Once mounted, go to This PC and the file will show as an optical drive.

Select the Mount option from the context menu.

Navigate to the ISO file you want to mount.

Much like a USB drive or an external drive is mounted on Windows 10, the ISO file can be mounted so that the system thinks there is an optical drive attached to the system that has data on it. Mount ISO imageĪn ISO image can be mounted as a virtual optical drive. The method you use depends on what the file is going to be used for. How to ‘Open’ an ISO image or fileĪn ISO image or file can be opened in different ways. Others may contain software or copies/archives/snapshots of file systems. While some ISO files may contain operating systems, not all of them do. CD and DVD drives are reaching the end of their life since many people now prefer to use USBs and/or external drives for transferring data but the ISO file format lives. ISO files originated with the rise in optical drives (CD and DVD writers).

The word ‘image’ is sometimes taken to mean that this particular file is a ‘snapshot’ of a particular file or operating system that can be used to restore a computer or file. An ISO file will compress these files significantly often reducing the size by a few GBs which makes it ideal for distributing operating system files.Īn ISO image is basically another term used for ISO files. At its core, an ISO file is an archive file format that can contain multiple files in it, and these files can be exceptionally large in size. ISO files are used to distribute software.

Iso meaning