An ISO file is a disk image of a cd or dvd. One way to open an iso file is to burn the iso image onto a cd or dvd and most disc burning software can do this, but make sure to look for the “Burn ISO” or “Burn Disc Image”. After the image has been burned to the disc it will work just like the original cd or dvd.
Now another popular option is to “mount” the iso image, this allows you to open the iso file without burning it onto a disc. It can do that by creating a virtual drive on your computer then it opens the image in the virtual drive.
The one I use is a free program called Daemon Tools but it’s been getting a bad reputation lately because recent versions of the program installs spyware/adware. There is a simple solution to this, when installing Daemon Tools make sure to uncheck “Daemons Tools Search Bar” during the installation steps. You do not want that crap on your system. I’m kind of ashamed recommending this to you because it can install adware if you are not careful, but it’s the only one I use and works great you just need to make sure the optional search toolbar is unchecked and you should be fine.
Here are some other free programs to open iso images if you do not want to use Daemon Tools.
Clone Drive
Microsoft’s Virtual CD-ROM (only for XP)
Hi, thanks a bunch! It really helped with opening the .iso files…!
great help. thank you very much… not sure if it will work but i still learned something new cant wait to see if it works
Cheers for that. Just got my XP wiped out by a particularly nasty virus. Cursing everything of that devil spawn B.Gates. Reckon he makes them to move us onto new progs. and revenue. No SP1 or 2 s there anymore for my attempted XP reload. So XP now unsupported. So its Ubuntu for me. Trouble is its an iso file. Cheers for your info. There are good guys on the web…