How To Mount an ISO File in Windows 10 Using File Explorer and Powershell

I had the same issue. Definitely some issue with Windows 8.1

Mansoor

Man you just need to “unblock” Internet-downloaded files.
Press Alt+Enter on file in Explorer. Push unblock button, viola!A file are ready for anything…

Thanks Daniel, did the same thing (2 downloads with same result) and got quite frustrated. Copied and pasted then ran the file again and worked first time. Thanks once again MS

What I see is this: Mount *.iso, error is thrown; check drive list, it was mounted after all as new drive.

Thanks Daniel, Copied and pasted file to my desktop and it worked the first time I tried it. Great simple workaround to a major problem. Thanks again.

Yayyy!!! Thank you, thank you sir, it worked! :D God bless and more power!

I still have the trouble even aftr changing the file location. Someone help me out!

Thanks a lot.it save me re-downloading a 2.8 GB VS2013 ultimate edition

I downloaded Microsoft office –and can’t install.. it’s telling me there is a problem mounting the file. Have no clue what an ISO is and how to fix this

Awesome Daniel.

Brilliant – Your solution worked. Here i am ready to enjoy office 2013 – thanks to you!

Right click, properties, unblock. Now it works.

I can’t get it to work. Tried several iso’s, without any luck. Tried copying as well. Still no luck. A couple of these iso’s I have used before without any problems, but after update to 8.1 it fails.

Regards
Morten

I continued to get the error message after copying/pasting somewhere else. However, after I tried that three or four times I noticed that each instance was mounted already. So, even though I got the error code the .ISO had actually been mounted all along.

Bravo Daniel, bravo! I cannot BELIEVE this was such a simple fix or that it REQUIRES a fix after all this time (…MS, get on this!). I need to prep this latest edition of Project before teaching my 7am class tomorrow. You have my sincerest gratitude! ELC ^_^

It worked well just by copy and paste

Microsoft site was no help. Was just about to try something drastic when I came upon your solution. Brilliant! Worked immediately and saved a lot of frustration and so easy too. Thanks a lot!!

Tried all your suggestions without any luck. But finally I struck gold and found my solution:

http://kandium.wordpress.com/2013/10/06/windows-8-1-sorry-there-was-a-problem-mounting-the-file-iso-issue/

Regards /Morten

I am using windows 8 for some reason my sql server will not work know more. When I try and access Sql management studio . I get “Cannot find one or more component . Please reinstall”. I go to the folder I see everything in need but it still will not work.I have reinstalled the application , I have all the client tools.

Had the same problem, copy paste did not work either. Then discovered after looking at the drives on the computer that the reason it was not working was that when I downloaded the .iso with Windows 8.1 it automatically mounted the drive. The error is because the .iso is already mounted.

I had a similar thing trying to load a downloaded MS Office Pro 2013 onto my Surface 2 Pro last night.

Solution, I removed the microSD memory card that was inserted and then the issue went away.

I downloaded the ISO file on a different PC and copied it to my Surface Desktop via a memory stick so it was nothing to do with the internet-downloaded file being blocked.

When I found the solution, I had deleted the file from my Desktop. Havng removed the microSD card, when I then inserted the memory stick containing the ISO file, it mounted without me having to do anything and showed itself as as CD drive. I ran the Install file for Office 2013 directly from this “CD” drive.

thank you very much..!
you are the man…. thakns a lot..!

I have the same problem. Downloaded Office 2013 Professional Plus ISO and it won’t mount.

Thanks removing my microSD card worked!

thank you sir. it is mounted after a small (copy paste) :)

I’ve looked all over online for a solution. I even with through scary registry alterations. This worked though! Thanks so much!

It worked! thanks a lot!

Copied and pasted to my desktop. First time it didn’t work and still said problem mounting file. Second time it worked, opened up and I was able to run setup. Don’t know why but thanks!

Yeah even with the error code, mine had actually mounted in Computer. Sigh…

Well Done Sir! Thank you so much!

Thanks man it really works!!!

Thank You. After chasing the problem all over Microsoft in vain, I finally got a solution here that WORKED!!!

Amazing that MS itself didn’t provide any clues about the problem or issues with downloading their trial software. Took me several days chasing MS for such a simple solution!!

Thanks Again!!

Thank’s from Ukraine.

Thanks a lot Daniel ..You rock!!!

yippie it works ,
thank u :)
how do u find out solutions??

Omg I was searching all day for a solution, and this helped me so much!
Thanks for the help you are awesome!! <3

Thanx man! Working by copying to another location on the same drive ! :-)

I discovered that even thou it was throwing the error if I opened up my computer the .iso was still mounted. I didn’t have to make a copy of the .iso for this to work but I tested that method also. I still got the error but again the .iso was mounted in my computer anyway.

Wish I saw this yesterday – I downloaded the program again thinking my original one was corrupted and spent hours trying different tricks to install it!!! Thanks!

I went around different sites just to find answers on how to mount the iso file in Win 8. Probably tried 4 options but none worked. Finally I tried this and it worked. I can now enjoy Office 2013. Thank you!!!

