FileDisk ISO Mounter
Another Update: I have run into the same issue with Windows XP as many of the people who have posted comments below: the “Error loading C:\WINDOWS\system32\ShellExt\FileDisk.dll, Invalid access to memory location”. The solution I found is to add C:\WINDOWS\system32\Rundll32.exe (Run a DLL as an App) as an exception to your Data Execution Prevention (DEP) filter. This may not be the most secure thing to do, so I’ll have to investigate it more. Expect an update on this later.
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Update: I revised the package to FileDisk ISO Mounter 1.2.1. The new revision contains a couple fixes for iso filetype support in Windows.
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Today I was looking for a easy way to mount ISO images to virtual drives. I had tried and really liked Microsoft’s Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel however, it did not have a command line interface that would allow me to automate some of the setup of a virtual drive. I was looking to basically save my valuable mouse clicks.
If you have a large hard disk (as most of us do these days) and you often find yourself shuffling through your stack of CD/DVD discs looking for that software app or back-up disc or whatever, then saving Disc Images (ISOs) to your hard drive is the way to go. And now I’ve got a very small, slick and free virtual disc mounting tool that makes it so easy to access those disc images.
FileDisk ISO Mounter was packaged by me, Jeffothy, but consists of:
FileDisk (a virtual disk driver) by Bo Branten
FileDiskExt.dll (shell extension to handle iso files) by Sherpya
FileDisk.inf (installer) by Bilou Gateux
Download FileDisk ISO Mounter 1.2 FileDisk ISO Mounter 1.2.1 now! It’s pretty sweet.
Note: I have only tested this on Windows XP Professional w/ SP2. Use at your own risk, but also, let me know if you have any issues.
Mounting an ISO images file to a virtual drive is simple.
- Right click on the ISO file
- Click Mount via FileDisk and
- Choose the drive letter to mount
Umounting is just a simple. You can either
- Right click the ISO file and choose “Umount ISO image from drive…” OR
- Right click the drive itself (My Computer) and choose “Umount…”
Thanks to all those mentioned above for coding the various components. Hopefully my package helps some people who are looking for a similar solution. Let me know if you use it!
By the way, I have tried ISOBuster, DaemonTools, Alcohol and a few others but they all seem to be bloated for my purposes.
June 28th, 2006 @ 11:37 pm
Hey! Your blog really helped me out. I looked forver trying to find an app that would do just this. THANKS! :-)
July 4th, 2006 @ 12:07 am
im running windows xp pro 64 bit edition, and it didnt work. ive been having trouble finding software that can do this and is compatable with my os. if you come across anything, post it up. it’d be much appreciated.
July 4th, 2006 @ 7:31 am
To mike: http://www.winimage.com/misc/filedisk64.htm
August 4th, 2006 @ 12:05 am
Found a possible bug. Visual Studio 2005 takes 2 cd’s. You have to switch them during the installation. I was unable to unmount the virtual drive during this installation process with your package.
February 27th, 2007 @ 6:45 am
why don’t you mount both at once!?
August 30th, 2006 @ 6:05 pm
hey dude! This worked nicely!
Thanks! (i got problems with daemontools+macdrive, and that sucked ;)
September 8th, 2006 @ 11:08 am
It looks nice, but i keep getting an error stating “Cannot mount the device, try incrementing max number of devices”. I tryed that and i still cant figure it out. Please help me.
September 9th, 2006 @ 5:09 pm
Great tool! Thanks… Worked in Vista too.
September 13th, 2006 @ 4:35 pm
Nice product…but wouldnt install on xp pro sp2. The installer runs, then a CMD window comes up and copies dlls to win directory. Then nothing. Right click on an ISO and the mount option isn’t in the menu. Double click the ISO and you get an error: Error Loading c:\WINDOWS\system32\ShellExt\FileDisk.dll Invalid access to memory location.
The file does reside at that path.
Ideas?
January 24th, 2007 @ 4:23 pm
Check your DEP settings, they are probably blocking it.
I set mine to allow explorer.exe and it worked.
September 14th, 2006 @ 11:34 am
I keep getting “Error loading c:\windows\system32\shellext\filedisk.dll invalid access to memory location” I’ve had this error message on two separtate machines now. Any ideas?
September 29th, 2006 @ 4:39 pm
Jeffothy ! Great little program, congratulations ! but… I installed on 2 systems: XP pro in English: perfect; XP pro in French: does not work ! some key or paths may be different… ? Install and uninstall run fine though. But no right click for mount/unmount available…
November 16th, 2006 @ 8:49 am
I can’t get it to work on XP Pro. Works fine on Vista though - same issue as noted above with “ayman Said” Sept 13
November 28th, 2006 @ 9:39 pm
Where do I find the mounted drive, it says Drive is mounted and what not but where do I find them? It isn’t located at My Computer or anything..
