Free virtual CD-ROM drive from Microsoft

The latest issue of Windows Secrets newsletter has a nice tip about a free virtual CD-ROM drive:

I recently rediscovered a nifty free tool from Microsoft. You may find it useful, too.
It’s the Microsoft Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel…
It lets you mount an ISO file of a CD in one step, without having to burn it to an actual, physical CD first. You then have access to the full contents of the CD and can get at any or all of the data.
The Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel also lets you mount several images at once, each with its own drive letter. I don’t know what the upper limit is, but I’ve had as many as four ISOs mounted at once, in addition to the two real CD drives in my system. And, of course, because the ISO files actually reside on your hard drive, you can access them at normal hard-drive speeds, which are usually much, much faster than CD drives.

Visit the Windows Secret site for more details and to find the link to download the utility.

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3 Responses to “Free virtual CD-ROM drive from Microsoft”


  1. 1 Mark Furlong

    This is great…anybody know how to make this “virtual drive” visible as a CD burner to programs like I-Tunes?

    I see commercial products out there that serve this kind of function, but I don’t feel that I should have to pay (I-Tunes or anybody else) to convert my music files to a usable format whether it’s the cost of software or blank disks.

  2. 2 william

    I want to have driver, thanks…

  3. 3 osagie ekinadose

    i would a cd rumbe gratefull to have

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