I found this little gem while watching a video on IronGeek, and I gotta say, it has gotten far too little coverage. Basically it will allow you to create a virtual CD drive and mount an ISO or other CD image as though it were in your physical optical drive. I now present to you the Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel for Windows XP. No more using Alcohol 120% or Daemon Tools! Why is it that everything Microsoft does right is ignored or lost in old documentation that no one reads? Sometimes they really do make some good stuff.
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February 16th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
THIS IS REVOLUTIONARY
February 16th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Finally, no more Daemon tools!
February 16th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
So how is this better than Daemon Tools or Alcohol 120%? I never like alcohol 120 but daemon tools is a great program that can mount almost any image and has many emulation options as well. So can microsoft's do all this?
February 16th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
I have yet to use it extensively, but as far as I'm concerned, bypassing all the malware-esque things that come along with Daemon Tools makes this tool worth it.
February 17th, 2008 at 11:13 am
It have to say its not better than Daemon tools, and its not better than nero image drive, unless i missed something elementary, the way it loads somehow restricts you from sharing it out across a network share. Meaning i have a Server full of images, if i map a drive to said server and then load the image on my machine and share it out so i can walk to a clients pc, i cannot access that drive.. Nero and Daemon tools will both work in that scenario. And before you ask why don't i just put it on the server, Nothing gets loaded on my Network Storage server.
February 17th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Well, I agree that it may not be as portable as something like Daemon Tools in certain special situations, but once again, the simplicity of it makes it worth it, at least for me. However, I appreciate the comment and I think everyone should use what they need to use - in your case that means something else.
February 17th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Who still uses Daemon tools anywho? PowerIso has lead me to fruition time and time again.
February 17th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
the only 'malware' in daemon is for people who are too retarded to see and uncheck a completely optional checkbox for it during installation.
February 17th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
I like daemon tools too much to use what will probably be a poor knockoff. PowerISO and Daemon tools are arguably the simplest and offer the best coverage of image types
February 17th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Ok guys everyone knows d-toolz is the best. I have been using it for years and years now it was the first tool I used to help me play Diablo II without a cd a long time ago when it first came out. I use it to share dvd and cd images over my network. I have even loaded a dvd image into it and then watched the dvd movie on my laptop in my living room. I love daemon tools and will never stop using it… Just my two cents.
February 17th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
It's really old, not new, doesn't have hardly any options, and doesn't come in x64 flavor (I haven't regularly used 32-bit Windows in like a year). I'd go for Daemon Tools over this any day… that's after a few repeated attempts at trying Microsoft's control panel.
February 17th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
I'm glad everyone has commented on this article (this article definitely has the most comments of any I've posted), but where are all the people who DO like it? Seems like everyone's against me!
February 17th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Crazy stuff!
February 17th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Very cool. As much as I love and use Daemon Tools, the fact that it even comes with the option of malware bugs me. (Plus a few versions used to make a former load of win2k BSOD). I'll have to try this out and see if the usual games work.
It looks as though they wont be updating it anytime soon though, and its not officially supported by MS.
Now they just need a Vista version.
February 17th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
daemon tools pro power iso cover a greater variety of virtual images, such as .daa extensions and furthermore, daemon tools has those security emulations that for some disks they work - which is a lot better than not having it at all.
if this MS virtual thing is so great, why doesn't it come shipped w/ all windoze ?? stupid nub, learn to not rely on MS for 3rd party software - leave MS to things they know, stealing ideas.
February 17th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
Microsoft never ships any of their good products with their OS. For example, the Power Tools, Process XP, Process Monitor, and others. If you don't like this over Daemon Tools, by all means, use Daemon Tools.
February 17th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Great post. this program works well and does what it is intended to do easily and well. I will be using it.
February 18th, 2008 at 12:58 am
Meh, I'd bet that since it's from microsoft it doesn't support securerom or safedisc emulation or any of the other anti-'anti'-copy mechanisms out there…
February 18th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
I've always used Daemon Tools and probably over the years have got tired of being fed up with it but this is great, thanks for posting!
February 19th, 2008 at 12:53 am
so now microsoft has done this also?
ok but i think daemon / Alcohol 120% are the best.
but sure i will check this. Lets see what they have done?
Techdudes
February 19th, 2008 at 9:59 am
I use this program all the time at work - It's bootable from an external usb HD .
I always carry a USB disk full of all the iso's i'll ever need around with me and it doesn't matter if the client PC has any image monting software as thats on the HD to!
February 20th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Something to consider for those of us that want an .iso mounting solution for the workplace: Daemon tools does not grant a free corporate license.
Virtual-CD is just the thing for this case!
February 22nd, 2008 at 11:50 pm
That's great to learn! Thanks for the information! It may not do any of the anti-piracy emulation, but it seems perfect for a quick and dirty image mount. This will save me a lot of time at work.
February 24th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
You have to admit this is a lot of hype regarding something trivial that Unix has allowed us to do for decades.
March 2nd, 2008 at 7:48 am
Everyone of you works for microsoft. Your trying to hype this program to begin tracking the downloaders actions.
March 5th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
ok now…how do I UNDO what i´ve just did? drive doesn´t want to go away.
March 5th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Awsome builder!!
March 7th, 2008 at 6:35 am
Virtual CloneDrive is better.
March 11th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
I like it, but a little too late since Daemon tools has got the market already together with Alcohol
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:08 am
Use linux dudes …
April 29th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
i want ..
May 1st, 2008 at 1:56 am
http://ubuntu.com (linux for humans)
Download for free - burn iso on cd - boot from cd - install
… and done!