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Virtual cd/dvd drive software (2011)

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Renegade:
I've tried a truckload of them, and the only one that worked well for me was MagicISO. I have a couple licenses for it, but they also have a free version, which I use on new boxes.

For some reason, a lot of ISOs from MSDN don't work with some programs, but they work with MagicISO.

Here's a link to the free version:

http://www.magiciso.com/tutorials/miso-magicdisc-overview.htm

Sits in the taskbar notification area. Very simple and easy to use.

superboyac:
MagicISO gets bashed a lot around the internet.  However, hardly anyone says why it's so bad.  They just say it sucks.  And I'm like, "But why??"  Anyway...this WinCDemu is working well.  I'll check out DVDFab, I had never heard of that one.  I've tried MagicISO...I don't remember how it was.  I think it was fine, but I went with PowerISO for some reason.  Geez...these names...MagicISO, PowerISO, UltraISO...I need to do a Super(boyac)ISO.

Renegade:
A lot of bashing for different programs is because they don't support telepathic control.  ;)

Lashiec:
I guess it's because of its proprietary image format, UIF. Most people won't care about it, anyway, just a "select" few *cough*

If you want to know what the hullabaloo about the format is all about...This is a verbatim extract from the UIF2ISO documentation, by Luigi Auriemma:

======================================
2) Shame on MagicISO and GPL violation
======================================

The chinese program called MagicISO has created the UIF format in the
2006 and, exactly like PowerISO already did at the beginning of that
year, this format has been slowly started to be used to re-diffuse
copyrighted material through BitTorrent... with the right effect that
anyone hates this format (which is totally useless and, being closed,
it should be NOT used on file sharing networks).

This is a shameful marketing strategy made by the same author of
MagicISO (a certain Gang JiaPing) for forcing the users who download
these torrents to buy and use his program.

These facts have been confirmed just recently due to the introduction
of various senseless encryption mechanisms in the UIF files released
on BitTorrent, all encryptions which have nothing to do with the UIF
format but have been inserted only for trying to avoid the usage of my
uif2iso alternative... without success 8-)

For example the recent 5.5.272 version of MagicISO has introduced well
"8" customized encryption algorithms plus other modifications JUST
with the target of making the UIF format unreadable (again without
success, look at uif2iso 0.1.6) and has also introduced support for
the DAA image format.
Unfortunately most of the code used by MagicISO for handling the DAA
format has been "taken" from my other open source daa2iso tool
violating my GPL license and showing how much ehmmmm "unprofessional"
is the author of that program:

  http://aluigi.org/misc/magiciso_gpl_violation.txt

Luckily that code which was copied was old and not compatible with the
newer versions of the DAA format so it fails to handle these files
correctly.

My best suggestion is to spread the voice about the shameful actions
of MagicISO and its author and avoiding to download or keep the
seeding of torrents of UIF or DAA images.

And remember that uif2iso has been created only for supporting the UIF
format and *NOT* for playing "cat and mouse" with an idiot who
modifies this stupid zipped format each time for becoming the only
program able to read it...

--- End quote ---


Then again, it could be because of its Chinese origin, who knows. Anyway, my personal favourites are VirtualCloneDrive, DaemonTools and MagicDisc in that order. DaemonTools is far more featured than the other two, but it's also a bit more intrusive. If you do not care about games of any kind, give MagicDisc a whirl.

Curt:
I think the $30 version of MagicISO is the same one that now is freeware. The program is still updated, occasionally, but one could certainly wish for the shop and the rest of the homepage to also be updated - though free, you can still pay $30 for a license!

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