lite, is quite suitable.
DAEMON Tools Lite supports mounting disk images of the following formats:
- .mdx, .mds, .mdf, .iso, .b5t, .b6t, .bwt, .ccd, .cdi, .cue (.ape, .bin, .flac, .wav), .nrg, .isz, . tc, iscsi, .vhd, .vmdk, .vdi, .zip.
In the Daemon Tools program, it will be possible to create images from CD / DVD / Blu-ray discs in the following formats:
- .iso, .mds, .mdx.
In total, in the free DAEMON Tools Lite program, you can create four virtual disks Oh yeah. The virtual drive can be used in exactly the same way as a physical CD/DVD drive.
The virtual drive supports Blu-ray discs, so if you have a Blu-ray image on your computer, you can open the image with Daemon Tools Lite by mounting the image in the virtual drive.
You can download the free DAEMON Tools Lite program from the manufacturer's official website.
download Daemon Tools Lite
Install DAEMON Tools Lite on your computer. When installing the program on your computer, choose a free license.
In more early versions program, after opening Explorer, you could see a new connected device: virtual drive - BD-ROM drive. There was a program icon in the system tray, from where it was possible to control the operation of the program, mount or unmount images.
In Daemon Tools Lite 10, the notification area icon is gone. It will be possible to manage the program from the main program window, or directly from the context menu: by opening images, if the corresponding formats were associated with this program.
Daemon Tools Lite interface
The main part of the main program window is occupied by the Image Catalog area. Images added to the program will be displayed here. Naturally, if necessary, you can remove images from this directory.
In the left part of the program window there is a vertical panel with tabs. In the free version of the program, it will be possible to use the functionality from the "Images" and "New Image" tabs. You will need to pay to use additional features from the Disc Burn, Virtual HDD, USB, and Burner tabs.
In the lower left part of the program window, there are buttons "Settings", "License", "Help".
At the very bottom of the program window there is a panel that will display all virtual drives connected in the DAEMON Tools Lite program. When you turn it on for the first time, using the "Scan" button, you can start an image search on your computer to add the found images to the "image catalog". You can add images to the catalog manually whenever you want.
In the images tab, you can add images to the "image catalog" using the "Add image" (plus) button, or find an image on your computer using the image search.
Daemon Tools Lite 10 Settings
You can enter DAEMON Tools Lite settings from the main program window. To do this, click on the "Settings" (gear) button on the panel.
In the "Integration" tab, it will be possible to change file associations with the DAEMON Tools Lite program.
How to mount a disk image in Daemon Tools Lite
It will be possible to mount a disk image with the game in DAEMON Tools from the main program window or from the context menu.
Once you have added a disk image to Daemon Tools Lite, you can select the image and then click Mount. In another way, in the image directory, you can right-click on the disk image, and in context menu select "Mount".
Then the installation of this game on the computer will be launched.
When mounting an image in the main window of the program, the image with the game can be simply dragged from the image catalog to the "Quick mount" button.
To add a disk image, you can simply click on the "Quick Mount" button, and then select the disk image on your computer to add it to the drive emulator.
After that, a virtual drive will appear in Explorer - BD-ROM Drive with the added image.
How to unmount an image in Daemon Tools Lite
To unmount the image, in the main window of the DAEMON Tools Lite program, you will need to click on the "Unmount all drives" item. It will also be possible to move the mouse cursor over the image image, which is displayed on the virtual disks panel, and then click on the red cross.
The creators of the program have developed new driver to emulate drives, which is much faster than before. Mounting and unmounting images is almost instantaneous.
How to create a disk image in Daemon Tools Lite
The process of creating a disk image can be launched from the main window of the DAEMON Tools Lite program. To do this, in the "New Image" tab, you will need to click on the "Create Image from Disk" button. Other image creation options do not work in the free version of the program.
After that, a new window "Creating an image from a disk" will open, in the "General options" section. The Drive field will display your computer's drive. Insert a disc with a game or program into this drive.
You can choose where to save the image on your computer. In the "Format" field, you can select the format (MDX, MDS, ISO) for saving the disk image.
Other settings do not work in the free version of the program, including "Advanced Options".
After the image creation is completed, the new disk image will be saved in the selected folder on your computer.
Article Conclusions
A similar program can be installed on a computer that does not have a physical drive (netbooks, some laptops), since such a program - a CD / DVD / Blu-ray disk emulator, can help the user more than once. You can use the virtual drive in DAEMON Tools Lite 10 like a real drive on your computer.
Via free program DAEMON Tools Lite will be able to create and use a virtual drive to install and run games and programs directly from the computer, without using a physical drive for this.