214

I'm running into trouble trying to mount a large iso:

dev@dev-OptiPlex-745:~$ sudo mount -o loop /home/dev/Hämtningar/matlab2011a_64.iso /cdrom
mount: warning: /cdrom seems to be mounted read-only.
dev@dev-OptiPlex-745:~$ 

Can you tell me how I should do it?

5
  • 14
    Where is the issue? Can you ls /cdrom? Note that ISO files are by definition read-only hence the warning.
    – Takkat
    Jul 16, 2012 at 12:25
  • 1
    Take a look on your desktop or File manager , it may be mounted already as Disk.
    – atenz
    Jul 16, 2012 at 12:41
  • 3
    add readonly option -r to mount. Jul 16, 2012 at 12:43
  • 3
    The warning you get about being "mounted read only" is normal! iso files are always mounted read only. you can't modify them. ...(thanks to Anwar Shah down below)
    – 842Mono
    May 28, 2014 at 6:35
  • 2
    Possible duplicate of How do I mount an ISO? Jan 17, 2019 at 5:39

15 Answers 15

411
+50

Maybe, instead of installing additional software, you can use what the system has to this end:

  1. Create a directory to serve as the mount location:

    sudo mkdir /media/iso
    
  2. Mount the ISO in the target directory:

    sudo mount -o loop path/to/iso/file/YOUR_ISO_FILE.ISO /media/iso
    
  3. Unmount the ISO:

    sudo umount /media/iso
    


On your desktop will appear the mounted ISO.

10
  • 1
    how come that i get message bash: /path/media/external drive/my.ISO: Permission denied?
    – user47206
    Nov 17, 2012 at 10:51
  • 1
    doesn't work sudo mount -o loop smb://server/downloads/disk.iso /media/iso : No such file or directory
    – waspinator
    Feb 14, 2013 at 19:15
  • 2
    @chobok copying it over to a local directory works, but I don't have a file server set up to copy files to my desktop every time I want to use them. I've gone back to Windows for now until this is sorted out.
    – waspinator
    Aug 14, 2013 at 13:53
  • 2
    @waspinator If you haven't done so already, you could open up new question with your specific issue.
    – chobok
    Aug 14, 2013 at 20:06
  • 2
    @waspinator you could first mount your samba share and then you can use it as local filesystem (in aspect of current problem)
    – wk.
    Aug 21, 2017 at 12:44
137
+300

Try mounting it using a GUI.

Navigate to the *.iso file using a file manager, then Right click -> Open with Archive Mounter.

Or you can install the Furius ISO Mount. It is available in the Ubuntu Software Center:

sudo apt-get install furiusisomount

Here are some screenshots:

Furius ISO Mount - Interface

Ubuntu 12.04 mounted ISO

Furius ISO Mount - Project Page

4
  • 1
    I think its important to add the case when the ISO file its an UDF image. Sep 27, 2012 at 12:41
  • 13
    Mounting via "archive mounter" is not a very good method, if you want to run file from the iso. (It is only good to view content). Because, we can't execute file from the iso mounted via "Archive mounter"
    – Anwar
    Sep 27, 2012 at 15:52
  • 3
    Installing a new software just for mounting an iso image ?
    – pylover
    Feb 9, 2015 at 22:06
  • 1
    ⁺¹ because no root rights required.
    – Hi-Angel
    Jan 22, 2016 at 14:47
29

I found the easiest and fastest way to handle the ISO file in Ubuntu 14.04 was to right click on the ISO file, choose Disk Image Mounter and then simply proceed to the newly opened directory:

In case you don't have installed, you can use this command in terminal to install it:

sudo apt-get install gnome-disk-utility
2
  • I just realized this exists too! I am a programmer and I like the command line, but this is really the proper, user-friendly, convenient way.
    – Shahbaz
    Jan 25, 2015 at 16:30
  • 1
    Still works in 22.04 btw
    – Irsu85
    Sep 26, 2023 at 17:45
17

I really like Furius ISO Mount, it's a simple application for mounting ISO, IMG, BIN, MDF and NG files.

  • Automatically Mounts ISO, IMG, BIN, MDF and NRG Image Files.
  • Automatically creates a mount point in your home directory.
  • Automatically Unmounts the Image files.
  • Automatically removes the mount directory to return your home directory to its previous state.
  • Automatically saves the history of the last 10 images mounted.
  • Mounts multiple images.
  • Burn ISO and IMG Files to optical disk.
  • Generate Md5 and SHA1 checksums.
  • Automatically retrieves any previously unmounted images.
  • Automatically generates a log file of all commands needed to mount and unmount images manually.
  • Localizable (currently Czech, Danish, French, Hungarian, Italian, German, Polish, Slovenian, Spanish and Turkish are available.

enter image description here

If 5 stars from 77 ratings is enough to convince you open up your Ubuntu Software Manager and search for Furius ISO Mount.

Reference Links:

Furius ISO Mount - Project Page

15

I'm Assuming your iso file name is matlab2011a_64.iso in the folder /home/dev/Hämtningar/

You can do this to mount the iso file in /cdrom folder or create another folder and mount the iso file in it. I'm going to create a separate folder in your home directory. Open a terminal to do all these things

  1. Create mount point

     mkdir ~/mount-point
    
  2. Mount it with

    sudo mount ~/dev/Hämtningar/matlab1011a_64.iso  ~/mount-point -o loop
    

    This will mount the iso file in the newly created folder named mount-point in your home.

    Also note, You will be given a warning like mount: warning: /home/dev/mount-point seems to be mounted read-only, It is because the iso file always mounts as read-only. You can't write to the iso file. You should just ignore that message and proceed forward.

