How To: Mount ISO image in Linux
Did you know that most of the DVDs and CDs have the same filesystem type? Regardless of the actual OS you’re hoping to install, that installer DVD image you downloaded is likely to be readable in both Linux and Windows.
Today I’ll show you how simple it is to mount ISO image in Linux in case you want to inspect the CD/DVD contents before burning the ISO image onto USB or DVD disc.
Mount ISO in Linux
I’ve got a recent enough OpenIndiana image on one of my servers – still really like my Solaris roots, you know!
Here’s the image:
root@centos:/ # ls -al /dist/OI-hipster-text-20180427.iso -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 696750080 Apr 28 2018 /dist/OI-hipster-text-20180427.iso
Let’s mount it under the /mnt directory:
root@centos:/ # mount /dist/OI-hipster-text-20180427.iso -o loop /mnt mount: /dev/loop0 is write-protected, mounting read-only
If we check, /mnt now has the disc mounted:
root@centos:/ # df -h /mnt Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/loop0 665M 665M 0 100% /mnt
The files listing confirms it’s the OpenIndiana Solaris installer I’m planning to research:
root@centos:/ # ls -la /mnt total 504603 drwxr-xr-x 16 root root 4096 Apr 27 2018 . drwxr-xr-x 24 root root 4096 Jan 5 16:27 .. lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Apr 27 2018 bin -> ./usr/bin drwxr-xr-x 10 root sys 4096 Apr 27 2018 boot -r--r--r-- 1 root root 2048 Apr 27 2018 .catalog drwxr-xr-x 2 root sys 2048 Apr 27 2018 .cdrom drwxr-xr-x 14 root sys 6144 Apr 27 2018 dev drwxr-xr-x 3 root sys 2048 Apr 27 2018 devices drwxr-xr-x 2 root sys 2048 Apr 27 2018 export dr-xr-xr-x 2 root root 2048 Apr 27 2018 home -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 19 Apr 27 2018 .image_info drwxr-xr-x 5 65432 wheel 2048 Apr 27 2018 jack -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6707 Apr 27 2018 .livecd-cdrom-content drwxr-xr-x 3 root sys 2048 Apr 27 2018 mnt drwxr-xr-x 5 root sys 2048 Apr 27 2018 platform dr-xr-xr-x 2 root root 2048 Apr 27 2018 proc -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Apr 27 2018 reconfigure drwx------ 2 root root 2048 Apr 27 2018 root drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 2048 Apr 27 2018 save -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 21997056 Apr 27 2018 solarismisc.zlib -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 494662656 Apr 27 2018 solaris.zlib drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 2048 Apr 27 2018 system drwxrwxrwt 2 root sys 2048 Apr 27 2018 tmp -r--r--r-- 1 root root 37 Apr 27 2018 .volsetid
You can’t edit ISO image directly
If you look closer, you’ll see that /mnt is actually mounted read-only:
root@centos:/ # mount | grep /mnt /dist/OI-hipster-text-20180427.iso on /mnt type iso9660 (ro,relatime)
So no, it won’t be possible to just edit the files you like and end up with the updated ISO image. For that you’ll need to how learn creating ISO images from directory in Linux (I’ll show you how to do that soon enough).