How to make an ISO image from files. Ways to create an ISO image on Windows

More and more users are faced with the concept of “ISO image”. Many files on the Internet are distributed with this extension. Let's look at what it is, why it is needed and how to create it virtual disk.

Any virtual optical disk can be considered an ISO image. This regular file, which is no different from the others. This type of extension cannot store service information as in the original CD, so you should not count on 100% similarity.

The term "ISO" is taken from file system"ISO 9660". This type is used in all CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays. Most often used to correctly write data to new disks. An archived copy of an optical disc does not use additional compression, so there is no need to perform unnecessary steps before burning.

Creating an ISO image makes it possible to copy and replicate licensed software, which allows you to significantly save on purchasing new ones. The idea is to bypass protection against unlicensed distribution. If files with licensed disk are used on a flash drive, then use will be unavailable. When installing through an image, the system is easy to deceive, because it creates the appearance of installation through the original CD.

Programs and utilities for creating ISO images on Windows

To create an optical disk image, you must use special software on your computer. Consider 6 best utilities.

Ultra ISO program

One of the most famous utilities is "UltraISO". This software is paid, but it fully justifies its cost. Available demon paid version, which limits the virtual disk size to 300 MB. Works with more than 30 different extensions, multi-volume images and can generate checksums MD5.

First of all you need to download and install "UltraISO" from the official website. It is not recommended to trust third-party services, as there is a high probability of catching a virus on your device. Be sure to check the resource from which you download the software!

At the bottom of the program will be available Windows Explorer. You must select files to create the image. This is done by right-clicking on the folder and selecting “Add” from the menu that appears. As soon as the user adds everything necessary, you need to click on the “File” button in the left top corner and click on “Save”. “UltraIOS” will offer a saving option; select the required format yourself.

Poweriso program

Utility "Poweriso" designed for use not only with Windows, but also with other operating systems. For full use, you need to buy a licensed version on the official website of the developer. The “Free” version includes some restrictions - the image size is up to 300 MB and the appearance of a boot dialog every time you start it. Freebie lovers can download pirated version on third party resources, however, you need to be careful and check the site.

After this, the created virtual disk can be used as desired.

BurnAware Free program

Using the program « BurnAware Free» users can not only create images, but also burn real discs. The word “burn” means to record information. The utility is free and has a Russian interface. Let's consider using it to create an image from a regular disk.

As you can see, using this application is extremely simple.

ImgBurn utility

"imgBurn"- free software for Windows. With this application you can record information on optical discs, save ISO on your computer and much more. More than 20 different formats are supported.

After this, "imgBurn" will report successful creation and displays the result on the screen.

You can use the virtual disk in any way you like.

Program "Alcohol 120"

Another free application - "Alcohol 120". Creates only copies optical disks in the form of images and writes information on them.

As we see, "Alcohol 120" has somewhat limited functionality, since it cannot create virtual disks from files existing on the computer.

"Ashampoo Burning Studio Free"

One more thing popular app for burning optical discs. "Ashampoo Burning Studio» can backup data, create ISO, erase information on CD/DVD and much more. It is distributed free of charge, which is very surprising for this developer. The catch lies in many offers inside the utility for purchasing licensed software.

After this, the use of the virtual disk will become available. The program will notify the user that the result is ready and suggest further actions.

Bottom line

Creating an ISO image will help companies save on licensed software, help users bypass copy protection, and make their personal computer easier to use. We looked at the 6 best utilities that will definitely help with this.

Do you know this famous prover: live and learn? Well, this saying can be a good subtitle for today"s post. I would like to tell you about the useful feature of DAEMON Tools Ultra, which I have discovered recently. It is a very tricky way of and burn discs, using a virtual drive.

Definitely, I don"t need to explain you that DAEMON Tools Ultra is well-known image mounting software that creates various types of images. I bet you tried to make some virtual discs from the physical ones. Today I want to describe a little bit different situation. How to create an ISO image from files and folders, which are stored on your PC? How to "burn" not the CD, but the virtual disc? Let's try to find out the answers.

I faced the question about how to create an ISO image from files when I decided to make backups of my immense photo collection. I have 6TB hard disk drive, and it is enough for storing large amount of data. I don't want to buy discs, so I decided to create ISO images instead to store all my photos. I opened DAEMON Tools Ultra and chose Make Disc Image option. Here I faced a problem - to create a new image, I need an optical disc.

