What is ISO file?

An ISO file, often called an ISO image, is a single file, replacing all CDs, DVDs or BDs. The entire contents of the disc can be accurately copied in a single ISO file.

Think of an ISO file as a box that contains all the parts needed to build something (like a kid's assembled toy). This box contains content inside it, and once you get all of this content and put it together, they will actually turn into what you want to use.

ISO file works this way. This file itself is only valid when it is opened, reassembled and used.

Note: The .ISO file extension used by ISO images is also used for Arbortext IsoDraw Document files. This is a CAD drawing used by PTC Arbortext IsoDraw. But they have nothing to do with the ISO format mentioned in this article.

Where will you see the ISO file used?

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ISO images are often used to distribute large programs over the Internet, due to the fact that all files for installing a program can be neatly stored as a single file.

An example can be seen in the free Ophcrack password recovery tool (containing the entire operating system and some software). Everything that makes up the program is contained in a file. The file name for the latest Ophcrack version will look like this: ophcrack-vista-livecd-3.6.0.iso.

Ophcrack is definitely not the only program that uses ISO files. Many types of programs are also distributed in this way. For example, most bootable antivirus programs also use ISO, like the ISO bitdefender-rescue-cd.iso file, used by Bitdefender Rescue CD.

In all of the examples above, and thousands of other examples in practice, every single file requires any tool to run that is included in a single ISO image. As mentioned, that makes the tool really easy to download and also makes it easy to write to a disc or other device.

Even with Windows 10, and previously Windows 8 and Windows 7, users can also buy directly from Microsoft in ISO format, then the file will be ready to be extracted to the device or attached. a virtual machine.

How to download Windows 7 ISO file
How to download Windows 10, download Windows 10 ISO file from Microsoft

How to write ISO file

The most common way to use an ISO file is to burn it to a CD, DVD or BD disc. This is a different process than writing music or document files to a disc, because your CD / DVD / BD burning software must "assemble" the contents of the ISO file there.

Windows 10, 8 and 7 can burn ISO images to discs without using any third-party software. You just need to double-click the ISO file and then follow the instructions that appear.

Note: If you want to use Windows to open the ISO file but it has been linked to another program (ie Windows does not open the ISO file when you double-click it), open the file properties and change The program will open the ISO file to isoburn.exe (it is saved in the C: Windowssystem32 folder ).

The same logic applies when writing an ISO file to a USB device, which is more common now than optical drives, which are becoming less common.

Writing an ISO image is not an option for some programs, but it is a must. For example, many hard drive diagnostic tools can only be used outside the operating system. This means that you will have to burn ISO to some removable media (such as a disk or flash drive) where your computer can boot.

Although less common, some programs are distributed in ISO file format but they are not designed to be booted from there. For example, Microsoft Office is usually provided as an ISO file and designed to be written or mounted, but since it doesn't need to be run from outside Windows, there's no need to boot from it (if you try it too) nothing happened).

How to extract ISO file?

If you do not want to burn an ISO file to a disk or USB storage device, most software programs compress / decompress, such as 7-Zip and PeaZip, for free, will extract the contents of the ISO file into one. folder.

(Spirit download PeaZip: http://www.peazip.org/)

Extracting an ISO file will copy all the files from the image directly into a folder that you can browse, just like any folder you find on your computer. Although the newly created directory cannot be written directly to a device, as discussed in the previous section, you should know that this can be useful.

For example, suppose you downloaded Microsoft Office as an ISO file. Instead of burning the ISO image to a disc, you can extract the installation files from ISO and then install the program as usual, just like when you do it with any other program.

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Each decompression program requires different execution steps. Here's how you can quickly extract ISO images with 7-Zip: Right-click the file, select 7-Zip and then select the Extract option to "".

How to create ISO file

Some programs, and many of them are free, allow you to create your own ISO file from a disk or a set of files you have chosen.

The most common reason to build an ISO image is when you are interested in backing up a software installation disc or even a DVD or Blu-ray movie.

How to mount ISO file?

Mount an ISO file that you created or downloaded from the Internet like tricking your computer into thinking that an ISO file is a real disc. This way, you can "use" an ISO file like on a real CD or DVD, only you don't have to waste a disc, or the time to burn it.

A common situation in which to mount an ISO file is useful when you are playing a video game that requires the original disk to be inserted. Instead of actually attaching the disc to your optical drive, you can mount the ISO image of the game disc you created earlier.

Mounting an ISO file is as simple as opening a file with a tool called "disk emulator" and then selecting a drive letter representing the ISO file. Although this drive letter is a virtual drive, Windows still considers it a real drive, and you can use it as a real drive.

One of the favorite free programs to mount ISO images is WinCDEmu (Link download: http://wincdemu.sysprogs.org/download/), because it's easy to use and has a portable version. Also, you can refer to Pismo File Mount Audit Package (Link download: http://pismotec.com/download/). This is also a pretty good choice.

If you are using Windows 10 or Windows 8, luckily you can install ISO into your operating system! Just press and hold or right click on the ISO file and select Mount. Windows will automatically create a virtual drive for you without additional software.

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Note: Although mounting an ISO file is useful in some cases, please note that the virtual drive will not be usable, whenever the operating system is not working. This means it's completely meaningless to mount an ISO file that you want to use outside of Windows (like what is required with some hard drive diagnostic tools and memory testing programs).

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