December 1st, 2006 @ 9:29 pm
Is it possible to mount anything besides isos? Like mdf and img files?
February 1st, 2007 @ 11:13 am
One of the problems I have had with FileDisk in the past, is that you must be Local Admin in order to mount images. Does this package work with just User privileges? Anyone have suggestions how to get it to work for those who are just Users? FileDisk is great, but this is the only problem we have.
February 2nd, 2007 @ 11:01 am
I used your porgram 1.2.1 on xp, but I built a Vista machine today and wanted to use FileDisk. It installed on, but comes up with a memory error when I try to load an ISO. Can any one help?
February 2nd, 2007 @ 11:26 am
Ok, Stupid Me… {laughing} The fix at the top of the forum solved that problem. BUT
When I mount the ISO file, the only choices for drive letters are A & B. So I chose A and opened the C# iso and then clicked on the Setup icon. It responds “A:\setup.exe The specified path does not exist. Check the path, and then try again.”
What am I doing wrong this time?
February 9th, 2007 @ 12:52 pm
Hey Jeff!
Great posts … awesome to see lots of comments, you’re popular.
I’d just like to be an ass and point out that Mac OS X comes with a similar app built in … mwahaha. K, I’ll stop now.
Sweet app.
March 14th, 2007 @ 9:39 pm
how do i uninstall this thing? im having trouble with lagging pc
March 14th, 2007 @ 9:51 pm
how to uninstall Jeffothy’s Kyanags iso mounter getting the C:\WINDOWS\system32\ShellExt\FileDisk.dll, Invalid access to memory locationâ€. problem
April 8th, 2007 @ 5:13 pm
Installing on XP Pro Version 2002 Service Pack 2
0. Download and Extract the [ FileDisk ISO Mounter 1.2.1.zip ] file
0.a. Double ckick and run the [ FileDisk ISO Mounter 1.2.1.exe ] file
1. Configuring DEP to allow it to work
1.a. Right Click [ My Computer ] select [ Properties ]
1.b. Select [ Advanced ] tab
1.c. Select [ Performance: Settings ] button
1.d. Select [ Data Execution Prevention ] tab
1.e. Select [ Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select ] radio button
1.f. Navigate to [ C:\WINDOWS\System32\ShellExt\ ]
1.g. Type “blind” [ File name: FileDisk.dll ] press [ Open ] button
1.h. Navigate to [ C:\WINDOWS\System32\ ]
1.i. Select [ FileDisk.exe ] press [ Open ] button
1.j. Navigate to [ C:\WINDOWS\System32\ ]
1.i. Select [ rundll32.exe ] press [ Open ] button
2. The following should show up in the DEP window
[x] FileDisk Virtual Disk Driver
[x] FileDiskExt Shell Extension
[x] Run a DLL as an App
3. Click [ Apply ] button
WARNING! Your changes require the system to reboot
4. Navigate to an ISO image file
4.a. Right click on the file and hover over [ O Mount Via FileDisk ]
4.b. Select a drive letter name from the flyout menu
4.c. Note the drive letter will not appear in the Explorer drive list view for approximately 60 “whole” seconds, ADD suffers (of which most geeks suffer from) may judge the process a failure. It is not, it will appear reliably.
4.d. Beware of double clicking the drive and the Explorer default to execute Autorun.inf aka Autoplay
4.e. Right click on the drive letter and select Explore if you just want to access the contents
5. Umounting
5.a. Open Explorer drive list view
5.b. Right click “mounted” drive letter
5.c. Select [ O Umount ]
5.d. Note: You must not have the drive letter open in any other window or you’ll get –> FileDisk: Error unmounting device [ Access is denied ] [ OK]
5.e. Note the drive letter will not disappear in the Explorer drive list view for approximately 60 “whole” seconds, ADD suffers (of which most geeks suffer from) may judge the process a failure. It is not, it will disappear reliably.
5.f. Note momentarily while the disk is unmounting a slightly alarming red ! may appear next to the drive with a few minor words about drive not found. This is very brief and resolves itself in a few seconds.
April 9th, 2007 @ 10:12 am
I have followed all of the advice on this blog and I am still getting the dreaded “Incorrect function, try increasing max devices” error…
What Gives?
