Freeware ISO editor?

xerces8

This is a normal virtual disk software. It can not edit ISO images..

Here is a hint for the next one to report an ISO editor: Try if it can actually edit ISO files.

Thank you.

Best regards,
David

HereByChance

I was just in the neighborhood and notice this topic. When it comes to freeware anything, I first look on: sourceforge.net or snapfiles.com
After that, its back to Google to see how many sites spam the word freeware to attract people.

As for specific freeware programs, there's:

"Ashampoo Burning Studio Free" (over 11 Mb.), but you have to register within 10 days for free, available here:
http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/bur...tudiofree.html
But I don't know if it will do the type of thing the OP was looking for. Also, this program is no longer on the authors website.

Or:

Phantom CD from:
http://www.phantombility.com/en/prod...omcd/overview/
Not sure about this one being suitable either, but it looks interesting. It makes a virtual cd on your hard drive.

Or:

7-Zip from:
http://www.7-zip.org/
Quote: "7-Zip now can unpack ISO archives and some installers created by NSIS".

I don't know if WinZip has the same ability to extract, or add to an archive like 7-Zip is supposed to have and I haven't used this feature, but it appears to exist in 7-Zip. It has some other options as well, like the synchronize feature in its add to archive dialog box. Not sure what its synchronizing though.

Maybe I'll try it when I add some more memory to my computer. Running XP and trying to open a full CD archive with only 128 mb of ram installed, isn't a good idea.


K.

xerces8

I guess my last post was in vain ...

HereByChance

I guess so.

I was writing mine when you posted yours. And I should mention, that while I didn't edit an ISO with that 7-Zip program, due to memory limitations, I did find the features and did open an ISO to add to it using the program. Together with having other programs running and wireless internet, it really slowed down my old P2-350 mhz system though.

Actually, that's the reason for finding this topic. I'm setting up another computer, but my Win XP CD had corrupt cab files, so I was searching for something to copy the CD to my current hard drive to edit the ISO using files from this computer that I know aren't corrupted. Once I know I have a good working XP CD again, I'll feel better about pulling this hard drive to put into the newer computer.

For now, I'm just waiting for a friend to show up with some more memory for me, so that I can use 7-Zip and then I can do the editing to make the new ISO and burn it. Hopefully I'll have it all straightened out within a week. Living in the virtual sticks tends to make some things take longer than normal.

K.

Zband

I have used IM Disk Virtual Disk Driver to edit an ISO before and to save it's contents. It may not be an ISO editor as "I ADMITTED THAT IT WAS NOT" an ISO editor but it can facilitate the editing of an iso image. I know can because I've used to extract contents of an image.

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Zband

Maybe my problem is that I'm not making clear what it is that I'm doing.

Since currently the only other option to have an ISO editor to use a pay for program or to use CYGWIN and ISO Master which a few others have expressed distaste for, I was efforting the facilitation of other programs that employ the usage of ISO on a very low level and have a very small footprint. (I was also hoping to make them standalone programs so that my end result could and would function on a USB stick.) On top of this you can use other programs to help recompile the image though IM Disk Virtual Disk Driver has a "SAVE FEATURE" on it for saving changes to an image. Some of the images can be mounted directly as a Floppy, CD, Removable Drive, or Hard Drive and the Size of the Image can also be altered as needed. Now consider having tools of this nature plus all the other nice freeware ones that others have contributed to this thread and then get someone to make a frontend for all of them (which I've been planning to do) and put them all on one disk or in an installer package for instance.
Now the installer package would only be a front end that would install to a designated spot in your programs folder. After that you would have to follow a readme to find - download - insert all of the programs from their respective websites and then place them where they belong.

This thread has a certain advantage to it in my eyes considering that those who have added to it have all thrown in options that newbies can use. These programs for extracting and remastering may not be what some want but why bark about a tool that can do nothing more than help assist you to a goal.

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xerces8

1.) 7-zip has quite moderate demands on memory.
2.) IT CAN NOT EDIT ISO FILES. Yes, I tried it (even if it was obvious that it does not work...)


Also I bet my balls that IM Disk Virtual Disk Driver can not edit ISO files either (if it would, it would be called IM ISO Editor and not Virtual Disk Driver).

Zband

Hmmmm, eunuch
Chop, chop, chop
Snip, snip, snip!!!

