How to mount an ISO from a thumbdrive in Win8.1?

[noiseredux]

hey guys, trying to help a buddy out w/ a program on his laptop. The lappy doesn't have an optical drive though, so I'm wondering how to (A) take the program installation disc on my PC and turn it into an ISO on a thumbdrive, and (B) how to then mount that ISO on a thumbdrive so that it can be installed on the laptop? Thanks dudes!

[Ziggy]

That's easy! It's all in my burning guide. One sec, I'll grab the link...

http://www.racketboy.com/retro/hacks/ho ... e-software

So you don't have to read through the entire guide, I'll break it down for you.

Download and install ImgBurn, unless you already have it or a similar program. Use it to rip your CD to an image file. If it's a CD, don't go with the familiar ISO. Go with a BIN/CUE. Once it's ripped to an image file, but it on your thumb drive (duh).

Grab either Daemon Tools Lite (used in that guide) or Virtual Clone Drive. Both are free virtual drives. Install them on the computer you want to mount the image on. Once installed, there will be an icon for the program in the system tray. Click on it, and click "mount image" or whatever it says. Browse to the image on your thumb drive and mount it. Now your computer will see it as a physical disc.

[dsheinem]

http://www.softpedia.com/get/CD-DVD-Too ... aker.shtml

and

http://www.softpedia.com/get/CD-DVD-Too ... rive.shtml

[Ziggy]

And actually, it might be more simple than that. It depends what type of disc it actually is. If it's just drivers and maybe an install .exe for them, you might even be able to just ctrl+a then crtl+c to copy the entire contents of the disc to a folder on your thumb drive. Then, you don't need to mess around with disc images and virtual drives. Just pretend the folder on your thumb drive is the disk and launch/browse to whatever you need from it. The only time you really need to make an image is for discs that boot and some other situations.

[Hobie-wan]

Why go through all that? If you just put the contents of the CD in a folder on the thumb drive and then either run directly from there or put that folder on the HD of the laptop first, will it not go?

[noiseredux]

Why go through all that? If you just put the contents of the CD in a folder on the thumb drive and then either run directly from there or put that folder on the HD of the laptop first, will it not go?

I'm doing a program repair, so it's asking to insert the disc... I think Ziggy/DSH solved it for me... let y'all know soon. Thanks for the help.

[aaron]

windows 8.1 automatically mounts ISO files to a virtual drive letter. when whatever program you're trying to repair asks you to insert the disc, point it to the letter of the virtual drive where the ISO has been mounted. should be pretty straightforward, and you shouldn't need any additional software.

[Ziggy]

8.1 has a virtual drive built into it? Neat!

[fastbilly1]

8.1 has a virtual drive built into it? Neat!

One of the best parts of 8

[aaron]

8.1 has a virtual drive built into it? Neat!

One of the best parts of 8

that and the fact that i no longer have to confirm that i want to send an item to the recycle bin. other than that, meh.