Any person who spends a lot of time at the computer will sooner or later come across files with the .iso extension. Roughly speaking, these files are archives, and they all contain other files you need. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to open them using a regular archiver such as WinRAR or Hamster. Moreover, often they do not need to be opened at all, but mounted. This article will outline how to mount an image in Daemon Tools.

Using a gadget

Initially, of course, this program must be downloaded. It is recommended to do this exclusively from the official website, since this software is in great demand among Internet users, and attackers can change it by placing a virus there, and, of course, then place it somewhere on another page.

When installing, you also need to be careful and pay attention to the checked boxes, because other programs, so to speak unwanted, may be installed along with Deamon Tools.

So, now let's get straight to the topic. How do we mount an image in Daemon Tools? The first method involves the use of a special gadget that is installed along with the main program or which can be downloaded from the website (if it is not installed independently).

In order to mount, you need:

1. Click on the green icon in the form of a Play button, in this case it is called “Mount”.
2. Explorer will open. In it you need to pave the way to your image that you previously downloaded.
3. Select it and click the "Open" button.

This is how we mount an image in Daemon Tools using the first method, but it is far from the only one.

Using a disk image file

If for some reason you have not installed the gadget from Daemon Tools and you do not know where to download it, you can use the second method. It involves mounting a virtual drive using a disk image file. Perhaps these words mean nothing to many, so let’s move on to specifics.

During installation of the program, you were asked (if you performed a custom installation) which files should be automatically opened using our program; among the huge list, you had to specify the .iso extension. If you did exactly this, great, otherwise, no big deal, everything can be fixed.

Here's what you need to do:

1. Open My Computer (File Explorer).
2. Enter the folder where the .iso file is located.
3. Click on it twice (if you selected the necessary items during installation).
4. Or right-click on it and in the menu that opens, click “Open with...”.
5. In the window that appears, select our program.
6. Click OK.

After the manipulations done, you will achieve what you want. We have discussed how to mount an image in Daemon Tools using the second method, and if it seems unacceptable to you, then the third is next.

Using the program itself

This method shows how to mount an image in Daemon Tools, and it involves launching the program itself.

To do this you will need:

1. Open the Start menu and use search to find the application we need.
2. Launch it.
3. Right-click on the virtual drive icon located at the bottom of the window.
4. In the menu, click on the "Mount" line.
5. In the explorer that appears, navigate to the .iso file.
6. Click "Open".

Here's how to mount an image in Daemon Tools Lite using the third method.

DAEMON Tools Lite is a free version of the popular program for emulating optical discs CD, DVD, Blu-ray.

In the modern world, CDs are rapidly losing relevance, since all information is distributed via the Internet. Therefore, many users resort to using virtual disk images to store important files, music, movies, software and video games. This is much more convenient and safer, since optical disks are very sensitive to physical damage, and mechanical drives have low writing and reading speeds.

The DAEMON Tools Lite emulator makes it possible to use several virtual “turntables” at once and works with all known image formats: MDF, MDX, MDS, ISO, IMG, CCD, NRG, CUE, BIN and others. Using the program, you can create and play electronic copies of any disks (audio, video, game, boot disks and USB flash drives), your own images from files and folders, copies of SD cards, RAM disks inside RAM, emulate hard drives (VHD, HC, TC, VDI, VMDK) and work with ISCSI targets (remote virtual disk images). The program also includes functions for burning, on-the-fly copying and cleaning rewritable optical discs.

In addition, the application can create password-protected disk and flash drive images, encrypted TrueCrypt and VeraCrypt virtual container disks. Another interesting feature of DAEMON Tools Lite is that the emulator works with files that have copy protection (Protect CD, SafeDisc, StarForce, Securom, etc.), which will certainly please many fans of music, movies and video games. Other useful application tools include a built-in image editor that allows you to change the contents of disks, and a converter for converting images to other formats.

