Ubuntu : Virtual CD-ROM for mouting ISO

gemeinschaft · 02-15-2011, 16:15

I am looking at different ways to mount an .iso in Ubuntu and I have not found a way to get a virtual CD-Rom to work. I have tried the GUI methods and none seem to work for me.

I even tried installing MagicDisc using Wine, but of course it fails due to a lack of drivers.

I have some software that requires running from CD, but due to battery life, I prefer to simply create an .iso of the cd and mount in a virtual drive.

(IGF & HerrGlock - I'm sure one of your guys knows the answer on this one.)

I have tried:
sudo mkdir /media/CDImage
sudo mount /path/to/ISO-file /media/CDImage -o loop

But, it didn't want to work for me. Any suggestions are appreciated.

IndyGunFreak · 02-15-2011, 16:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by gemeinschaft

I am looking at different ways to mount an .iso in Ubuntu and I have not found a way to get a virtual CD-Rom to work. I have tried the GUI methods and none seem to work for me.

I even tried installing MagicDisc using Wine, but of course it fails due to a lack of drivers.

I have some software that requires running from CD, but due to battery life, I prefer to simply create an .iso of the cd and mount in a virtual drive.

(IGF & HerrGlock - I'm sure one of your guys knows the answer on this one.)

I have tried:
sudo mkdir /media/CDImage
sudo mount /path/to/ISO-file /media/CDImage -o loop

But, it didn't want to work for me. Any suggestions are appreciated.

I'm not really sure exactly what you're doing... Have you already ripped the cd to ISO, and you just need to mount it under Ubuntu?

Are you trying to keep the ISO, on the Host OS, or the Guest OS?

Edit: OK... I'm a little slow on the uptake tonight and a little tired, but I re-read your post, and I think I got the jist of it..... You've ripped a CD to ISO, and you want to mount it on Ubuntu. As long as Ubuntu has Internet access, there's a quick/dirty way to do this w/ no fuss.

First, make sure the ISO is on the "Guest" OS (in this instance, Ubuntu)... not on the Host OS.
Open Synaptic (Sytstem/Admin/Synaptic Package Manager)
Do a search for "gmountiso"
When you find it, Install it.
Open GMountISO (Application/System Tools/GMount-ISO)

It's pretty straight forward at this point, but for the rest of the class...

In the first box "Image File"... Click Open, and Navigate to the ISO.
In the second box "Mount Point" ... choose a mount point. The only catch here, is it has to be an Empty Folder (so /media is likely not going to work).... I usually just mount mine in "/home/username/empty_folder".
Click Mount.

After about 2sec, you should see a CD Drive appear on your desktop, and you can browse it just like a mounted CD Drive.

IGF

***HerrGlock*** · 02-15-2011, 17:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by gemeinschaft

I have tried:
sudo mkdir /media/CDImage
sudo mount /path/to/ISO-file /media/CDImage -o loop

But, it didn't want to work for me. Any suggestions are appreciated.

sudo mkdir /media/CDImage
sudo mount -o loop /path/to/ISO-file /media/CDImage

(edit)
Assumptions:
you are booted into Ubuntu as the OS
the .iso file is the CDImage you're talking about up there.

gemeinschaft · 02-15-2011, 17:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by IndyGunFreak

I'm not really sure exactly what you're doing... Have you already ripped the cd to ISO, and you just need to mount it under Ubuntu?

Are you trying to keep the ISO, on the Host OS, or the Guest OS?

Edit: OK... I'm a little slow on the uptake tonight and a little tired, but I re-read your post, and I think I got the jist of it..... You've ripped a CD to ISO, and you want to mount it on Ubuntu. As long as Ubuntu has Internet access, there's a quick/dirty way to do this w/ no fuss.

First, make sure the ISO is on the "Guest" OS (in this instance, Ubuntu)... not on the Host OS.
Open Synaptic (Sytstem/Admin/Synaptic Package Manager)
Do a search for "gmountiso"
When you find it, Install it.
Open GMountISO (Application/System Tools/GMount-ISO)

It's pretty straight forward at this point, but for the rest of the class...

In the first box "Image File"... Click Open, and Navigate to the ISO.
In the second box "Mount Point" ... choose a mount point. The only catch here, is it has to be an Empty Folder (so /media is likely not going to work).... I usually just mount mine in "/home/username/empty_folder".
Click Mount.

After about 2sec, you should see a CD Drive appear on your desktop, and you can browse it just like a mounted CD Drive.

