XP: Small, Free Way to Use and Mount Images (ISO files) Without Burning Them

Contributed by MickeyMouse

August 27, 2004

Tagged: Windows

Microsoft has an unsupported virtual CD-ROM program. Why buy alcohol or Daemon Tools?

Alcohol and Daemon Tools are excellent software packages that allow users to mount ISO files as virtual CD-ROMs. Yes, there is a way to use that ISO without burning it to a disk.

Although I love these tools, Microsoft has a free, 60kb program that does the same thing! Of course, it is not supported… and it’s not as friendly as the software listed above; however, it works and it’s free.

Here’s the download link:
winxpvirtualcdcontrolpanel

Here’s the readme:

THIS TOOL IS UNSUPPORTED BY MICROSOFT PRODUCT SUPPORT SERVICES

System Requirements
===================
- Windows XP Home or Windows XP Professional

Installation instructions
=========================
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.

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Anonymous

Link dead
- Where do I find the file?

qmchenry

There was a typo in the original recipe that has been fixed. The link in the recipe works now. Thanks for pointing this out!

Jaed

Can't find VCdRom.sys in that folder! i'm on xp pro corporate ed, could that mean that the file isn't there?

Just Somebody

Haven't tried other mounting tools yet, but so far I'm havin' problems when mountin' dvd-iso's. At some point in the movie the playback skips the one of the last chapters but plays the beginning of the movie-content. I'm guessing it's because it can't mount files in that size, maybe, I don't know.

Anonymous

You have to download the file. Click the link above

guest

i followed the instructions on the read me file but the wont read the file a message comes up saying windows canot read from this disk. it may be corrupted or using a format not compatible with windows. what do i do please help

antspants

INSTRUCTIONS
"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."
MY PROBLEM
What is the "image file"?
Where do I fid it?
Please help

davak

The image file is the same as the ISO file.

Anonymous

is there anything i can use with win98?

Anonymous

<ul id="quote"><h6>Anonymous wrote:</h6>is there anything i can use with win98?</ul>

fdisk /mbr

tje laughing guy

HAHAHAHHA MEsa LOL'ed!!!

davak

<ul id="quote"><h6>Anonymous wrote:</h6></ul><ul id="quote"><h6>Anonymous wrote:</h6>is there anything i can use with win98?</ul>

fdisk /mbr

Please don't use the above command to try to run ISO files. fdisk will fsck up your hard drive if you don't know what you are doing.

Another Guest

Sorry but it doesn't seem to load .bin files. It doesn't even recognize them as they're not supported (tried using the *.* file setting but didn't work).

Heat

I've been trying to use this program and I have the virtual drives created and the ISO files all loaded up. The problem? When I actually run the program it's looking for the disk in my regular CDRW drive. Any way to get it to point to the virtual drive instead?

Anonymous

damn, this is really useful. thanks

two_oclock

hey, once i'm done with the mounted ISO, say i want to remove the phoney "Z drive", how would I go about doing that?

Phoenix818

<ul id="quote"> followed the instructions on the read me file but the wont read the file a message comes up saying windows canot read from this disk. it may be corrupted or using a format not compatible with windows. what do i do please help</ul>

I'm having the same problem, it doesn't want to work at all T_T I'm pretty sure the .iso I have isn't corrupted, but then I got it off BitTorrent, BT seems to screw up everything...

sorry, getting off topic. What I meant to say is, "Help. Please. I'm desperate. And I think I just misspelled desperate."

Anonymous

Hello,
I've installed virtual cd rom but extension bin doesn't appear as one of the supported images. is there any way to use this program with this kind of file?
thanks in advance

Anonymous

OMFG... all you people are such bloody morons...

Seriously, if you don't know what an "image" file is, why are you using this program !!!!

and also, the program is easy to install.. READ THE README.TXT FILE AFTER YOU EXTRACT THE FILES.... my gawd !!!!!! 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O

*breaks down and cries*

Anonymous

do I need to be an Administrator to run the program?

eikogo

The mounting process is fully described here:

http://www.samspublishing.com/articles/article.asp?p=406936&seqNum=2&rl=1
"Lug Around Less by Creating and Mounting ISO Images of Your DVDs/CDs"
<font color="blue">Note: The process of making an ISO, downloading an ISO, or working with other image types (.bin, .whatever) is left as an excercise for the undergraduate student.</font>

Guest

The best thing since sliced bread!!!