Awesome. Copying does the trick!!! It also happens in Windows Server 2012 R2.

thank you very much Daniel… I just copy paste it and it worked for me.. much appreciated !!!

cool. worked fine. thanx

Me too had this problem. Thank you! so why does it happan? can it be fixed with an update?

I had similar problem – got error message but didn’t realise that image was actually mounting. Once I realised it was mounting despite the error I found this post and saw the comment about micro sd card. I had one mounted at the time, although the iso I was trying to use was on the hdd. I ejected the micro sd and voila! No error message.

Weird.

thanks for posting this. saved me a lot of time

Same issue with Windows 10 Technical Preview.

I had looked for the Unblock button, but it is not there.
Copying (from Desktop to Desktop) solved the issue.
Now the size of the file matches the used spaced. Used spaced is larger on the original download.

Same here – got the issue with the Win 10 preview. Copying and pasting it worked for me too.

I notice that the original file has the attributes ‘AP’, whereas the copied one just has ‘A’. Wonder if this P (sparse?) is the flag causing the issue? Had a quick look at removing it using attrib, but (on my Win 8.1 box at least) it didn’t seem to want to play.

Had this problem with W10 on my Surface Pro 3. When I looked, it was “mounted” in nonexistent drives. :P

Copied and pasted the file and then removed the microSD card as well.

Working perfectly now. Thanks!

Hi everyone. Had this problem. An ISO just needs to be Unsparsed, then you can mount the ISO. I have one iso, it’s weight is 225 GB so I won’t to copy it in another location just to be able to mount it :D
A fix is very simple for any ISO, just add this reg file http://1drv.ms/1yBYwLG and right click your ISO, select Remove Sparse and just mount it! :D Voila! Now you haven’t to copy your ISO, just use this simple fix.

OMG it works! wasted time re-downloading 4GB ISO file…

Thanks, Daniel. Great post.

Actually, big thanks to Nathan Maluk, too. The Unsparsing works as well.

I am trying to mount an ISO file of MS Visual Studio 2013. I have tried what you suggested above and it is not working. I have a Surface Pro 3 running Windows 8.1

As others have said, double clicking the iso does actually mount it. In my case, on a drive marked CD (on a Surface??). Then just run the setup.exe. Not sure removing the SD card makes a difference although that used to fix things when V8 preview was released, so things haven’t moved on much..

OMG! It actually worked! Unsparsing?! Nathan Maluk, Thanks!!

Took me some figuring out why this solution at first didn’t work for me. For some reason all the iso’s where read-only. After I remove the RO attribute the remove sparse works perfectly.
Now I’m wondering, does anyone know how to use the remove sparse reg key as such that it first automatically removes the R using: ATTRIB -R “%1” before the fsutil command, All-in-1 nice remove sparse button?

Tx in advance, Ronnie

Hi folks, unfortunately, it does not work for me – copying ISO to another location MUST BE copy not MOVE, works but that unsparsing thing does not. any hints on that?

Nathan Maluk, thanks a ton!

I think I have a possible reason. I took your article and considered what “flag” might affect this. I just imagined that an ISO should always be read-only to make sense. Maybe it’s looking for that. I set the “read-only” flag in the properties for the files in question, and …

Bam!! It mounts with no errors. Thanks to you I can now end this headache.

May I suggest a new solution. Here is a piece of code and application which may solve the problem. It sets the sparse flag to 0 (zero). This thing worked for me perfectly.

https://github.com/AlexanderB1290/UnSparseISO

thanks Daniel. Keep the help coming!:)

Thanks ! It’s works ! funny joke windows :D

nah, none of the above worked. still getting the unable to mount image message.

thanks microsoft, keeping our lives hard as usual….

I never got en_visual_studio_enterprise_2015_rc_x86_dvd_6649702.iso 3,994,929,152 bytes to Mount on Windows 7 or from the VirtualBox shared folder of Windows 10 Enterprise Insider Preview, but copying the file to a local directory in Windows 10 worked. I knew the ISO file was good because the SHA1 Hash generated by Get-FileHash matched.

Can somebody please explaine how set up the regedit fix. I have never worked with Regedit before. I’m doing something wrong but I don’t know what. When I right click the popup menu shows Remove Sparse. But when I click it I get a question which program to choose to open it. When I select Windows Explorer I get the mounting error message.

Thanks in advance.

Are you flipping kidding me?

After 90 mins of jacking around with this. Copying and mounting really worked? Sheesh!!!

Thanks anyway.

hey guys, i found something rather interesting as I myself was experiencing this problem. right click on the ISO file, go to properties. just beneath the “read only” option, check for something which says ” this file has come from another computer, to protect….”; there is also an “unblock option in front of the note. uncheck read only, and click on unblock. apply, and see what happens. worked for me. hope the same for you guys

If you mount the file from your desktop there is no need to mount from image file

Thanks for the solution..

his sparse attrib problem happens all the time with downloaded ISOs for me.

Put this in a batch file and drag-and-drop the target file onto it (with Windows Explorer). Et voilà.

fsutil sparse queryflag %1
pause
fsutil sparse setflag %1 0
fsutil sparse queryflag %1
pause