That's a bit ridiculous. I want to create ISO image from files and folders, I don"t have a disc with my photos. Well, I can burn my data on CD-RW and then make a disc image, but it makes no sense. DAEMON Tools Ultra should have a better solution, and… it does! Now I"d like to describe, how to create an ISO image from files for those who are also interested in this question.

How to create and ISO image from files and folders

At the beginning, let me remind you some copy-book maxims. To start using DAEMON Tools Ultra, download and install this program on your PC. DAEMON Tools Ultra has a 20-day long trial period, so you can evaluate its features - try to create ISO image from files or and , for example, — and then decide whether you need a paid license or not.

Now let's look how this virtual drive emulator will let us burn some data to ISO image.

To open a newly created image, I need DAEMON Tools Ultra or any other software that mounts virtual discs. Look how my photos are presented now:

Hope my post about how to create an ISO image from files and folders were helpful. Would you use this feature? Write me your comments below!

While working at the computer, the user may at any time encounter files that have ISO extension. This is a fairly common format on the Internet, its main idea is to significantly compress files for transmission. But how to make an ISO file yourself and how to work with it in general? This article will present programs for interacting with the ISO format.

How to make an ISO file

First, let's look at the main topic of the article - creating ISO files. Looking ahead, we will say that two programs for creating images will be presented - Alcohol 120% and UltraISO. Both of them are paid, but you can install a trial version to interact with all the functions of the programs yourself.

With Alcohol 120%

So, understanding how to make an ISO file, we will start with the Alcohol 120% program. It is less popular, unlike UltraISO, but no worse than its competitor. Now there will be two ways to use this application: To create disk images and to create images from files and folders.

Method 1: Create an ISO disk file

First, let's consider a situation where you want to make an image of a CD or DVD. To do this, you will need the disk itself, the drive and the program. Execute the following instructions to achieve the task:

Put it in the drive required disk and close it.

Launch the Alcohol 120% program.

In the window that appears, in the left panel, in the “Basic Operations” category, select “Image Creation”.

The “Image Creation Wizard” will appear, in which you must first select the desired drive. This is done from the drop-down list at the top of the window.

Go to the Reading Options tab.

There, specify the name of the image to be created, select the folder in which it will appear.

Next, select the image format. Since we are interested in ISO, choose it.

The remaining parameters can be left untouched. Click the "Start" button. Wait until the creation process is complete, then open the selected folder to verify that the image has been created.

Method 2: Create an ISO file from files and folders

Now we should discuss how to make a file as an image. IN ISO format Not only files from the disk can be distributed, but also from the computer. Using Alcohol 120%, do the following:

In the program, in the “Basic Operations” area, select the “Image Mastering” option.

In the new window, click Next.

A menu will appear in which you can add folders and files that will be located in created image. To add files, click the “Add” button. file(s)", and to add a folder - "Add. folder."

In the Explorer window that appears, specify this same folder or files.

After adding everything you need, click “Next”.

Select the directory in which to create the ISO file, specify its name, select the format and click “Start”.

The process of creating an image from the selected files will begin, wait until it finishes and you can close the program.

Using UltraISO

So, we found out how to make an ISO file in the Alcohol 120% program, as you might guess, everything listed actions can be produced in UltraISO program, which is what we will do now.

In order to create a disk image, you need to insert it into the drive and run the program, then follow these simple steps:

On top panel Click Tools.

Select "Create CD Image" from the menu.

In the new window, in the first drop-down list, select the drive in which you inserted the disk.

In the “Save As” area, specify the folder in which the created image will ultimately appear.

Select ISO format.

Click the “Make” button.

After this, the process of creating it will begin. As a result, you will find the ISO file in the previously specified directory.

If you are thinking about how to turn a folder into an ISO file, then UltraISO makes it easy. By the way, it’s just as easy to create an ISO from files, the instructions are the same.

Launch the application and open the Explorer window, in which the folder with the necessary files is open.

Select files from the folder and drag them all into the program work area.

Click the "File" button and select "Save As".

In the window that appears, specify the folder where you want to save the image, specify its name and select the ISO format, then click “Save”.

All that remains is to wait for the creation process to complete.