1
  • 5
    But why can't you write to the iso file? Shouldn't you be allowed to make modifications, and then repack the .iso?
    – landroni
    Jan 25, 2014 at 18:27
10

You can quite easily mount an iso using command-line tools:

First create a directory to mount the iso in with:

sudo mkdir /media/myisos

(Usually the loop module that enables an iso type filesystem to be read is automatically added so you shouldn't need to run sudo modprobe loop.)

Now mount your iso by pointing mount to its location:

sudo mount ~/location/of/iso /media/myisos -o loop

It will give you a warning about the iso being mounted read-only, but that is correct.

You can later unmount it with

sudo umount ~/location/of/iso /media/myisos
3
  • 1
    loop module is loaded automatically as far as I know. Also -t iso9660 is not required anymore in mounting iso file
    – Anwar
    Sep 27, 2012 at 15:44
  • I knew this, just a note.
    – Anwar
    Sep 27, 2012 at 15:53
  • 1
    @Anwar Thanks Anwar- I agree it is useful to make a note of it.
    – user76204
    Sep 27, 2012 at 15:59
10

There is a GUI tool built-in albeit menu UI is confusing as it looks like a window title;)

Run "Disks" from your dash. Then from "Disks" menu select "Attach disk image...": Disks Utility

4

You can use ISO Master, a GUI utility similar to furiusisomount. Simply:

sudo apt-get install isomaster

And then open your *.iso file with ISO Master from your preferred file manager.

From the website:

Use ISO Master to:

  • Create or customise CD/DVD images
  • Make Bootable CDs/DVDs

Basically, it allows you to add or remove files from the ISO image, then save the changes.

3

If you want to get read write permissions for copying files from the mounted ISO and do not want to install something else. Just go into terminal shell, navigate to whereever you mounted your ISO, such as:

sudo mount -o loop /home/username/whatever.iso /mnt/iso

Than copy the entire mounted directory somewhere else:

sudo cp -rf /mnt/iso /home/username/MyMountedISO

You could also use

cd /mnt/iso

Next view the contents

ls

and than:

sudo cp install.img /home/username/MyMountedISO
3

Use udisksctl it is part of the system. It mounts your iso in userspace and does not need to be run as superuser. Your file will be mounted to /media/$USER/ with appropriate permissions.

Mount iso

udisksctl loop-setup -f my.iso

udisksctl will tell you which loop device it is using.

udisksctl mount -b /dev/loopX

where X is the number of the loopdevice your iso is mapped to

Unmount iso

udisksctl unmount -b /dev/loopX
udisksctl loop-delete -b /dev/loopX

where X is the number of the loop device your iso is mapped to. If you forgot you can figure it out by

losetup
0
2

Mounting an iso file is simpler relative to installing it latter. Just to mention that if you want to install latest matlab versions in latest ubuntus, you do not need to mount it the iso, rather extract it there and proceed in installation after making the install and /matlab-extracted-folder/sys/java/jre/glnxa64/jre/bin/java executables.

Tested on ubuntu 14.04 and matlab 2014a.

Cheers,

1

I found Gmount to be very simple to use for mounting. It has a vintage GUI that is very simple to use and straight to the point. gmount GUI

Install Gmount from the software center then launch it. You can then select your iso image file and choose a mount point where you want to launch the iso file from. You will be prompted for a root password in order to complete the action and thats it.

3
  • 2
    But the question is how would you mount an ISO, perhaps you should add how to do this using Gmount..
    – heemayl
    Jul 5, 2016 at 1:23
  • Install Gmount from the software center then launch it. You can then select your iso image file and choose a mount point where you want to launch the iso file from. You will be prompted for a root password in order to complete the action and thats it. Jul 5, 2016 at 1:37
  • 1
    Please add the above to your answer..
    – heemayl
    Jul 5, 2016 at 1:42
0

Just double click it, see:
How do I mount an ISO?

PS. And, also try double clicking

/casper/filesystem.squashfs

if the ISO image is an Ubuntu LiveCD ISO etc.

To verify that the functionality IS applicable to these, right click the files to view the options for pertinent operations.

0

You can mount an image (or iso) file as read/write as follows. Set up the loop, then mount with these commands:

losetup -fP your.img
#list loop devices
losetup -a

If the loop device above was set up as /dev/loop0 then mount cmd is:

sudo mount -o loop /dev/loop0 /your/mnt/folder/

After this, if you get an error saying the loop device is read only, you can make it writable with this command:

blockdev --setrw /dev/loop0

If you get an error saying the image is read only, you can remount the image as r/w with this command:

sudo mount -o remount,rw /your/mnt/folder

To remove the mount and loop device:

sudo umount /your/mnt/folder/
losetup -d /dev/loop0
0

A DECADE LATER and still a common newb question & this result is near the top of search.

It can easily be deduced from the initial question that:

1- the person is new and

2- editing an ISO is the goal

->"add readonly option -r to mount. ->Where is the issue?" ->"iso files are always mounted read only. you can't modify them"

->"The simplest way to overcome this would be to copy the iso file to a local directory first." ->"But the question is how would you mount an ISO, perhaps you should add how to do this using Gmount."

->"I've gone back to Windows for now until this is sorted out."

AND THEN EVEN MORE!

Any person new to Linux could (still) benefit from a SINGLE consolidated solution (my personal experience).

(Providing details) The sum of [these conflicting statements/responses-to-posts-other-than-the initial-question/answers] is not specifically helpful. (reference to several answers)

Not each answer- the SUM of these. Can some one clean up this answer? please...

B/C I've also gone back to Windows for now until this is sorted out and it seems this is a common occurance.

Yea sorry about the rant - feedback is vital when the process has become run-away.

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