Question About .iso files and boot.ima

[timeaftertime]

From what i have read on the internet a .iso file can be created from the contents of a cd by using most of the cdburner softwares available.
Once created a .iso file can be burnt as an image to another cd or extracted using winrar/7zip to view its contents or mounted using DameonTool

My questions are below:

- Is burning a .iso file as an image to a cd the same as extracting the contents of the .iso and then burning these extracted files to the cd.
-There are some applications like games that need the cd to run. Are this only for OS, Driver and game cds?
For example my friend copied the Setup files for MS Office 2003 on my pc and i could install it using these files;i did not
need any installation cd. Why are some cds different?
I know that for such applications we can create a .iso of the cd and then mount it as a virtual drive using DameonTool.Then i will not need the cd.
-Now if i want to burn a xp installation cd i can do this by copying the installation files to my pc form an existing xp installation cd and then burn a bootable disc using boot.ima(downloaded from the net)
Is boot.ima another type of image file. I know it helps to make a cd bootable but can the same file be used for burning any cd like XP or Vista. If i have a .iso of XP installation cd will i still need boot.ima or will the .iso already burn a bootable disk.

Thanks.

 

[SNGX1275]

You are toeing a fine line here with the allowed talk on these boards. Downloading or using ISOs of software you don't own (or aren't intended for free distribution) isn't a topic we allow to be discussed here.

But basically if you download an ISO of something like Windows, it will be bootable if burned as an image file. If you copy the files from the disk, then try to burn them it will not be bootable without that ima file you mention.

Office's protection comes from requiring a cd key and then online activation, so that is why if you just have the files on your hard drive you can still install. Some games have their copy protection on disk (as opposed to activation) and a cd key. That is why they won't work sometimes, and some won't work even if you had an iso and mounted it with daemon tools.