Anonymous

great software, i had tried loads of other stuff before this, but this is the best, and simplest :D

Anonymous

nid help i got 2 virtual drive but i cant remove it T_T

Anonymous

<ul id="quote"><h6>Anonymous wrote:</h6>nid help i got 2 virtual drive but i cant remove it T_T</ul>

Did you try opening the VCDControl tool, selecting one of the listed drives, and then clicking the "Remove Drive" button? Works great for me.

jack.

<ul id="quote"><h6>Anonymous wrote:</h6>nid help i got 2 virtual drive but i cant remove it T_T</ul>

yes i have the same problem. when i click remove driver it says "the service cannot accept control messages at this time." and it never ended up mounting my image. so i was trying to re-do the whole proces.. and i cannot add, remove, or mount anything..

tarun

hii..
did u find solution for this problem?
If yes please let me know I am having the same problem.

Thanks in Advance.

Tarun

Anonymous

hello this 1 works for me but still need help :(( how can i get rid off the z: drive icons on my computer window.... done stopping and deleting the driver but cant unmount it.....any1 pls .....thanks again.

Anonymous

:D

Great little utility! Best thing.. it's free... mounted an ISO within 20 seconds of following the instructions! Thanks for the info on this gem of a utility!

Thanks,

Anonymous

Hello there:

1. I am trying to load kid's games and I notice that some will mount correctly and some will not... some act just fine as if the CD is in the drive and some ask for me to put the original CD in the drive. What can I do to avoid this? These games normally install on this OS ( i tested and uninstalled, so it is not like the game is not compatible with XP - we are talking Barbie and Dora, ya know)

SURELY there is a way to make this happen... (hopefully, she says..)

(Here is the order in which I started...
- Build ISO file (btw is it okay-stable to have them in root c:\?)
- mount drive and point to ISO
- install program from virtual drive
- test which icon will start the program

I have only successfully mounted 4/10 games. For the 1st two, I had installed them from the original CD in the drive and then made and mounted ISOs; then i thought of the bright idea to install them FROM the ISO in the first place and that worked also... BUT ONLY for 4/10...FYI

2. Can I rename the drive to reflect what the program is instead of "CD Drive"? How do I do this?

3. I realize this is a freebie s/w and I have successfully mounted 4/10 cds, but is there one out there for purchase that WILL do the things I have questions about?

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Jeannie Irby

cozofdeath

You can put them in your root (C:) if you like. And the problem your experiencing happens with alot of games. I believe its a kind of protection used to make sure you actually own the game. The most common way I know to get around it is nocd cracks. A popular site is

http://www.gamecopyworld.com/

Also I think daemon tools and a couple other programs will work.
http://www.daemon-tools.cc/dtcc/download.php?mode=ViewCategory&catid=5

You may wana pick up these tools also, MagicISO or ISOBuster. Very versatile programs.

Anonymous

Thanks, cozofdeath.

1. I have already installed directly to c:\ root.
2. These are kiddie games like DORA and Barbie. Thanks for the game site info..but i think these games are too tame for that site. Good info for the future though.
3. I have downloaded the programs that you suggested and will give them a try. I appreciate you taking the time to reply.

sincerely,
jeannie

cozofdeath

No problem, the last two programs are just for working with images but can be very useful. Sorry I couldn't help out more. :D

Anonymous

I prefer FREE software DAEMON Tools, also dont forget to uncheck the Search Assitance checkbox during install oterwise you will have a adware on your system.
http://www.softpedia.com/get/CD-DVD-Tools/Virtual-CD-DVD-Rom/DAEMON-Tools.shtml

Anonymous

A really great iso recording tool for xp and Vista as well integrates into teh shell Iso Recorder... http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm

Anonymous

i followed the readme instructions but when i click mount it says mount failed the iso is 694 mb is it too big? what other program might open it successfully

Anonymous

I download this VCdControlTool file and followed your instructions to use it. however I forgot to remove those drive before I close the program. After I reopen the VCdControlTool program, I can not add or remove any drivers. Please Help! because I have all these letter drivers and it’s driving me crazy.

