Alcohol and Daemon Tools are excellent software packages that allow users to mount ISO files as virtual CD-ROMs. Although I love these tools, Microsoft has a free, 60kb program that does the same thing!

Of course, it is not supported… and it’s not as friendly as the software listed above; however, it works and it’s free.

Here’s the download link: winxpvirtualcdcontrolpanel

(link from ChipSoftTech)

Here’s the steps:

System Requirements
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- Windows XP Home or Windows XP Professional

Installation instructions
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1. Run the exe to extract 2 files: VCdRom.sys and VCdControlTool.exe.  Copy VCdRom.sys to your %systemroot%\system32\drivers folder if is not already there.
2. Execute VCdControlTool.exe
3. Click “Add Drive” to add a drive to the drive list.
4. Select an unused drive letter from the drive list and click “Mount”.
5. Navigate to the image file, select it, and click “OK”.

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.