Doubtlessly you will be familiar with tools such as ISO Buster for Windows which allow you to open an ISO file without having to burn it to CD to have a little lookie at its contents....

However, in Linux we have this tech built in. And ISO image can be mounted just like any device or file system, and here is how...

Create a mount point for the ISO:

BASH# mkdir /mnt/iso

Now mount the ISO in the mount point with the following command:

BASH# mount myiso.iso /mnt/iso/ -t iso9660 -o ro,loop=/dev/loop0

Where myiso.iso is your ISO file.

What I haven't tried yet is omitting the ro (read only) option, so that it might be possible to make changes to the ISO before finally burning, not sure if this works (will check) but the command would probably look like this:


BASH# mount myiso.iso /mnt/iso/ -t iso9660 -o loop=/dev/loop0



Have fun!

If one wants to avoid writing, -t iso9660 can be skipped since it's the default. -o ro is quite useful, it's not always wise writing to images. Keep those tips coming! :)

When i try to run that it says that i have no /dev/loop file and it exits. what should i do?

/dev/loop0, /dev/loop1,/dev/loop2 and so on.

Actually you don't need to specify the loop device at all - plain "-o loop" will work just fine.

ok i got it to mount or atleast the console didnt give me an error, but now i cant find it to use it.

The second parameter (/mnt/iso in this example) is the directory under which you see the iso file contents.

I was reading this thread trying to figure out how to mount an ISO.
Thanks to your posts here, I was able to do so.

I am no stranger to linux because I have used it as a server for years, however, I have recently switched my desktop to linux and was looking for something similar to deamon tools for Win32. (I know that is a 4 letter word) Well, I couldn't find anything other than your posts here.

So I decided to create my own utility.
I am providing it as entirely free and open source and you can download it here:
http://www.vsoursehosting.com/downloads/Linux-ISOMOUNT.tar.gz

Simply extract it, and run perl INSTALL
You might want to read the README first.

It can mount ISO images and you can even drag and drop your iso image unto the utility to mount and open it in nautilus.

I haven't tested it on any other distro than ubuntu Edgy eft, so if anybody has any problems, please let me know.

Also, if there is anybody who wants to improve it, please let me know.
This utility was created in a day but it saves me a ton of time because I mount ISO's all the time.

Thank you man, I was looking for just these info,

you have helped me a lot.

H

Any time, and thanks for the comments from others, as well as the link to the application rperea wrote. If we work together, we can accomplish all sorts!

Thanks for help:)