ISO files or image files are a popular way to distribute software or operating system installations. They are essentially a complete copy of a CD or DVD, and can be easily mounted on a virtual drive for installation or access. However, unlike Windows, Linux does not have an in-built option to mount or unmount ISO files. But there are several ways to do this in Linux, and we will discuss them in this article.

Method 1: Using Terminal

One of the easiest ways to mount an ISO file is using the terminal. Make sure you have the ISO file you want to mount in your file system. Then, open the terminal and follow these steps:

1. Create a mount point directory in the terminal

mkdir /mnt/iso

This command will create a directory called ‘iso’ inside the ‘mnt’ directory, which is the standard location for mounting external file systems in Linux.

2. Mount the ISO file

sudo mount -o loop path_to_iso_file /mnt/iso

Replace ‘path_to_iso_file’ with the complete path to your ISO file. This command will mount the ISO file on the ‘iso’ directory you created earlier.

3. Access the contents of the ISO file

You can access the contents of the mounted ISO file by going to the ‘iso’ directory in the terminal or file explorer.

4. Unmount the ISO file

Once you are done with accessing the contents of the ISO file, you can unmount it using the following command:

sudo umount /mnt/iso

This command unmounts the ISO file from the ‘iso’ directory.

Method 2: Using GUI tools

If you do not prefer using the terminal, you can use GUI tools to mount and unmount ISO files in Linux. There are several such tools available for different desktop environments, but we will discuss the popular ones – Gnome Disks, Furius ISO Mount, and AcetoneISO.

1. Gnome Disks

Gnome Disks is a utility tool that comes pre-installed in several Linux distributions. It allows you to manage disk partitions, mount file systems, and also mount ISO files. To mount an ISO file using Gnome Disks, follow these steps:

– Open Gnome Disks

– Select the ISO file you want to mount from the left-hand sidebar

– Click on the ‘Additional partition options’ icon (three horizontal lines)

– Select ‘Open with Disk Image Mounter’

This will mount the ISO file, and you can access its contents from the file explorer.

2. Furius ISO Mount

Furius ISO Mount is a lightweight GUI tool that allows you to mount and unmount ISO files in Linux. To use Furius ISO Mount, follow these steps:

– Install Furius ISO Mount from your distribution’s software repository

– Open Furius ISO Mount

– Click on the ‘Mount’ button

– Select the ISO file you want to mount from the file explorer

– Specify a mount point directory (you can use the default one)

– Click on the ‘Mount’ button

This will mount the ISO file, and you can access its contents from the file explorer.

3. AcetoneISO

AcetoneISO is another powerful GUI tool that allows you to mount and unmount ISO files in Linux. To use AcetoneISO, follow these steps:

– Install AcetoneISO from your distribution’s software repository

– Open AcetoneISO

– Click on the ‘Mount’ button

– Select the ISO file you want to mount from the file explorer

– Specify a mount point directory (you can use the default one)

– Click on the ‘Mount’ button

This will mount the ISO file, and you can access its contents from the file explorer.