How to burn an image to a flash drive using UltraISO?

We're done with creating ISO files, now let's move on to more complex procedures. Now information will be provided on how to burn an image to a flash drive using UltraISO.

Launch the program and click Ctrl keys+ O. You can also click on “File” and select the “Open” option.

“Explorer” will appear, in the window of which select the desired image and click “Open”.

Click on the “Boot” button and select “Burn Hard Disk Image”.

In the new window, select the flash drive and click the “Burn” button.

After this, you will be warned that all files from the drive will be erased; if you confirm your action, the process of writing the image to the flash drive will begin. After it is completed, close the program - the task is completed.

Creating a bootable ISO image using CDBurnerXP

Now let's move on to the most time-consuming part - how to make a bootable ISO image from files. And we will do this in CDBurnerXP program using the example of installation Windows files 7.

Launch the program.

By pressing Ctrl + O or selecting the "Open" option from the "File" menu, select all installation files Windows.

On the top panel, click the "Disk" button and select the "Boot Options" option.

In the window of the same name that appears, first of all, check the box next to “Make the disk bootable”.

Click on the button with the ellipsis, and in the Explorer window that appears, navigate to the boot image. For Windows 7 this is the etfsboot.com file in the boot folder.

Specify the platform on which the application runs.

Click OK.

Everything is almost ready, all that remains is to click on the “File” button, select “Save As” and specify the directory in which the boot ISO image will be saved.

Greetings to all readers! I wrote for you detailed instructions, how to make a disk image. We will also look at various programs with which you can easily make dvd image, cd disk. This information will also help out owners of netbooks or laptops who do not have a disk drive, because... with the help of programs you can do windows image and then transfer it to a flash drive, install the game or program.

ISO files are a disk image. This file can be "installed" and available as a virtual drive. For this we need special program, which one to choose is up to you. Here we will look at the most popular and easy to use, so everything should work out for you.

Daemon tools lite how to create a disk image

Let's start with the Daemon Tools program. Download Daemon version Tools Lite and install it on your computer. During installation you will need to specify the license type, select " Free license" Also, at the end of the installation, the program may offer to install programs for Yandex, a browser and other applications. If you need them, click the “Done” button, if not, remove these 4 checkboxes (I usually do this) and “Done”.

When the program finishes installing, your PC system will have virtual DVD drive. Let's proceed directly to creating the image:

1.Run the program you installed

2.In the menu, find “ New look" and "Create a disk image" and click on it.

3.In the new settings window, you need to specify the drive from which we will make the image and the location where we will save it.

4.In the “Format” settings, specify the image type (ISO)

We don’t touch any more settings, and press the “Start” button

The process of creating a disk image has started. After the program finishes working, you can try to run the file.

CD BurnerXP how to create ISO

Very convenient program, with which you can not only create an image, but also burn discs. Sort of universal program, which copes with the assigned tasks perfectly.

It’s better to download it from the official website, here

To do this, click “Download” latest version" I used the version that works without installation, you just need to run the file and that’s it, to do this, click “More options” and select “Portable version”.

Let's look at the program's operation point by point:

1.In the menu, select “Data Disk” and click “OK”.

2.In this window, find the files from which you will make ISO and drag them to the lower section on the right side.

Click "File" and save the project ISO image.

If you want to create an image from a DVD or CD disc, then select “Copy disc”. Also indicate the drive in which the disk is located, and where to save the result

The program will start working, and after completion you will receive your data in the format you need!

No less famous Alcohol 120%

It’s just as easy to understand and get to work. Supports popular image formats. The program itself is paid, but there is a Free version for 15 days.

Let's get started:

1. “Creating images”

2.Indicate the drive with which we will work

3.Specify the section where we will save, fill in the “Image name” field and set the format (ISO)

4.Press the “Start” button and thus launch the project.

Create an iso disk image using Ultraiso

UltraISO is a multi-purpose program, working in it is simple and convenient. With its help you can create bootable flash drives. But it also copes well with our task – creating a disk image.

1.The program is running, go to the “Tools” menu and select “Create CD image”

2.Select your drive in the CD/DVD section

3.Specify the location where we will save the file

4.Specify the format and click the “Make” button

I think these programs are enough to accomplish the task, and each of you will choose a convenient option for your work.

Video instructions are also included.