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hzprky

Hi There,

searching a freeware ISO editing software i googled into this thread. Reading all and trying most of it is really frustrating. Baseline still seems to be there is no one tool available "free" of charge and sourcecode to allow editing an ISO file. So i finally checked with the IMDisk developer (who is infact quite responsive) if his tool could also edit an ISO file. His reply as follows:
-------------------------------------------------
Answer to your question is no. ImDisk has no knowledge about filesystem structures, it just emulates a disk driver so you can essentially only do the same thing as you would be able to do with physical hard disk partitions, floppy drives, CD/DVD drives etc. Therefore, usage and editing of filesystem structures are limited to what filesystem drivers support, there is nothing added to this by the ImDisk driver. Also, ImDisk only emulates the CD/DVD-ROM part of a CD/DVD driver, there is no support for virtual burning.

There are other tools around for editing ISO images directly, but you can of course copy files from an ISO image to a temporary directory using ImDisk, make your changes in the temporary directory and create a new ISO image using for example mkisofs of the contents of the temporary directory.
-------------------------------------------------

So it looks like no option to use IMDisk as an editor. If you found a way to ship around this hurdle, Zband, i would absolutely appreciate if you could shed some light into my darkness.

Thanks anyway to anybody contributing to this thread.
CU,
Chris

xerces8

Told you so.

Zband

I never said anything about it being an outright editor. I just said that it could be used to edit. A poor mans iso editor is what I'm talking about. This thread is usually where newbies come and this is what I try to help with on this thread. If you want to know exactly how to use ImDisk to edit an iso you'll actually remaster.
1.Mount the image
2.copy contents to a folder.
3.unmount the old image.
4.Make a new blank image
5.copy contents from folder that you want into new image
6.SAVE IMAGE <<<<<<<<<<

Told you so


I never said anything about it being a direct correlation to IsoMaster, UltraIso, WinIso, what have you. I just said it could be used as an editor.

Don't believe me. Check out this link:
http://www.windrv.net/redirect.php?tid=28&goto=lastpost

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Zband

Not to mention that ImDisk is used to build PE's on a regular basis. Which in other words means building an image from scratch thus using the SaveImage Feature. Thus all one needs to do is also use ImDisk to extract contents of an image to load on to the new one.

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Seán

While I occasionally find myself needing to edit the contents of a CD image before burning it, I never found it a bother to export the content of the CD Image (e.g. using 7-zip) to a new folder, make the edits I need and then use a CD burning tool (e.g. IMGBurn) to either re-create the image or write directly to disc. It takes a few minutes to write a CD anyway, so the few seconds it takes to extract the ISO, make the changes and re-create the ISO is not really a problem in my opinion. This method doesn't cost a cent either using 7-zip & Imgburn.

Of course, when it comes to bootable ISOs, this is where an ISO editor can save a lot of time or may be required. Generally, the only bootable CDs I ever need to edit are for BartPE and Windows XP and there are free workarounds for these two. For BartPE, I find it quick enough to simply rebuild using a local copy of my Windows XP installation disc and use the "Custom" option to include the files and folders I want in the BartPE ISO file (e.g. HD Tune, Robocopy, etc.) For a custom Windows XP boot disc, nLite lets me make the needed changes (e.g. integrate an SATA driver). vLite is an equivalent for Vista. Finally, I'm sure almost anyone looking to edit a Linux boot disc already has some experience in working in Linux and has Linux installed somewhere handy, in which case they can boot into Linux, get hold of ISO Master (freeware in Linux) and use this to edit their bootable ISO file.

If you don't mind rebooting each time you need to edit an ISO (that can't be extracted & recreated easily), get a Live bootable Linux OS (e.g. PCLinuxOS) and burn this to CD, place the ISO file you want to edit onto a USB pen drive or HDD formatted in FAT32, boot the PC into Linux using the Linux bootable CD, go into package manager and get ISO Master (it downloads and installs automatically) and use this to make the required edits to the ISO file on the external drive. OK, this is a clumsy time-consuming method, but a free way to directly edit an ISO file for someone who can't afford or really doesn't want to fork out $20 to $30 on an ISO image editor for Windows.

Of course, a freeware ISO image editor for Windows would be nice. But do have a think about it - Are you always in a hurry to edit something in an ISO file? Is your ISO a bootable disc or a special disc image that would not work properly if extracted and rebuilt again?

