Free ISO Grabber

How to Play ISO PC Games

ISO images can be downloaded from the internet and are usually complete "mirror" images of software packages, including games. But how do you use ISO images on your PC?

Burning ISO Image Files onto CD

Many downloadable, free games come in .iso format, but to use them, these files need to either be transferred to optical media or used to mount a "virtual drive" which emulates the optical disc operation. Most optical disc authoring software, such as Free ISO Burn Wizard can write ISO files to disc. As you can see, burning an ISO image isn't that complex.

Using Virtual Drive Software

However, you may find it easier to run an ISO image via virtual drive software, which can perform much faster than standard optical media. To set up a virtual drive, you will need to source a disk image emulator, which then creates a virtual drive on your PC, which looks to the operating system to be an ordinary disc drive.

Using a virtual drive to run ISO files has many uses and benefits for the user. For instance, it helps to save on wear of the physical CD/DVD drive's mechanisms; it helps prevent CD media from being scratched; can enable users to create back-up copies of discs in the case of loss or damage to the original; can be used across a network where several CD copies would ordinarily be required for other users and can make the PC run quieter, as most optical drives tend to be noisy when being accessed.

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