Richard

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Downloads/po...

You can download Tweat UI.

In tweak UI, you can remove drives from explorer among many other things...

Anonymous

I have used daemon tools all the time in the past but somehow it was crashing a server with RAID and not allowing the computer to boot up.. also it is adware now and a little annoying - so I am glad to find out about this MS tool.

Thanks!
Eric

Anonymous

All right you tech-savy folks. Have mercy on me. I'm a total newbie Literature PhD.

I dowloaded uTorrent, then I downloaded a torrent. Now I have an ISO file and an AWL file.

From what I understand this is the point where I should burn the ISO file to a CD in order for it to work. Since I don't have a CD burner I am downloading this program. But I'm stuck at the first step. I downloaded the virtualcontrolpanel EXE file. And I found the folder mentioned below:

Copy VCdRom.sys to your %systemroot%system32drivers folder.

But I don't understand where I'm supposed to find "VCdRom.sys". If I'm supposed to create it... I don't know how.

Thanks for your help ... and please explain it to me like I'm a five year old,

Bente

Anonymous

help i have the downloads and i copied the VCdRom.sys to the drivers folder but when i click to install it a message appears that says: invalid handle.

oh, and when ever i start the tool it says that it can't open the SCM

Anonymous

Does anyone know if this will work with VISTA?

Anonymous

You can also use the free Phantom CD to mount ISO image.

http://www.phantombility.com/en/prod/phantomcd/download/

Mary

was this reply saying you could use this in Vista?
the site says it is for 32bit only?
So guess that rules out this for me.. :((((

Anonymous

Found another freeware app - Magicdisk which worked just fine, thanks.

Anonymous

i don't have VCdControlTool.exe, it keeps telling me that its invalid, please help!!!!

Anonymous

@GuatemalaGirl

First you need to extract the files to a folder somewhere (i have a XP mount ISO folder on desktop i use). If you havent already.

Now you need to copy the file named VCdRom to the C://WINDOWS/System32/drivers folder, then run the VCdControlTool (by run i mean double click), then click Driver Control. then Install. Now navigate to C://WINDOWS/System32/drivers again and select VCdRom.sys and click OK. Now click Start. Next click OK; and finall click Add Drive. This should create a virtual drive in the window above the buttons. Click Mount and navigate to where your ISO's are stored to mount the image to the virtual drive.

Hope thats a cleared explination for u.

MAP

Thanks for the help.
This is good and it works on Windows 2003. However, only you remove the driver you cannot install it again and it would probably need a reboot to be able to install it again.

Mark

i really want to git this to work but every time i try to open the .sys thing in install driver window it says acess is denied and it wont work im currently running on windows vista is that a possible reason why its not working

Jhun

Thanks for the information. Great! so easy.

Manphish

Okay so I followed through with the instructions, and I'm sure that I messed up somehow, but the virtual drive that I mounted the .iso to just says "Windows cannot read from this disk. The disk might be corrupted, or it could be using a format that is not compatible with Windows."
Is it something I did? Or is it the .iso file that has the problem?

Michael

I just installed the tool - no problem here. I suspect that the iso-image is corrupt.
By the way: thanks for the tip!

Shibu Dev

Does it work with Windows Vista. I tried but failed.

ronzo

thanks works great so far

BadBear

Superb thanks, saves me loads of disks and hassle

mv288

GoI suspected something like this. Am sure Microsoft teams wouldn't be using
all kinds of crap out there for this functionality. Perhaps there aren't releasing
this utility to not run into anti-trust and ridiculous US patent issues...and waste their time.

Good Stuff.

Angey

Can this be used with VIsta? Am having troulble after step 3, it says the 'handle' is invalid.

davak

I use it with Vista but it is not as stable. I believe you have to run it as admin and in xp compatibility mode.