Despite such serious functionality, the interface and key features of the program can be learned in just a few minutes. The main functions of the application (mounting and creating images, opening TrueCrypt and VeraCrypt files) are integrated into the Windows Explorer menu and are accessible through the application icon in the system tray.

Over time, fewer and fewer users use disks, and more and more laptop manufacturers deprive their devices of having a physical drive. But it is not at all necessary to part with your valuable collection of disks, because all you need to do is transfer it to your computer. Today we will take a closer look at how a disk image is created.

This article will discuss how you can create a disk image using the DAEMON Tools program. This tool has several versions, differing in cost and number of available features, but specifically for our purpose, the most budget version of the software - DAEMON Tools Lite - will be sufficient.

Steps to create a disk image

1. If you do not have the DAEMON Tools program, install it on your computer.

2. Insert the disk from which the image will be extracted into your computer's drive, and then launch the DAEMON Tools program.

3. In the left area of ​​the program window, open the second tab "New Image" . In the window that appears, click on the item "Create an image from disk" .

4. A new window will appear in which you will need to fill in the following parameters:

• In the column "Drive unit" select the drive that currently contains the disk;
• In the column "Save as" you will need to specify the folder in which the image will be saved;
• In the column "Format" select one of the three available image formats (MDX, MDS, ISO). If you don't know which format to choose, check ISO, because... this is the most popular image format supported by most programs;
• If you want to protect your image with a password, then check the box next to the item "Protect" , and in the two lines below enter the new password twice.

5. When all the settings are set, you can begin the image creation process. To do this, you just have to click on the button "Start" .

In this article we will take a detailed look at the functions of creating and mounting disk images using a tool that needs no introduction - Daemon Tools. The KiloSofta website can offer its users three versions of the product for download at once, among which Lite and Pro are the most famous and popular. We will focus on the last one and use its example to show and talk about all possible options for mounting and, of course, creating images.

The addition of “Pro” in the name of the advanced version of the virtual disk emulator Daemon Tools Pro Advanced is not used as a marketing catchphrase: there are truly professional functions here.
Among them:

• a converter that converts existing images into one of the popular formats (ISO, MDS, NRG - there are more than a dozen options). The principle of operation is similar to converting audio from .mp3 to .wav or other containers;
• burning discs and related work: (re-) recording, erasing, creating AudioCDs, multisessions.

Format conversion is a simple and quickly performed function (the time for this operation is limited by the speed of copying to the hard drive: processor resources are used poorly). We can only note the possibility of “password-protecting” the created image, limiting access to it. Burning physical discs is familiar from other disc burning programs – nothing particularly new. And advanced drive emulation capabilities are a topic that requires special attention. We are talking about additionally disguising the emulator as a real drive: to bypass the protection of overly smart programs that detect the presence of a virtual device. These capabilities are contained in the way disks are mounted into four different types of virtual drives.

Mounting images: 4 options

Getting started with optical disk images requires creating a virtual drive (or even several). The Pro version of DT allows you to create four types of Virtual Drive.
Creating a virtual drive - three types for optical images, one for a virtual hard disk:

1. HDD: a convenient utility for working with virtual hard disks. Useful for fans of virtual machines, installing a second operating system, and encrypting individual parts of disk space. The same functions have already been built into Windows since version 7.
2. DT drive. A classic virtual drive for optical disk images, familiar from the Lite version of the program. Allows you to almost always successfully emulate CD/DVD/BD.
3. SCSI: the case when particularly secure programs do not want to run on a regular DT virtual drive. Allows you to bypass protection by creating not just a “ghost” drive, but an entire bus – a SCSI interface. In some cases, the physical drive stops working: it is enough, however, to open the computer and transfer the drive cable to another SATA port.
4. IDE drive: Same as with SCSI. Some programs protected from virtualization (especially older versions) require the computer to have an outdated IDE drive, considering all other types of drives to be almost fraudulent.

Creating virtual IDE and SCSI drives requires a mandatory reboot of the computer. For DT drives, a restart is not required. It is the third and fourth mounting options that allow the version to be called professional.

