Mounting an ISO Image in Windows 8

There are a number of things that have been relatively standard in the open source world and have left Windows users to ask the "why can't windows do this yet?" Even through the service packs for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, it was impossible to mount/extract an ISO image without a tool like Virtual CloneDrive or Daemon Tools. In Windows Server 2008 R2, you could mount an ISO for a Hyper-V guest using the Hyper-V management tools, but not for the host OS.

Microsoft made this feature really easy in Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012. Simply navigate to the folder with the downloaded ISO image, right click the image, and click "Mount"



Windows automatically assigns a drive letter and drops you into the drive root in Explorer:



If you are done with the ISO and are ready to unmount it, simply eject the drive by right clicking the appropriate drive letter and selecting "Eject."



That's all there is to it. Microsoft did a good job in Windows 8 making this a clean process... It's about time...