I have found another free tool that is fun to play with and also has many uses. I use VCD control tool on a very frequent basis, at work and at home. It is a very simple tool that allows you to use any ISO image as a mounted drive from your computer. This can be very handy especially if you are like me and use ISO image files a lot. I love this tool because its simple to use, its free, and its useful in many ways.
So what is Virtual CD Rom Control Tool, basically it’s a free windows application that allows you to take ISO image files and mount them as if they were a drive in your computer. So you can pull the information off the ISO image files without needing to burn them to a CD. This can save you time and a lot of CD’s, if you are like me and always getting new software or downloading free apps then you might want to save the software in an ISO image file. VCD gives you a quick and easy way to get to the data contained in the ISO image file without to much time or effort. I hate burning CD’s because I lose them quite easily so now I just create ISO files and save them in a location when I need to reinstall a program or what ever I just use VCD instead of burning the ISO to a disk and then installing. It saves me time and money and I don’t waste any CD’s in the process.
So to get this free tool just go to (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/916902) there is a link that says “Download the Microsoft Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel package now” click the link and save the file. Once the file is saved then go to the directory where you saved it and unzip the file, pay attention where you unzip the files to. There is a readme file that is included with it that gives you instructions on where to put the .sys file. You will put the VCDrom.sys file in the system32/driver folder. Once this is there then run your VCDcontroltool.exe file and then you can get started mounting your ISO image files.
To mount a drive all you need to do is open VCD and there are about 7 options, these options are Driver control, Add Drive, Remove Drive, Mount, Un-mount, Eject, and OK. The names pretty much give away what they all do but I can simplify it for you. First you will need to click on add a drive, this will make a virtual drive that you will be able to mount your ISO image files to. Once your ISO image is mounted then you can access the files on the drive just as if the CD was in your CD-ROM drive. VCD makes getting to the ISO image files simple.
This program could easily be used with ISO Recorder, which is a program that can convert any of your files on your computer into an ISO image file. This can come in handy if you want an easy way to share programs or just an easy way to save your files for easy backup and restore. Use ISO Recorder to convert your programs into ISO’s and then use VCD to mount then and use them. See my article on ISO Recorder here (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/99609/iso_recorder_create_isos_very_easily.html)
That is pretty much it for mounting an ISO image as a drive. Its pretty simple to use, and if you have any problems just read the info in the readme file or at the website I provided earlier. Have also provided screen shots of how to install the program and how to mount a an ISO as a virtual drive. So if you cant figure out the program from the readme and website then have the visual tools to help you utilize the program. So have at it and use it as you want.
Well have fun with this free tool, you have to love free tools especially one that is as handy as this one. I think you will like VCD control tool, and if you pair it with ISO Recorder then it can be that much more efficient.
