Windows 10 has basic ISO mounting built in but here we list 10 free virtual drive emulators that you can use to mount ISO images and other types of disc images so they behave like real discs. The ISO image is then mounted to the virtual drive to create a virtual disc.

This is known as virtual drive software because the drive isn’t real and it just emulates a real optical drive. This allows you to install software, read or play the disc contents like it was physically inserted into your computer. Another option is using a program to make the ISO image behave like a real disc. It can also be written to a USB flash drive to install something like Windows or Linux faster. The ISO can be burned to a CD or DVD to create a copy of the original disc. Once you have the file, there are several things you can do with it. Or they can be downloaded from the internet. ISO image files can easily be created using software such as WinX DVD Ripper, all you need is a ROM drive and an optical disc. Even Microsoft utilizes ISO image files and the Windows install DVD is these days distributed as an ISO. These files, which can also store a copy of DVD or Blu-ray media, are more commonly known as ISO images. This made it possible to store collections or backups of your important optical media in one location. The original idea to create an exact copy of a CD-ROM disc and place the data into a file which can be stored on a hard drive or USB flash drive was a great invention.

Daemon tools lite 10 open iso files