April 10th, 2007 @ 12:12 am
Not sure, I don’t have this problem. But a google leads to Berardi Michele who says that message indicates a hung improperly umounted device 0.
He says go to the command line and execute this to manually unmount it:
example:
filedisk /mount 0 b:\ext2imagename.img t:
to unmount it use the “U”mount command:
filedisk /umount t:
I also believe its never a good idea to use the A: or B: devices from the flyout menu even if they are offered, for one thing you might have some USB device masquerading as one of them, some BIOSes especially for laptops will autoswap or emulate them.
Just try to make sure you don’t choose a drive letter that you know is already in use.
Other than that your on your own, I make no claims of being an expert.
Good luck.
April 14th, 2007 @ 12:14 pm
how do you remove the software?
April 14th, 2007 @ 2:48 pm
Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs
Find and select “FileDisk ISO Mounter” and then click the “Change/Remove” button.
April 23rd, 2007 @ 2:09 pm
Great package. Hard to find non-bloated apps like this these days.
April 30th, 2007 @ 3:45 am
[…] http://www.jeffothy.com/weblog/filedisk-iso-mounter/ […]
July 22nd, 2007 @ 11:09 am
Cool stuff.
FileDisk ISO Mounter works with Win2K.
Little difficult to find - waded thru a lot of bloated ( 1 - 6 MB ) programs - masquerading as Freeware… which were either trialware, crippleware or flat out shareware.
And here we see the functionality of mounting an ISO handily done in less than 100KBs.
August 29th, 2007 @ 1:52 pm
I am having a problem trying to get this to work. I ran the installer(the 1.2.1 Version) but when I try to execute it on my workstation i get a message saying:
The system cannot find the path specified.
I have checked syntax and it is accurate.
September 6th, 2007 @ 8:47 am
lodeing the iso works fine but when i click on lets say install.exe it says
“a:install.exe
the specified path does exist”
does neone know whot has happend
September 9th, 2007 @ 1:16 pm
I installed the program and added the files to the DEP exceptions, and it worked great until I restarted my computer, after that the right click context menu option on iso files “Mount Via FileDisk” no longer appears. any ideas what it could be? otherwise thank you for a great program.
October 8th, 2007 @ 5:15 pm
Doesn’t work Vista 64, I think because of the shell extension isn’t 64 bits or not set in the registrys 64 bit section.
November 24th, 2007 @ 5:10 am
hi, thanks for the great tool. it works fine for me when i run it step by step. i mean first running install.cmd then filedisk.exe for mounting iso image. but when i create a batch file for running them all in one, it stops after running install.cmd and then the whole process terminates. how can i fix this problem ? thanks ahead.
December 12th, 2007 @ 7:05 pm
I got it basically working after reading about the DEP stuff — shouldn’t there be some instructions in the download?
Anyway, I can’t figure out how to unmount.
Also I don’t understand:
4.a. Right click on the file and hover over [ O Mount Via FileDisk ]
5.c. Select [ O Umount ]
What does “hover over” mean? I know no such Windows Explorer gesture and went I try to hover, nothing happens. When I right-click, I see Open With… FileDiskExt Shell Extension
That’s what permits me to mount the ISO. But I see nothing about unmounting.
Looks promising though — Vincent
December 12th, 2007 @ 9:45 pm
When I right-click on an ISO I don’t see “mount via FileDisk” or (when mounted) “unmount via FileDisk”. I see an Open With choice of FileDiskExt Shell Extension which I CAN use to mount the file. But I have no way to unmount it.
February 18th, 2008 @ 9:56 pm
Please let me know what permissions are needed to use the command line interface? I get “access denied’ with my normal users but my admin account works fine. Thanks.
February 19th, 2008 @ 2:46 am
It had to run as administrator which is quite disappointing. I figured out a way to make it work using runas.exe. A google dug up some pages on a vbs file that ended up using a bit of.
February 20th, 2008 @ 2:20 am
Does what it says on the tin, nice and light… like it lots! Any plans to support other file formats???
February 24th, 2008 @ 2:07 pm
Hi, it works great on Xp Home Sp2 Portuguese, tks, great work
April 3rd, 2008 @ 1:08 am
GgggreatTTTT!!!
From South Korea.
April 30th, 2008 @ 4:13 pm
You mentioned command line in your post. Is there a command line syntax for this, or is it GUI only?
Thanks.
May 13th, 2008 @ 1:15 pm
this is absolutely ridiculous, ive never seen anything this easy and accurate, its easy and gets everything done. its amazing… thanks so much man!
May 13th, 2008 @ 2:12 pm
Your program worked without a hitch. Thank you for writing it.