Sometimes I get files in the iso format, perhaps ripped of a CD or something and I want to use the files without burning it to a CD.

This is the way I do it on FreeBSD.

First open a terminal, then type the following commands,

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# mdconfig -a -t vnode -f path/to/file.iso -u 1
# mount -v -t cd9660 /dev/md1 /media/iso

Where path/to/file.iso is the real path to your file, and /media/iso is where you mount the iso.

You must be root to run these commands. This basically attaches a vnode type memroy disk from that iso file and creates an md device with the number specified in the -u option.

After that I copy the mounted data else where, and then un mount the vnode memory disk created in the above steps.

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# umount /media/iso
# mdconfig -d -u 1

That’s all folks!