When is an ISO file NOT an ISO file?

[anandtech2010]

I have several WIN OS ISO files on my HDD. When I burn them to a disk using Image Burn, they WILL NOT launch upon boot up when my CD/DVD drive is the first boot device in the BIOS. Either my ISO disk is not an ISO file or my drive is bad???? Right? What can I do to verify that the "iso" file is really an iso file?

Thank you.

 

[tomt4535]

Try to mount them using Daemon tools or Alcohol 52%. If you see all the Windows setup files etc, then the ISO files are most likely good. Try using CD Burner XP instead to burn them, and just make sure you chose the "Burn ISO Image" option.

 

[rasczak]

isn't there an option to make the image bootable?

 

[billyb0b]

+1 for alcohol 52
+1 for cdburnerXP

 

[Cogman]

An ISO is an ISO. It is pretty much just a raw dump of the CD image. Most likely, your burns are unsuccessful or your burning software sucks. Lower your burning speed and give it another shot (Critical data should be burned at lower rates. High speed burns often end in corruption).

If you want to make sure your OS isos aren't corrupt. Install a virtual machine and mount them. If the virtual machine can install from the ISOs. Congrats, the ISOs haven't been corrupted.

 

[RebateMonger]

I'd just burn a couple of other ISO files (like Memtest86+ and a Linux Live disk). If none work, then you have a bad burner or your burning software is causing the problem. But I use ImgBrun all the time and I've never had a problem. Or, as you suggested, the files you have aren't really image files.

Downloads of OS image files from Microsoft usually offer their download manager, which verifies the download. You could re-download the image files, making sure you use the download manager. I've never had a problem with downloaded image files from Microsoft, and I use quite a few of them.

 

[corkyg]

Keep in mind that all ISO files are NOT bootable. When the ISO file is created, the source has to be bootable in order to have a reburn be the same. Movies can be burned as ISO files and they are not bootable. ISO is a format created by the International Standards Organization (ISO.)

 

[bankster55]

Any good ISO sw will tell you if your iso image also has the boot image
UltraIso MagicIso PowerISO etc etc (and they all have free trials)