How to Burn Disk Images (ISO & IMG) in Windows 7 & Windows 8

One useful but
relatively overlooked
feature of Microsoft's
latest operating
systems is the ability to burn disk
images on CDs and DVDs without
having to install additional
software. For this task, Windows
7 offers a small tool named
Windows Disc Image Burner
which is included in all versions,
while Windows 8 simply builds
the function into File Explorer .
In this article I will share what
disk images are, which formats
are supported and how to burn
disk images using both Windows 7
and Windows 8, as well as the
Command Prompt .
What Is a Disk Image &
Why Is It Useful?
For those of you not familiar with
the term, disk images are digital
copies of a disc (CD, DVD or Blu-
ray), that keep the same structure
and contents. These disk image
files can have many formats and
file extensions, the most common
being IMG and ISO.
They are useful when you need to
backup media such as installation
discs, data discs, etc. By making
a disc image, you can easily copy
it over to another disc which can
be used in case the original gets
deteriorated. You can also use
third-party software, or Windows
8's File Explorer to mount the
image in a virtual drive. This
virtually mounted image would
then function exactly the same as
a physical disc in your drive.
For more information about
mounting disc images, check out
our article here: Introducing
Windows 8: Mount or Unmount
ISO Images in File Explorer .
If you want to know which
applications can create disk
images, read the following
tutorials:
How to Copy a Disc (CD,
DVD or Blu-Ray) in
Windows
How to Make a Backup
Copy of a Protected Disc
(DVD or Blu-Ray)
What Kind of Image
Files Can I Burn?
Currently Windows Disc Image
Burner supports only the two
most common formats: IMG
and ISO disk image files.
Do You Need to Burn
Discs with Other Types
of Files: Pictures, Video,
Music, etc?
If you have arrived to this page
while trying to find a way to burn
videos, music or data to a disc,
this tutorial will not help you. Try
these tutorials instead:
How to Burn CDs and DVDs
in Windows Media Player
12 - to learn how to burn
music and different types
of audio files to a disc.
How to Burn DVD's with
Windows DVD Maker - to
learn how to burn
pictures, movies and audio
to your DVDs, straight
from Windows 7, without
installing any special
software for this task.
How to Burn Files and
Folders to a Disc in
Windows Explorer - the
guide was created using
Windows 7. However, the
burning process works
almost the same in
Windows 8.
How to Burn an Image
With Windows Disc
Image Burner in
Windows 7
First, navigate to the ISO or IMG
image file you want to burn, right
click on it and select Burn disc
image.
NOTE: If you have third party
software installed which has file
associations with ISO or IMG
files, you will find Windows Disc
Image Burner in the Open with
menu.
The Windows Disc Image
Burner application will now
open. You can choose which disk
burner to use, if you have more
than one, in the Disc burner
drop-down list. To double check
that the burning process was
successful, you can select the
option "Verify disc after
burning" . Insert a disc in your
DVD or CD burner, wait for a few
seconds and click on Burn.
The application will detect the
disc type and, if the disc is
rewritable and has content on it,
it will show a warning message
allowing you to choose between
deleting the existing content or
not. Once the burning process
starts, there is no percentage
progress meter. There's only a
green progress bar.
After the burning process
finishes, the DVD/CD tray will
automatically open and you will
see a confirmation message if the
burning process was successful.
To exit the application, click
Close.
How to Burn an ISO File
to a Disc in Windows 8
To burn your ISO file to disc in
Windows 8, right-click or long-
press the file in File Explorer and
click or tap Burn disc image .
NOTE: If a third-party application
is installed that handles ISO or
IMG files in your system, you'll
need to reassociate File Explorer
for this to work. This article
explains the procedure in detail.
You can also use the ribbon
interface which is new in
Windows 8 to burn an image file.
Select your disc image file, select
the Manage tab on the ribbon
and click or tap Burn.
The Windows Disc Image
Burner will then launch and
select your default disc burning
drive to use for the procedure. If
you'd rather select another drive,
you can choose it from the Disc
burner drop-down list at the top
of the window.
After selecting your drive, choose
whether or not to verify your disc
after burning. For a simple
program or video it isn't really
worth the time to verify, but if
you're burning something like a
Linux operating system that you
intend to install to a computer,
verifying that there are no errors
could prevent some serious
problems during the installation.
Then, click or tap Burn and wait
for the process to end. After the
burning process finishes, the
DVD/CD tray will automatically
open and you will see a
confirmation message if the
burning process was successful.
To exit the application, click or
tap Close .
How to Burn an Image
from the Command
Line
If you prefer the command line,
you can use it to burn an ISO or
IMG image file in either Windows
7 or 8. First, open the Command
Prompt . To learn how to access
it, check this article: 7 Ways to
Launch the Command Prompt in
Windows 7 & Windows 8 .
You can start the burning process
using the following command and
parameters: isoburn.exe /q
[the CD/DVD writing drive]
.
For example, I had to burn the
ubuntu.iso file, found on my F:
drive, in the test image folder.
The drive of my DVD writer is I: .
To burn that iso file, I have to
write the following command:
isoburn.exe /q I: "F:\test
image\ubuntu.iso" .
The command is not case
sensitive which means that it
doesn't matter if the image or
folder name has capital letters or
not. After you write the
command, press Enter and the
Windows Disc Image Burner
opens, performing the burning
process automatically.
Unfortunately, in the Command
Prompt, you cannot set Windows
Disc Image Burner to verify the
disc after the burning process.