IGF

I guess I need to give more detail here, I have a laptop that is loaded only with Ubuntu 10.10 , there is no other OS on the system.

The program that I am running requires that you run the Data CD in a CDrom. As you know, running a CDROM kills the battery life if you are travelling, so mounting to a virtual drive is the way to go. Not to mention that carrying a bunch of CDs is a PITA.

HerrGlock - I am booting into Ubuntu on my laptop and you are correct, the CDImage is the .iso that I am talking about.

I will try your edit and see what happens.

I need the program that I am running to see the Mounted image as a CDRom.

Thanks for your suggestions.

IndyGunFreak · 02-15-2011, 17:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by gemeinschaft

I need the program that I am running to see the Mounted image as a CDRom.

Thanks for your suggestions.

What I told you above, it should see it as a CDRom...

IGF

***HerrGlock*** · 02-15-2011, 18:22

I believe you just put the -o loop in the wrong place.

gemeinschaft · 02-15-2011, 18:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by IndyGunFreak

What I told you above, it should see it as a CDRom...

IGF

Ok, I'll try it again. I am wondering if it has to do with the fact that I am running a program in Wine and expecting it to see the mounted iso as a CDRom?

I'll let you know what happens, this time - Going to reinstall both programs see if they decide to play in the same sandbox.

gemeinschaft · 02-15-2011, 18:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by HerrGlock

I believe you just put the -o loop in the wrong place.

I am going to try both suggestions and see what happens after dinner.

IndyGunFreak · 02-15-2011, 18:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by gemeinschaft

Ok, I'll try it again. I am wondering if it has to do with the fact that I am running a program in Wine and expecting it to see the mounted iso as a CDRom?

I'll let you know what happens, this time - Going to reinstall both programs see if they decide to play in the same sandbox.

Possible....

Easiest way to do that....

1. Install the program from ISO, in wine....
in a terminal wine "/path/to/ISO/install.exe" Make sure you get the full path.

2. After that is done.... You should have a "Launcher shortcut" in Application/Wine

Now, to launch the program...

Mount the ISO...
Modify the Launch shortcut, to target the .exe on the ISO you mounted.

It should be pretty easy to do it...

If you want me to show you, install Teamviewer (inside the virtual OS) and I'll show you how to do it.

Linux3 · 02-15-2011, 22:07

HerrGlock is totally right.
linux3@phantom:/Data/Kubuntu$ ls
mfc42.dll mfc42.zip The_Big_Bang_Theory_Pilot
Omega-14-i686-Live.iso The_Big_Bang_Theory_S01
linux3@phantom:/sudo mkdir /foo
linux3@phantom:/sudo chmod 777 /foo
linux3@phantom:/sudo mount -o loop /Data/Kubuntu/Omega-14-i686-Live.iso /foo
linux3@phantom:/df -hl
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1 108G 28G 75G 27% /
none 1003M 260K 1003M 1% /dev
none 1007M 172K 1007M 1% /dev/shm
none 1007M 108K 1007M 1% /var/run
none 1007M 0 1007M 0% /var/lock
none 1007M 0 1007M 0% /lib/init/rw
/dev/sda2 121G 27G 88G 24% /home
/dev/sdb1 230G 104G 115G 48% /Data
/dev/loop0 1.2G 1.2G 0 100% /foo

I did a chmod 777 to open up permissions on the directory 'foo' as you and who else? need access.

Using wine will not be a problem. It's just a mounted device.

You could use /media/whatever. It's kind of an old Unix thing to use 'foo' and 'bar' but shrug.

gemeinschaft · 02-15-2011, 22:11

I got it to work, thanks.

Mounting with Gmount-iso was only half of the equation.

I found out that I then had to go into the Wine Cfg and assign a CDRom Drive letter to the location at which I mounted the Iso in order for the program in Wine to see it as a CDRom.

Thanks for both of your help, you sent me in the right direction.

I was hoping for something a little more user friendly, I was trying to set this up for my 11 year old son. LOL Guess he'll just have to learn how to do it.

IndyGunFreak · 02-16-2011, 05:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by gemeinschaft

I found out that I then had to go into the Wine Cfg and assign a CDRom Drive letter to the location at which I mounted the Iso in order for the program in Wine to see it as a CDRom.

Hmm... Never heard of needing to set it as a virtual drive in Wine.. but it makes sense.

It seems you should be able to make a shortcut on your desktop for it... then all he has to do is use Gmount ISO to mount the ISO, and make sure he mounts it in the same folder all the time, and the shortcut should work.