I don’t have a CD-drive on one of my Windows XP computers, but I need the ability to view the contents of a new CD each month. I have ISO images available as a replacement. Luckily Microsoft makes a tool available so that I can open and view the files in an ISO file. It emulates a CD-ROM drive on my computer.

1. Download the Microsoft Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel package here

2. Extract the files to your desktop, then copy the VCdRom.sys file to your %systemroot%\system32\drivers folder. For most people, this is under C:\Windows\system32\drivers.

3. Open the VCdControlTool.exe file.

4. Click Driver Control…

5. Click Install Driver then navigate to the %systemroot%\system32\drivers folder and double-click VCdRom.sys.

6. Click Start.

7. Click OK.

8. Click Add Drive. A drive letter will be added under My Computer.

9. Select an unused drive letter from the drive list and click Mount.

10. Navigate and select to the ISO image file you wish to mount, then click OK. UNC naming conventions should not be used, however mapped network drives should be OK.

What if you need to mount and use a DVD ISO image or have a different version of Windows such as Vista? I have had good luck with MagicISO for working with both DVD’s and CD-ROM images files. It’s Freeware, so no worries about having to pay a license fee.