A file with .iso extension is typically a raw image that can be used to burn a CD or DVD. A file with .iso can be created using mkisofs command or by doing raw copy of a CD or DVD. In this article we will attempt to access the files present in an ISO file. First of all, we need to mount the ISO file like a partition in the hard drive. The Linux supports a cool feature of loop back mounting using which a file can be treated as partition on the hard drive and mounted. Such file can contain RAW data of any supported file systems like EXT2FS, VFAT, ISO etc. With this feature you can access any file present in the ISO image without burning the CD or DVD.

[root@techpulp ~]# ls
KDE-Four-Live.i686-1.1.1.iso
[root@techpulp ~]# mkdir mpoint
[root@techpulp ~]# mount KDE-Four-Live.i686-1.1.1.iso ./mpoint -o loop
[root@techpulp ~]# df
Filesystem           1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1             12892764  10729008   1498268  88% /
tmpfs                  1004664        56   1004608   1% /dev/shm
/root/KDE-Four-Live.i686-1.1.1.iso
692342    692342         0 100% /root/mpoint
[root@techpulp ~]# mount
/dev/sda1 on / type ext3 (rw)
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw)
none on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw)
sunrpc on /var/lib/nfs/rpc_pipefs type rpc_pipefs (rw)
/root/KDE-Four-Live.i686-1.1.1.iso on /root/mpoint type iso9660 (rw,loop=/dev/loop0)
[root@techpulp ~]#
[root@techpulp ~]# cd mpoint
[root@techpulp mpoint]# ls
autorun.inf  config.isoclient  GPLv2.txt  KDE-Four-Live-read-only.i686-1.1.1  README.DOS
boot         EULA.txt          GPLv3.txt  README                              SuSEgo.ico
[root@techpulp mpoint]# cd ..
[root@techpulp ~]# ls
KDE-Four-Live.i686-1.1.1.iso  mpoint
[root@techpulp ~]# umount ./mpoint
[root@techpulp ~]# ls mpoint
[root@techpulp ~]#