- Rating:
- Version: 2.0.11
- Publisher:
www.microsoft.com - File Size: 59.63 KB
- Date: Jul 17, 2009
- License: Freeware
- Category:
CD Utility
Windows Utilities
Microsoft has a little known tool called Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel that allows you to mount an ISO image as a virtual drive. This allows you to install and run software that insists that it must run from CDROM, lets you create a virtual CD drive on your hard disk
Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel for Windows XP lets you create a virtual CD drive on your hard disk. For anyone unfamiliar with the terms 'virtual CD' or 'CD emulator', they mean that you can copy the entire contents of a CD-ROM to your hard disk and run the programs or access the files without the need for the original CD.
Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel is able to make files faster, more accessible and more convenient. Given the speed and size of today's hard drives, you could easily fit a number of CDs onto your hard drive without noticing the difference. Assuming you had 30 full CDs, these would take around 20GB on a hard drive and all will be accessible after a few clicks of a mouse. It only works with ISO images. You may now use the drive letter as if it were a local CD-ROM device. When you are finished you may unmount, stop, and remove the driver from memory using the driver control.
How to Install:
After unpacking the archive by running the downloaded file and choose the extraction destination (I put mine in c:\opt\vccp). According to Microsoft you need to copy VCdRom.sys to your %systemroot%\system32\drivers (usually c:\windows\system32\drivers or c:\winnt\system32\drivers - see Windows Environment Variables for more information about Windows environment variables). However, I have not been experiencing any problem using the VCdRom.sys from the installation directory.
How to Use:
Click "Add Drive" to add a drive to the drive list. Ensure that the drive added is not a local drive. If it is, continue to click "Add Drive" until an unused drive letter is available.
Select an unused drive letter from the drive list and click "Mount". Navigate to the image file, select it, and click "OK". UNC naming conventions should not be used, however mapped network drives should be OK.
The license of this software is Freeware, you can free download and free use this cd utility software.