Windows 8 – ISO and VHD support!

Am not sure whether to shout “Woo Hoo” or “Finally" … but am going with “Woooo Hooo”.

Windows 8 ISO and VHD files are a wonderful container for files, until you actually need just one.  

Prior to Windows 8, you could risk downloading shareware (with and without malware) to mount ISOs, which was really risky because most of those applets wanted to create virtual disk drives or otherwise trick Windows at a very low level. 

Similarly, an advanced user could mount a VHD in Windows, but through Disk Admin or a command-line, both places that normal users should avoid.  

As a good example of Microsoft not only listening, but thinking out of the box on how to “delight” customers with the Windows experience, Windows 8 is adding some cool tricks:

If you double-click on an ISO, Windows 8 will create virtual CD/DVD drive on the fly.   When you are done, simply “eject” the media and the drive disappears.

If you double-click on a VHD, Windows 8 will create a new drive/volume on the fly, similar to what advanced users could do in Win7.  When you are done, “eject” it and the drive disappears.

They may seem like small things to some, but as a Storage guy, these are the kinds of features that keep me excited about Microsoft vNext.

Check out today’s blog post from the Windows Engineering team for a lot more detail, and a nice video of the features in action.

Thanks for reading.

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