DrageMester

[Slightly Off-topic]
Sometimes it's not worth the hassle of using tools not suited for the purpose, when a commercial tool such as e.g. UltraISO is only $30.

With UltraISO you can even edit an ISO image, make changes, and burn the modified ISO image without saving it first (or at all).

Now back to our regularly scheduled quest for a (currently non-existant) free ISO editor...

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Zband

My apologies if I was veering to much. I was merely trying to add to the list of items that were being used. Ex: 7zip used for extraction other program used for reconstitution to image format. I've actually been making a list of these items that are not quite iso editing worthy with a future purpose in mind. Currently still gathering.

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ryguy

Hi all,

I just joined and have tried out most of the iso editors (or not-editors) mentioned in this thread. Serious props to everyone doing all this research, especially Zband; you all rock!

The ImDisk Virtual Disk Driver is the only one so far that lets me "edit" ISOs, by mounting the ISO and copying the folders to edit, but I'm having trouble making the blank image with ImDisk (step 4 above). Do you make a new virtual drive, and drop the edited files into it, then convert to ISO? If so, should you make a virtual hard drive or CD? And how should it be formatted? My original ISO is ~534 MB, but when I format the drive I lose space. So I make the image bigger to make up for the lost space during formatting, but something tells me it won't work right if the new ISO is ~30 MB bigger when I only edited a few txt files.

Zband mentioned that you could mount the drive such that you can edit the files in the drive without copying them over at all. I haven't had much luck with that; if I do a default mount, I don't have permission to edit, and if I mount it as removable media, vista wants to format it before I can even explore it.

I'm currently trying ImgBurn to make an ISO from the files I pulled of the virtual drive and edited. I'm posting this before it finishes because it's 2 AM, and I've been at this for about 6 hours...I'll post if it works in the morning.

If it helps, I'm trying to edit an XP install disc to make it bootable off of USB (guide here)

Thanks for the guides so far, and sorry if I'm missing something that was already said; I'm not very coherent right now

Edit: ImgBurn says it needs to have a boot image to make it a bootable disc...would that be the original disc...? I'm continuing the ISO without the image for now.

~Ryan

ryguy

So, it didn't work...the disc would start up in windows, but it wouldn't boot off of it.

I downloaded a copy of the shareware (it IS shareware, not freeware) ISOMaster, and it worked great! Unlike the other sharewares, this has no file size limit; it has ALL the features of the full program - opening, editing, and saving ISOs. It's nearly idiot proof too. The thing that makes it shareware is it lasts 15 days. So if you're only wanting to do this once in a great while, ISOMaster may be your best bet, even if it isn't freeware. You could probably get away with uninstalling then reinstalling it again later.

ryguy

Oh, and the install nearly worked too. It crashed near the end of setup, but I don't think that was a problem with editing the ISO; I probably made a mistake when I was editing the contents

Dirkbg

Looking for a free editor myself. I found this:

http://www.raymond.cc/forum/freebies...cense-key.html

I guess it's a promo version, but worked for what I wanted it for.

Zband

Hey Dirkbg,
Thanks for pointing me in that direction there's alot of free software on that site that you'd normally have to pay for. For all those looking at my comments, fear not! It's all legal give away of software that normally costs money. Also I did find what he was mentioning and it's a legit key for UltraISO by giveawayoftheday.com. I don't know if it's still there but I can guarantee you it's not Warez.

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Dirkbg

Glad to help

infringer

Little known fact up until 99.9 ISO Buster was a freeware application!!!

http://www.321download.com/LastFreew...Buster0999.zip

Enjoy It!

We need a freeware alternative to edit ISO's for windows indeed!

Zband

Now that you mention this I do remember it. I think that the reason that I didn't opt in this direction is that it was still so basic at the time and that the many features it now has where not yet implemented. Still, I guess it doesn't hurt to mention it and list it. Thanks for adding it. I've been using the free version of UltraISO found on raymond.cc ...

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LukeHandle

Thanks Zband - for work over the last 4 years? This is one OLD topic, almost 8 years old.

found with Google

Zband

You're welcome. I wish I could give absolute success to this story with a truly free Iso Editor but the best solutions right now look to be a freebie off of raymond.cc - giveawayoftheday.com or using the little programs mentioned in this thread to assist you to do a hackish style editing which some of us actually resort to.

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