How to install and manage virtual CD/DVDs
One reader explains how to install the MagicDisc freeware utility to create and manage virtual CD/DVDs.
There are number of existing programs that can emulate CD/DVDs and mount CD/DVD images, but since I wanted to install and configure them remotely I conducted a few more searches and stopped when I found MagicDisc.
I chose MagicDisc primarily for these three reasons:
- It is freeware (note not all options work in the free-of-charge version, but what is necessary to me, works).
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- You can run setup in silent mode.
- It is possible to operate all necessary functions from a command line.
To install MagicDisc on my remote system I created a one line INSTALL-V-CD.bat:
setup_magicdisc.exe /S
To run this script on a remote system use psexec.exe. After MagicDisc has been installed, you'll need to copy the Mount ISO.exe to your remote computer. That way, you can manage the program from a command line. The miso.exe should be located in a directory that's registered in PATH.
If you want to create a virtual CD and assign to it system letter, use the following MOUNT-ISO.bat script:
@ECHO off
miso NULL -sdrv 0
miso NULL -sdrv 1
For /F "tokens=4 delims=(,) " %%a in ('miso NULL -vlist^|find "[1]"') do Set VCD=%%a
@ECHO select volume %VCD% > %TEMP%ChangeCDDrive.txt @ECHO assign letter=S >> %TEMP%ChangeCDDrive.txt @ECHO exit >> %TEMP%ChangeCDDrive.txt
Diskpart /S %TEMP%ChangeCDDrive.txt
Del %TEMP%ChangeCDDrive.txt /Q
And finally, to mount an ISO file, you'll need to execute the following command:
miso NULL -mnt S: "ISO-IMG.ISO"
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