Dom

Thanks for that. I loved this app on xp and was getting frustated that vista wouldn't seem to work.

Kathleen

On my machine, I was getting that error because I did not have admin rights on my machine and therefore could not update drivers (.sys file). Once I was granted admin rights, I did not see the "invalid handle" error

Woteva

Can this be used with Vista? Am having trouble after step 3. It says the handle is invalid

sms world

thanks works great so far

MJL

Awesome, highly recommended. Who needs Alcohol? :)

Fellipe Cicconi

Best tip ever. Thanks

Steven

Worked perfectly in vista

gasapi

i love you

Chris

awesome... thanks!

lazyadmin

Confirmed on Vista Ent with VLK works 100%

easy to use and easy to setup

Daniel

Great post. Exactly what I needed and it works like a charm. (thanks to google for keeping this post on the top).

Vis

It works great. I also tried to run this on windows which was running on MAC with parallels.

rach

This worked for me, thanks!!

Gloudas

Hey, I followed all the steps, everything seems to have worked just fine, but... I can't actually use the image file itself. I guess I'm a little unclear on what this does.

I have an ISO file, and I did everything on it, but its still just sitting there as a file. Is there some way I'm able to run it now, or what? If anyone could enlighten me on what I'm supposed to be doing or producing through this that'd be great.

Gloudas

Nevermind, I figured it out.

eternam

Thanks, helped a lot!

Naren

Thank you very much. The tool worked fine, but now im facing problem while unmounting the drive. The stop button is disabled in the driver control window. I ve tried to remove driver but it was giving the following message.
"The service cannot accept control message at this time."
Kindly telly me how to unmount the drive.

mugglesquop

brilliant cheers!

Ralph

Wow, this thing just saved me lots of time. Thanks.

Polion_iv

this is off topic, but i have EasyCreateIso to create the image of a dvd/cd/game disc. and everytime it created a .zip image file and i can't mount this image on a virtual drive that i created. help ??? is there a better "free" program that create an .iso file for easy mounting ??

Syd

Thank you, works better/easier than all the rubbish I used before

Avatar

Works perfectly under Windows 7... No other software would install :(
Thankies for the quick guide and tools needed

Arul Prakash D

Can anyone help me, I am unable to Mount ISO, message shown as "Mount Failed" also I am not able to Remove the Drive.

Regards,
Arul.

ban

It worked for me. Great!

Thank you very much for your help

ravib

Love it. thanks MickeyMouse !

You dont have to install the VCDRom.sys in the systems32 folder. The link above is a winzip distributable. You can unzip the file contents to any folder. When it asks for the driver file, simply navigate to the folder where you unzipped the files to, and choose the sys file.

reece

what if i do not have permision to accsess the folder

qwerty123

cant work with vista, fail

Noah

Thanks for the link! This really saved my life. xD

Fireman

Great little app! Thanks Mickey :)

haster

Hi it says that the cd is unformated. I can't burn it. Please some one help me.

Aamen

thanks it worked with me
P4 Win xp SP 2

t41

daemon lite is free = so why bother - Microsoft should have these types of tools integrated into software for the money we pay

Me

People should bother cause this little .exe is far more simple than that crap daemon gives us? Not to mention the Adware in it...

Anon

Windows 7:

When I hit Start, it says, "This driver has been blocked from loading."

I am running as administrator and as XP SP2 compatability mode.

Maybe I should try putting the file in the system32 folder, someone said I did not need to.

Anon

No, putting the file in the system32 folder in Windows 7 means it basically becomes invisible because I can't see anything in the folder when I browse to it.

What is a good light program without ads, spyware, or viruses, no 30 day periods, that can mount ISOs in Windows 7?

I used Alcohol 52% just fine in Vista previously but now I can't find a version that isn't a 30 day trial or spyware that requires you to install some stupid toolbar to use the program.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Anon

I'm on Windows 7 64bit by the way.

I tried Alcohol 120% and it did not work.

Anyone know any programs that work on Windows 7?

Anon

Ditto.