The process of mounting images on the created drives occurs as usual: just double-click on the image file. It is more convenient, however, to use the “Image Catalog” filer window – a library with disk labels. Daemon Tools also creates a “Virtual Disk Directory” in the Explorer side menu, where shortcuts from the program filer are duplicated.

How to create images

The process of creating images in Daemon Tools is quite simple - just insert the optical media into a physical DVD drive and click the corresponding menu icon on the program panel. If there are several drives, then you need to select the one in which the disk is located and, if desired, additional parameters. A backup copy of optical discs to a hard drive is not just a backup, but also an excellent opportunity to remember old half-forgotten games, movies and other entertainment!

Creating disk images in Daemon Tools: standard speed, limited by the performance of the physical drive. It took less than 9.5 minutes to create an image of a 4.25 GB DVD.

Pay attention to the bottom panel of the main Daemon Tools Pro window: during disk creation, all information about the process is duplicated here.

Beyond the scope of this article are such interesting functions of the application as editing Virtual CD/DVD files. Hidden in the depths of the program is a full-fledged image editor that allows you to add, delete and change files inside the container. There are no special subtleties here: the editing process is approximately the same as in archivers, but the possibilities are really rich - the name Pro fully justifies itself. A similar, but no less convenient utility is also available “on board”

And install it on your computer. Next, the program itself will install into the system and configure a new virtual BD-ROM (a full-fledged software “turntable” that works with all types and types of discs, be it CD/DVD/Blu-ray Disc). Now, all that's left for you is to learn how to mount and run/play disk images! And this can be done in several ways that are easily accessible even to an inexperienced user.

1. Through the desktop gadget Daemon Tools on the desktop

Click on this widget button "Mount"(option with an arrow icon), as shown in the screenshot below.

Next, in the opened "Explorer", select the folder in which you have the disk images and select the desired image file a lion. keyboard mice. Then click on the button "Open".

Image automatically will be added to the application And mounted on disk. You will find a ready-to-use image in virtual drive created by Daemon Tools by going to "My computer". To launch the disc, click twice lion keyboard mice to the virtual icon "BD-ROM" drive or press the right key on it. mouse, and then select any of the launch options you like (see screenshot).

2. Through the disk image file itself

Open the folder where you have files with electronic disk images and select the one you need. Click on it with the right key. mouse and click on the following options: "To open with" --> "Daemon Tools". The file itself (automatically!) will be added to the application and to the virtual “spinner” (drive).

To start using the disk, also go to "My computer" and click on the icon "BD-ROM"!

3. Through the program Daemon Tools

Run the program with shortcut on desktop/worker table. In the lower window of the utility you will see virtual drive icon. Click on it with the right key. mouse and select the option "Mount".

Further, (exactly the same as in the first method) in the opened Windows Explorer you go to the right one the folder where the image disks are stored and, highlighting left mouse button, select the one you need. Don't forget about the button too "Open".

"Last Images"

It is noteworthy that this program automatically saves the entire history of your actions. Therefore, everyone previously opened you in Daemon Tools, you will find the images in the list "Last Images", located in central program window, and at any time you can easily launch them again! Just press right key. mouse on any image from the list and click on the function "Mount".

Now you definitely no longer need to constantly get the necessary disks through "Conductor".

"Catalogue of images"

Also, for greater convenience, you can create your own in Damon Tools "Catalogue of images", for example, the most frequently used drives so that you no longer have to climb into them every time "Conductor" and it would be possible launch instantly them straight from top center window programs. To do this, click on the icon "Add Image" in the lower application window, then in "Explorer" select one or several images at once, click on the button "Open" and they will independently (automatically!) appear in top center window program, which is called "Catalogue of images".

When you need it, it’s just as easy click on any of which pr. clave. mouse and activate the function "Mount".

As you can see, mounting disks in “DT” is really very simple, and most importantly, it’s also convenient!