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Burning en_vs_2005_Pro_CD1.ISO to a CD (What do I do with an ISO File?)

Started by EvilAndrew, 2006-01-30T16:10:44-06:00 (Monday)

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EvilAndrew

I burned the "VS_Net_2005_Pro_CD1.ISO" file I got from the CS MSDNAA Site to a CD and now all I have is a CD with a "VS_Net_2005_Pro_CD.ISO" file on it.  This file is just as worthless as it was before.  What am I doing wrong?
......

R. Andrew Lamonica

You are not alone.  I have had several people come to me with the same complaint.  This is an easy mistake to make and understanding the answer requires a little computer knowledge that many entry-level computer science students do not have.

The problem is that instead of burning the contents of the â€Ã...“.ISOâ€Ã, file to a CD you burned the file itself.  ISO files are not normal files that you can open with any old program and read.  ISO files contain the entire contents of a CD inside them.  These contents can include the name of the CD, a complete file system with hundreds of files in many folders, and even bootable parts to allow you to start you computer from the CD.  It is this contained information that you want.

To access the data contained in an ISO file you have two options.

(Option 1) Open the ISO with an extraction program. - The Harder way
There are a few programs that will extract or mount ISO files without a CD Burner.  [color=FF0000]This is the harder way to install[/color] because you have to get the directory structure correct (Microsoft says to start with CD2) and I have not found an extractor that I like yet, but you are welcome to try one of these.
7-Zip - This is the best extractor program.  It is free, open source, and works with lots of compressed formats (not just ISO's).
WinRAR â€ââ,¬Å" Archive opening Program that requires registration and expires without payment.
DAEMON Tools â€ââ,¬Å" CD Mounting/archiving program that costs $15 but has a free trial.
Windows XP Virtual CD Control Panel â€ââ,¬Å" Mounts ISO’s as Virtual CD but is not supported by MS and has no documentation.

(Option 2) Burn a CD using the ISO as a disk image. - The Easier way
I think that the better solution for using a ISO File is to just burn it to a CD.  Sometimes CD have bad places or get scratched, but they do not take up hard drive space and are easier to use that extraction tools.  To burn an ISO Image you will need a CD burner that will â€Ã...“Create a CD from an Imageâ€Ã,.  Many CD burning programs will do this, but if you already used your CD burning program and could not get it to work then you might need to keep reading.

Windows XP itself will write files to a CD but it will not write ISO images to a CD without extra software. The software we recommend is Alex Feinman’s ISO Recorder.  This software adds a â€Ã...“Copy image to CDâ€Ã, menu item to the context sensitive menu you get when you â€Ã...“right-clickâ€Ã, on an ISO file.  The third page of this document explains how to use the CD Recorder Software.

Here are some links to help pages for software that you might already have on your computer.  If anyone finds a product that I did not mention then please post it here.
Nero 7
Nero 6 â€ââ,¬Å" Read Page 100
Nero 5 â€ââ,¬Å" Read Page 96
Roxio Easy Media Creator Classic
Roxio Easy Media Creator Disc Copier
Alex Feinman’s ISO Recorder
GEAR 7 for Windows â€ââ,¬Å" Read Page 64 â€Ã...“Using a Physical Imageâ€Ã,
GEAR for Linux
GEAR for UNIX

R. Andrew Lamonica
SIUE Computer Science

Peter Motyka

SIUE CS Alumni 2002
Grad Student, Regis University
Senior Engineer, Ping Identity
http://motyka.org

Shaun Martin

I just made a consolidated file structure like they said in the MSDN help page.  Who needs CDs?   :-D

EDIT: And once again we must have the obligatory LOL at Andrew replying to his own posts.  :lol:
Shaun Martin
SIUE Alumni
Associate IT Analyst, AT&T Services, Inc. St. Louis, MO.

raptor

As I always say.. when all alone just start a conversation with yourself
President of CAOS
Software Engineer NASA Nspires/Roses Grant

R. Andrew Lamonica

If you opt for using method #1 then I suggest that you read Microsoft's website for extra installation considerations.

Option 2 is easier (despite the longer description)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/support/readme/default.aspx

Devon Berry

I burn using Alcohol 120%. It is great for making 1:1 copies, though it is most likely overpowered for simple copies such as this one. It has a trial version as well, but the full version isn't cheap.

I never even noticed that Andrew had two different accounts. I guess it is because I never saw them together, lol!  :lol:

R. Andrew Lamonica

As of 5/14/2006, 7-Zip will now extract files from ISO's.  7-Zip is a good program that opens a lot of compressed archives.  So if you do not have a CD-Burner and want to install Visual Studio using Option 1 (see above) then I suggest you try 7-Zip.

http://www.7-zip.org/

Slick

I absolutely love daemon tools and have used it for tons of software include visula studio. It works perfectly. It's even less of a hassle than burning. I don't know what problesm you've had with it and don't see why it would cause any.

freefall

Hi,

You should use some ISOs writing tool. I suppose you try ISO-burner utility. It is extremely easy to use, small and never failed me before. Moreover, it is free. That will definately help
http://www.ntfs.com/iso-burning.htm


R. Andrew Lamonica

The previous two posts look like spam to me.  I suggest that you stay away from their software.  The software we suggest (see my "instructions" post) probably does not have any spyware in it.