I tried Alcohol 120%, DaemonLite Free, MagicISO Maker, Virtual CloneDrive, I think I even downloaded a 64 bit version of one of them.

I am on Windows 7 64 bit. None of the above programs worked, WinXP VirtualCD says, "This driver has been blocked from loading," when I hit Start.

I am running as administrator and as XP SP2 compatability mode.

Alcohol 120%, DaemonLite Free, MagicISO Maker, Virtual CloneDrive, WinXP VirtualCD do not work for me on Windows 7 64 bit. I will have to make some DVDs with the isos I have but what can I do with a 7 GB iso? My DVDs are only 4.7 GB DVD+Rs.

omar

thanks a lot

this is heaven

bunny

this is briliant -- just 60kb thats awsome
and it works well ..

thanks

Anon

UltraISO works with Windows 7 64 bit.

aart

this works great it is a good way for mount a virtualdrive from a iso but is there a way
for make it a boot cd ??

vince

Good piece, thanks!

JimmyB

used this about 3 years ago... needed it again today for extracting the installers out of microsofts own downloadable visual studio iso. works like a charm. tx

hal9000

Hi! Awesome stuff. Thanks :)

Doesn't work

"the driver has been blocked from loading"

i get that msg on Win XP 64b

it doesn't work on 64b!

MRS...

Worked like a charm, thanks!

Rick

This is exactly what I needed!!! Thanks for the post

nick

where is that file you need to put it in? plz email a prometheusf1r3@gmail.com if you can help me

Fuzzybunny

I love you. And Google for finding me this page.

THEONE

THANK YOU VERY MUCH... IT WORKS FOR ME...
KEEP ON HELPING...
KNOWLEDGE SHOULD BE SHARED...

jonny

Uh... Daemon Tools works and it's also free.

Worshak

Okay, for anyone interested in this, listen up, it's fairly straight forward.
1) Not all ISOs, when put into file format, will work with this tool. Just happens sometimes.
2) The install instructions are posted above, please follow those exactly.
3) I did not create the .exe file, but I have used it before, and it is safe (as far as i can tell).
4) The real goal is to prevent CD damage, and still have the functionality for your pograms.

Prop

Works great!

alone

thanks a lot! it works with my xp =D

Moe

Wow, perfect it works great. No more using discs to burn my ISOs to.

Thanks

Brandon

I tried to do it but it keeps saying "Mount Failed" ever time I tried to mount. I've tried with almost every drive so that's not the problem.

NRG

maaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!! thanks a ton! this was exactly what i was looking for :)))) it did the job in less then 30 seconds. There where i otherwie would have needed to install some overbloated software with it's trial limitations this app is free and worked perfect for me. this iso mounter goes from now on with me on a USB stick :)))) thanks again for the tip!!!

lillo

really fine work!

catarina

Where in the world is this folder? I looked in system 32, but ???
%systemroot%\system32\drivers folder

Can someone please let me know?

TIA!

Name

just
Computer > C > Windows > System 32 > Drivers

it'll just be named "Drivers"

Batmac

Worked great thanks!

Fai27

Hooooooo, wow, this is so convenient. Installing CoD1 here, and There are 2 CD's so I just made 2 freaking drives with one CD on each, and I mounted/unmounted when requested. Jesus it could NOT get easier.

mike d

everytime i try to mount a .iso file it simply says, mount failed, ive followed the instructions flawlessly, any ideas?

grawss

Tried it in Windows7. Running as Admin got me past the driver load error, but it blue-screened and my install divided by zero. Reboot, nothing. Win7 repair, nothing. So I safe-moded the sucker out of drivers and logged back in okay. Maybe try it on a 32bit system?

It seems these awesome little virtual programs are being flushed by Microsoft. I see they're possible thanks to the obvious Virtual XP deal Microsoft just released, but none of my old utilities have a chance. :(

JimboJones

Loaded in Windows 7 32bit, mount an ISO but can't find the drive letter?! :(

Dan

Works Great! Nice little utility.
Thanks

Adult Acne

Great suggestion for that piece of software. Thanks :D

WhitE-DeMoN

Awesome program... There is no need for restarting the computer as all new programs do.
Nice job.

