Background – creating own ISOs for optimal install performance
See my blog post Free Software for Creating ISO Files
DAEMON Tools (Lite) – not working on Win7 x64
I have been using DAEMON Tools Lite for years, worked well in Windows XP and Vista x64. Now running Windows 7 beta x64 latest version of DAEMON Tools won’t work (2009-Jan). Therefore I had to abandon this tool and look for alternatives.
Pismo File Mount Audit Package (freeware) – works fine – recommended!
Product page: http://www.pismotechnic.com/pfm/ap/
“Pismo File Mount Audit Package is available free of charge for personal and business use.”
Although Pismo does not have game DVD emulation capabilities, it offers very cool features for mounting (unprotected) software:
- mount ISO images in place as read-only subfolders (no virtual drive letters required)
- mount ZIP archives as read-only subfolders
- explorer integration (right click on .iso or .zip)
- command line interface
- private folders (encryption)
I must say I am impressed – I wished I had been using this software for a long time! So far I have been using it for installing some small and big software both from ISO and ZIP files and everything worked fine. Also dealing with a subfolder instead of navigating to a drive letter is nice.
Command line help, topic “mount”:
pfm mount -h
syntax: pfm mount [<switch> ...] <file>
switches:
-a Allow everyone read access.
-b Open new mount in shell.
-c Authenticate through console.
-d Single process mount for diagnostics.
-e Display mount options dialog.
-f <formatter name> Name of formatter with which to mount file.
-i Mount visible only to owner. Default for non admins.
-l Prompt for credentials if needed for system visibility.
-m <drive letter> Map drive letter to mount.
-o <user sid> Alternate owner.
-p <pid> Limit mount visibility to specified process and children.
-r Mount read only.
-s Mount visible to all users and system. Default for admins.
-u Accessible only through UNC.
-v Verbose output.
-w Allow everyone read and write access.
Gizmo Drive (freeware) – supports Win7
Officially supports Windows 7 (32 and 64 bit). Have not tried it personally yet.
http://arainia.com/software/gizmo/download.html
WinCDEmu (open source) – not tested
“A very simple yet handy one-click CD emulator for Win32 platform. Supports ISO, CUE, IMG, BIN and RAW formats.”
http://wincdemu.sourceforge.net/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/wincdemu
Virtual CloneDrive (freeware) – not tested
Might work in Win 7, not tested yet. Download page: http://www.slysoft.com/en/download.html
