How to make an ISO file of a disk or from files

In the process of working on the computer, the user at any time may encounter files that have the ISO extension. This is a fairly common format on the Internet, its main point is to significantly compress files for transfer. But how to make an ISO file yourself and how to work with it at all? This article will introduce programs for interacting with the ISO format.

How to make an ISO file

To begin, consider the main topic of the article - the creation of ISO-files. Looking ahead, let's say that two programs for creating images will be presented - this is Alcohol 120% and UltraISO. Both of them are paid, but you can install a trial version to interact with all the functions of the programs yourself.

Using Alcohol 120%

So, understanding how to make an ISO file, we will start with the program Alcohol 120%. It is less popular, unlike UltraISO, but no worse than its competitor. Now there will be two ways to use this application: for creating disk images and for creating images from files and folders.

Method 1: create a disk ISO file

First, consider the situation when you want to make an image of a CD or DVD. To do this, you need the disk itself, the drive and the program. Follow the instructions below to achieve your goal:

1. Put the desired disk in the drive and close it.
2. Run the Alcohol 120% program.
3. In the window that appears in the panel on the left, in the "Basic Operations" category, select "Create Images".
4. The "Image Creation Wizard" appears, in which you must first select the desired drive. This is done from the drop-down list at the top of the window.
5. Click on the "Reading Options" tab.
6. There, indicate the name of the image to be created, select the folder in which it will appear.
7. Next, select the image format. Since we are interested in ISO, then choose it.

Other parameters can be left untouched. Click the "Start" button. Wait until the creation process is completed, and then open the selected folder to make sure that the image was created.

Method 2: create an ISO file from files and folders

Now we should discuss how to make the file in a way. In the ISO format, not only files from a disk can be distributed, but also from a computer. Using Alcohol 120%, do the following for this:

1. In the program, in the "Basic Operations" area, select the "Image Mastering" option.
2. In the new window, click "Next."
3. A menu will appear in which you can add folders and files that will be in the created image. To add files, click the "Add file (s)" button, and to add a folder, click "Add folder".
4. In the "Explorer" window that appears, specify this same folder or files.
5. After adding everything you need, click "Next."
6. Select the directory in which to create the ISO file, specify its name, select the format and click "Start".

The process of creating an image from the selected files will begin, wait for it to finish and you can close the program.

Using UltraISO

So, we figured out how to make an ISO file in the Alcohol program 120%, it’s not difficult to guess, all of the above actions can be performed in the UltraISO program, which we will do now.

In order to create a disk image, you need to insert it into the drive and run the program, and then perform simple steps:

1. In the top bar, click "Tools."
2. From the menu, select Create CD Image.
3. In the new window, in the first drop-down list, select the drive of the drive into which you inserted the disk.
4. In the "Save As" area, specify the folder in which the created image will eventually appear.
5. Select ISO format.
6. Click the "Make" button.

After that, the process of creating it will start. As a result, you will find the ISO file in the directory specified earlier.

If you think how to make a folder an ISO file, then in UltraISO it's easy. By the way, it’s just as easy to create ISO from files, the instructions are the same.

1. Launch the application and open the "Explorer" window, in which the folder with the necessary files is open.
2. Select the files from the folder and drag them all into the workspace of the program.
3. Click on the "File" button and select "Save As."
4. In the window that appears, specify the folder where you want to save the image, specify its name and select the ISO format, then click "Save".

It remains only to wait for the completion of the creation process.

How to write an image to a USB flash drive through UltraISO?

With the creation of ISO-files, we are finished, now we will move on to more complex procedures. Now information will be presented on how to write an image to a USB flash drive through UltraISO.

1. Run the program and press Ctrl + O. You can also click on "File" and select the "Open" option.
2. An "Explorer" will appear, in the window of which select the desired image and click "Open."
3. Click on the "Self-loading" button and select "Burn Hard Disk Image".
4. In the new window, select the USB flash drive and click the "Burn" button.

After that, you will be warned that all files from the drive will be erased, if you confirm your action, the process of recording the image to the USB flash drive will begin. After its completion, close the program - the task is completed.

Creating a bootable ISO image through CDBurnerXP

Now let's move on to the most time-consuming - how to make a bootable ISO image from files. And we will do this in the CDBurnerXP program using the example of Windows 7 installation files.

1. Run the program.
2. By pressing Ctrl + O or selecting the "Open" option in the "File" menu, select all Windows installation files in "Explorer".
3. On the top panel, click the "Disk" button and select the "Boot options" option.
4. In the window of the same name that appears, first check the box "Make the disk bootable."
5. Click the ellipsis button, and in the "Explorer" window that appears, pave the way to the boot image. For Windows 7, this is the etfsboot.com file in the boot folder.
6. Specify the platform on which the application runs.
7. Click OK.

Everything is almost ready, you just have to click on the "File" button, select the "Save As" item and specify the directory where the bootable ISO image will be saved.