Small footprint 64 bit ISO reader
Solution 1:
By far the best free ISO mounting tool out there is Pismo file mount.
Some highlights:
- Works great on Windows Vista/7 x64 (not natively x64 but completely compatible)
- Drives only exist when an ISO is mounted and are removed when there is no ISO mounted
- Small memory footprint
- Has simple minimalist right click shell integration
- Unattended installation
- No Branding or silly logos to speak of (very clean professional feeling program)
- Fully featured command line control that is automatically working right after unattended install
- Plus all the normal features you would expect from an ISO mounting tool
- Free for corporate use
Some things you will want to pay attention to though is that by default it will not mount the ISO to a drive letter but instead mount it to a UNC path which can cause some software installers to fail when installing from the mounted path. Just make sure you specify that you want Pismo to mount to a drive letter when you are doing the mount and it will work fine.
Here is the unattended install of SQL to demonstrate my real world use of Pismo.
SET MSDNIsoPath=\\itapp\ISO Library\MSDN
SET ScriptPath=%~dp0
SET ScriptPath=%ScriptPath:~0,-1%
SET MountPath=m:
SET pfmMount=pfm mount -m %MountPath%
SET pfmUnMount=pfm unmount
echo -Installing Pismo File Mount
"%ResourcePath%\pfmap-051.exe" /q
echo.
echo Install and configure Microsoft SQL Server 2005
echo -Installing Standard Edition
%pfmMount% "%MSDNIsoPath%\en_sql_2005_std_x86_dvd.iso"
%MountPath%\Servers\setup.exe /settings "%ScriptPath%\Configuration\Microsoft SQL Server 2005.ini" /qb /norestart
%pfmUnMount%
Solution 2:
For 64-Bit there is only two that I use. The first is Daemon Tools Lite. It's a tray icon application that allows you to mount an ISO by double clicking and fully 64-Bit. Since I have never really minded having a drive letter waiting I am not sure if you can make it create a drive on the fly however.
Since Windows 7 I have been using MagicISO. It's Windows Vista/7 64-Bit compliant, but also keeps a drive letter available at all times. The sole purpose of this application is to mount ISO's and it has a very small footprint.
Solution 3:
I like 7zip. Not only does to do most compressed file formats, but it also handles ISOs.
Pros:
- You can "extract" them out like a zip file.
- It integrates with Windows Explorer to allow for "right-click" expansion.
- It's open source, and there are 32 & 64 bit versions.
- Runs on all modern versions of Windows, including Windows 7
Cons:
- It does not do mounting, unlike most of the other programs listed.
Solution 4:
I am using Alcohol 52% Free Edition under Windows Vista x64 for mounting ISO files.