BG

Nice. Thnx

me

Works great. If you always get the "mount failed" error, you need to make sure your path has no space, so put the iso in you root drive and remove any spaces from the name of the iso

Jeremy

Hah, it makes so much sense I should be angry I didn't think of it right away. Thanks a bunch :D

Davie Mac

Thanks man!

Ata

I tried it with windows XP .It works fine. Great thanks.

your momma

thanks

Chris

This was just what I needed and worked flawlessly for me (XP Pro, SP2). Thanks for the great article!

Jack

Didn't work says there is no File to run, and when i install the Driver again it says Marked for deletion ? lol

RHI

Ace . .just what I was looking for!

Mike

when i go to mount it it asks me to install a disk............ can someone help please? thanks

RTFM

Yea!!!! Thanks!!

Lee Oades

Absolutely brilliant, thanks.

steve

this is really cool. i can't stand bloated overthought software. daemon tools messed up my computer too.

Anonymous

Works 100% for me.

when you download the file from the link, there is a file called VCdrom.sys TOGETHER WITH THE EXE. you MUST put this file in your sysyem32/drivers folder for this to work

Rex Saffer

This is so cool I had to go pee. Works like a charm.

Joe

Ty so much for that link. it's 100% work for me.

Dusitn

awesome thanks

Bex

Wow, this works brilliantly! I deal with disk images a lot, but have no common sense, so I forget what I've named them. Using this utility, I can just open them up and see what's in them, without spending money on a third party program. Great find!

JohnJohnUbee

Once i mount file it pulls up the mounted file, bu when i click on i nohing happens.

Sapp182

When it says navigate to the image file i don't know what that is or where it is. Please help, thanks

H

The image file is the file you're trying to mount. They are sometimes called image files, iso files, etc.

Name

I installed the driver per the instructions. My %systemroot% = C:\WIN2K
in the Driver control window appears the following:
Virtual CD-ROM Device Driver : (\??\C:\WIN2K\system32\drivers\VCdRom.sys)
then I close out of Driver control. and click "AddDrive". This automatically populates Z: into the drive list. then as a test I open Z: from Explorer. I get a dialog requesting to isnert a disk. This appears normal and an approriate response given that I have not yet mounted an image file. next I go back and mount an image file.
I do so by clicking mount then browse to an iso file. I double click the iso file which brings be back to the mount window. then I click ok. I get a message," Mount Failed", however in the drive list it shows Z: in the maped image field it shows \??\F:\Dir\myiso.iso
I go back to explorer and try to open z: again. now I get and error stating Z:\ is not accessable. incorrect function.

what's the problem how can I fix this?

DLF

I just stumbled upon this today and love that it works rather simply! No more annoying Daemon Tools verifications or anything, I have this and it works great :3

Peter

Wonderfull tip!!! Thanks MM

heather

doesn't mount bin/cue files though

zafarsyed

Just Love this tool.... never thought we could do this with the ISO images.. cool.. thanks

citlallid

Already run CDdControlTool.exe but when click Driver Control button, it appears a window with an alert: "Cannot Open SCM: Access Denied". but it opens it anyway. then when trying to install the driver, another alert window appears: "Controller not valid"

paulo_italiano

Hi,

Thanks for a great info and clear manual!

Cheers

Sylvia

Is there a Vista version for this software? P13453 let me know, thanks!

shlomonstrudich

thank you very much-whoever made this
winxp virtual cd control panel, let it free and suggested it
it works!-)

reactez

Daemon tool lite is free and easy to use.

Mr_Rogers

I go through the whole setup (which is damned easy), find the ISO file, but when I try to mount it, the application returns an error: "Mount Failed."

:(

Sangamesh

This works just fine. Useful tip. Thanks!

liz

tried to use this prgram however I folloew the installation instructions to the letter and execute the program click driver control and it says cannot open SCM. access is denied, please help, liz

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XP: Small, Free Way to Use and Mount Images (ISO files) Without Burning Them

Microsoft has an unsupported virtual CD-ROM program. Why buy alcohol or Daemon Tools?

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