ISO file is a single file that contains the complete image of a CD or DVD disc. Those ISO image files are most commonly used to transfer CD or DVD images over the internet.

In this guide I will be showing you how to mount an ISO image in a virtual drive to extract data or may be to play or watch it. You can use Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel. This is a free utility of 60 kb size, which allows users to mount ISO image as a virtual drive. Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel is an unsupported tool by Microsoft, so check out the Readme file text given below before its use:

Readme for Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel

THIS TOOL IS UNSUPPORTED BY MICROSOFT PRODUCT SUPPORT SERVICES

System Requirements
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- Windows XP Home or Windows XP Professional

Installation instructions
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1. Copy VCdRom.sys to your %systemroot%\system32\drivers folder.
2. Execute VCdControlTool.exe
3. Click “Driver control”
4. If the “Install Driver” button is available, click it. Navigate to the %systemroot%\system32\drivers folder, select VCdRom.sys, and click Open.
5. Click “Start”
6. Click OK
7. Click “Add Drive” to add a drive to the drive list. Ensure that the drive added is not a local drive. If it is, continue to click “Add Drive” until an unused drive letter is available.
8. Select an unused drive letter from the drive list and click “Mount”.
9. Navigate to the image file, select it, and click “OK”. UNC naming conventions should not be used, however mapped network drives should be OK.

You may now use the drive letter as if it were a local CD-ROM device. When you are finished you may unmount, stop, and remove the driver from memory using the driver control.

The Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel only works for Windows XP Home and Professional editions. As we mentioned above that its an unsupported tool by Microsoft, so you can try it on other versions of Windows operating system but on your own risk.

Download WinXP Virtual CD Control Panel