Mount ISO Images in Ubuntu the Easy Way

We previously wrote about two different methods of mounting ISO images in Windows without using a CD drive (Mount ISO Images in Windows for Free and Create a Virtual CD ROM drive to Mount ISO Images).

This post shows you how to easily mount ISO images in Ubuntu directly in Nautilus, the file browser, using scripts.

Installing the Nautilus Scripts

First, download two script files for mounting and unmounting ISO images. After download the files, change the file extensions from .TXT to .SH.

• Mount script
• Unmount script

Next, make sure each file has execute permission:

NOTE: The “~” symbol represents the path to your home directory, /home/username, however, the slash after the username is not included.

$ sudo chmod +x /home/lori/Downloads/mount.sh

$ sudo chmod +x ~/Downloads/unmount.sh

Change the path to the path you used when downloading and saving the files.

Copy the two scripts to the nautilus-scripts directory.

$ sudo mv ~/Downloads/mount.sh /home/lori/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts/

$ sudo mv ~/Downloads/unmount.sh /home/lori/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts/

Now you are ready to use the scripts to mount and unmount an ISO file.

Mounting an ISO File in Ubuntu

As an example, we will use an Ubuntu ISO file. Open Nautilus and navigate to the ISO image you want to mount. Right-click on the ISO file and select Scripts | mount.sh from the pop-up menu. Enter your password when asked.

The ISO Mounter notification displays. Click OK.

A dialog box displays informing you that the ISO file was successfully mounted and asking if you want to open the volume. Click OK.

A new Nautilus window displays showing the files you would see if the ISO file had been burned to a CD.

Unmounting an ISO File

To unmount the ISO file, you must go back to the directory containing the original ISO file. Right-click on the ISO file and select Scripts | unmount.sh from the pop-up menu. Enter your password when asked.

A dialog box displays telling you that the ISO file was successfully unmounted. Click OK.

If you right-click on the mounted ISO file in Nautilus, as shown in the following image, you will notice an Unmount option. This is NOT the option you should use. Use the one described above.

If you use this option, the following message displays and the ISO file is not unmounted.

As you can see, you need to be root, and the unmount.sh script takes care of that for you. It is not a good idea to run Nautilus as root, so using these two scripts is a better way to graphically mount and unmount an ISO file. [via Debian Admin]

by Lori Kaufman